Financing Opportunity Analysis

Project: Crowdfunding was rapidly emerging as a unique source of start-up financing and is projected to double in size to $3 billion in 2012. A recent study by Monitor had predicted that crowdfunding would grow to $500 billion annually. Crowdfunding had just been approved in the JOBS Act by Congress which, for the first time, gave the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rulemaking authority over the crowdfunding market. The SGE Immersion team analyzed the potential for crowdfunding to become a viable source of capital for mid-tier (sub $10 million) solar projects, and provided recommendations to Yingli for whether or not the company should pursue crowdfunding to help fuel its expansion.