Junction was a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

–based online

investment platform A fund platform or investment platform is an online service that allows investments to be bought online. Fund platforms may simplify the process of investing or provide investments at a discounted rate. Use In many cases, investments purchased on ...

that allowed

accredited investors An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, ac ...

to purchase

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...

interests in funds that invested in major motion pictures. It differed from donation-based

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

for film finance as members of Junction received investment participation indirectly in the film projects rather than gifts, and the projects listed on Junction were already fully financed. Investors became

limited partners A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...

in a fund with economic exposure to the film project through an investment agreement with one of the film's financiers. Junction's business was facilitated by the United States

Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, is a law intended to encourage funding of small businesses in the United States by easing many of the country's securities regulations. It passed with bipartisan support, and was signed int ...

, the passage of which in 2012 created new avenues for companies to solicit investments.

History

Junction was founded in 2012 by Adam Kaufman, a former

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

banker, and Brian Goldsmith, a former

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producer. As of March 2014, their team included a former

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engineer, a one-time technology employee at Goldman, and a former lawyer at

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath; ) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm has additional offices in London and Washington, D.C. History In 1854, former college classmates William H. Seward (la ...

. Their advisors included

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn ( Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He was known for his involvement in the luxury casino and hotel industry, prior to being forced to step down in 2018. Early in his care ...

Jason Blum Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as ''Paranormal Activity (film series), Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), ''Insidi ...

, and

Logan Green Logan D. Green is the chairman and former CEO of Lyft, which he co-founded with John Zimmer in 2012. Lyft grew out of Zimride, a rideshare company previously founded by the duo in 2007.Chima, ChikodiTicketfly partnership makes music events more ...

. Financiers, including

Worldview Entertainment Worldview Entertainment was an American motion picture finance and production company. The company produced 23 films, including '' Birdman'', which won four Oscars, including Best Picture. History Worldview Entertainment was founded in 2007 by ...

, Silver Reel,

Endgame Entertainment James D. Stern is an American film and Broadway producer. He won a 2003 Tony Award for ''Hairspray'', has been nominated for other awards, and was a Drama Desk Award Winner for ''Stomp''. Life and career Early life Before starting Endgame, S ...

PalmStar Media PalmStar Media Capital is a film financing company based in Philadelphia. It was founded by its CEO, Kevin Frakes in 2010. History PalmStar Entertainment was co-founded in 2004 by Kevin Frakes and Stephan Paternot. In 2010, Frakes co-founded Pa ...

, and

QED International QED International is a Los Angeles-based independent film production studio, financier and international distributor. It is best known for financing and producing '' District 9'', '' Fury'', and '' Dirty Grandpa''. History Bill Block formed Q ...

, were reported to be working with Junction as of March 2014. In October 2014, the European

equity crowdfunding Equity crowdfunding is the online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets. Because equity crowdfunding involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it ...

platform

Seedrs Seedrs Limited is an online equity crowdfunding company, headquartered in East London's Tech City, founded in 2009 and launched by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva in 2012. Since 2022 it has been a subsidiary of American crowdfunding company Republi ...

announced the acquisition of Junction.Jeff Lynn, "Seedrs Acquires Junction Investments and Will Expand to the United States", Seedrs Blog, 30 October 2014
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References

{{Crowdfunding platforms Financial services companies established in 2012 Financial services companies based in California Defunct companies based in California Defunct crowdfunding platforms of the United States

History

See also

References