Boston – A leading expert in the field, Hotel Innvestor founder and President Tim Edgar will speak on the subject of “Crowdfunding vs. Private Equity” at the Hotel Equity and Lenders Perspectives (HELP) Conference April 14 at the Seaport Hotel.

“The HELP Conference is a two-day, national networking event dedicated to providing timely and accurate information from senior-level experts, lodging industry leaders and deal-makers,” according to the conference’s website. Among those experts and leaders will be Mr. Edgar, who will speak on a panel with other industry pundits at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The focus of this year’s meeting, “Making Waves,” will highlight the disruptors, game changers, trends and evolution in the hospitality industry. Mr. Edgar will speak on how crowdfunding is the industry’s biggest game changer.

“There is over $1 trillion raised annually through private placements, including crowdfunding,” he said, “and although crowfunding only makes up a small percentage of the current market, we feel that it will account for up to 20 percent of the entire private-placement market in the next five years.”

Hotel Innvestor is not only the first nationwide, web-based, hotel-investment-banking firm, but also the first company to identify the strength of specializing in a specific product type of commercial real estate – in this case hotels.