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saving classname here bc not compiling for capitalize * Explore * * Raise Raise Money * Learn * * Login * Signup * * Login * Signup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Explore startups * Raise Money * Learn * Investor FAQ * Investor School -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Founder FAQ * Fundraising Playbook -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Blog * Earn up to $10,000 Wefunder Blog Watch for updates We post industry news, investor guides, company updates and more. All Company Announcements Policy From our CEO investor education founder stories All Company Announcements Policy From our CEO investor education founder stories Adrian Parlow on Apr 11, 2023 BRINGING COMMUNITY ROUNDS TO EUROPE On December 27, 2022, after more than a year of effort, Wefunder got the green light to launch our business in Europe. This post walks through a short history on how we got here, the state of the European market, and where things are headed.A Short HistoryIn 2012, Wefunder’s cofounders Nick Tommarello and Greg Belote wanted to invest their spare change into their friends’ startups, and quickly found out this was illegal. Even though they believed in their friends, the laws prevented them from investing because they weren’t rich enough to be considered “accredited investors.”Upset at this, Nick and Greg set up the first version of the Wefunder website as an online petition to change the laws. After lots of campaigning, PR, and a visit to Congress, they were able to get the first US crowdfunding laws passed. And so an industry was born…. or so they thought. In reality, it took the regulators 4 years to write and implement the new laws.In 2016, Regulation Crowdfunding went live and Wefunder quickly became the leader in this new industry. But those laws were deeply flawed: they allowed raises of only $1M per year and forced founders to accept hundreds (or thousands) of direct investors on the cap table. So despite being the market leader, their ability to grow the business was severely limited.In 2021, we finally got updated regulations that opened up the playing field: raises up to $5M, SPVs to aggregate investors, and the ability to launch campaigns much faster. While we still have a long wishlist of regulatory changes, we at least have a workable set of regulations that some of the hottest startups like Substack, Replit and Mercury are excited to use. The entire industry has grown tremendously as a result.Europe Lagged BehindOutside the U.S., the world has very few attractive crowdfunding markets. To support a strong market requires (1) an established and workable legal regime, (2) a deep startup ecosystem, and (3) a large investor base that’s interested in risky startup investments. The UK meets these criteria — in fact it is the world leader per capita, having enacted workable laws in 2014 — and as such features the strongest platforms and crowdfunded startups outside the U.S.The rest of Europe has long featured a patchwork of contradicting regulations, making it nearly impossible to operate in a cross-border way. In some countries, investment crowdfunding was completely illegal; in others it was allowed with varying degrees of restrictions; and in others still, it was completely unregulated and rife with questionable actors.No individual country met the three requirements for a strong market. Germany had a depth of startups but challenging regulations. The Netherlands had reasonable laws and strong startups, but too small and conservative an investing population. Countries like Poland with no regulations were lacking a strong ecosystem. As such, a patchwork of small platforms popped up servicing each country’s local market. But because the markets were too small to support powerful platforms, the products they offered could only pull in early adopters.Being a crowdfunding platform is a deceptively hard business. Without a cross-border mindset and enough volume to support a world-class product team, it’s nearly impossible to build a good platform. In Europe, the average value proposition to founders was something like: “How about we raise a few hundred thousand Euros for your company? All you’ll have to do is recruit and manage 1000+ direct investors. And there will be a LOT of due diligence and compliance hoops to jump through. And we’ll be taking 12% of funds raised. Oh and by the way, it’ll be debt so make sure you generate enough profit to pay that back with interest in the next two years.” Enticing, right?The Outlook ChangesIt’s probably no surprise that until recently, we never considered geographic expansion. The UK was dominated by two entrenched platforms, and any significant business in continental Europe would mean juggling several different legal regimes.In November 2021, all that changed when the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR) went into effect. For the first time, all 30 EEA countries would be covered by a consistent set of regulations, with a passporting regime that allows platforms to register in one place and operate on a cross-border basis. The doors were swung wide open.Even better, the new EU regulation is similar to, and in some ways better than, the new U.S. laws. ECSPR allows for raises up to €5M per year, with no limit on individual investment size. Investments can be aggregated into 1 line on the cap table, with a single lead investor making decisions. Companies can simultaneously raise even more in the U.S. from accredited investors. Typical terms are allowed, including equity, convertibles and debt. The required legal disclosures have been condensed down to 6 pages and don’t mandate audited financial statements (something that has burdened the U.S. implementation). And many of the burdensome technicalities from the U.S. regulations — eg. filings and annual reports — are absent. The net result is that for a company prepared to fundraise, we can launch a raise in as little as a week, with minimal hassle for the founders.The State of the MarketIn 2022, I spent 6 months traveling around Europe’s main startups hubs, meeting founders and investors. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of startup talent here. There are at least a dozen pockets of exciting ecosystem development, and the atmosphere is reminiscent of Silicon Valley 10 years ago, before the cynicism set in. The stats prove this out: Europe has become the fastest growing major region for venture capital investment, outpacing both the US and China.Yet, crowdfunding is still just a tiny portion of startup funding volume. Part of this is lack of awareness: most of the startups we speak to have never heard of it as an option. Most of the rest immediately think of the “1000 direct investors and a migraine for a tiny amount of debt capital” formulation. We’re on a mission to change that — first by building a founder experience that’s an order of magnitude better than any previous platform, and then by convincing the best startups in Europe to open Community Rounds to let their customers, fans, and community invest.Challenges and What’s NextWhile the opportunity in Europe is promising, the implementation has not been without its hiccups. Although the regulation is supposed to be unified across the EU, not everyone agrees on what the new rules mean. Country-by-country rules in some areas, such as marketing campaigns, can still lead to confusion. A 1-year grandfathering period for existing platforms was extended to 2 years because platforms and regulators couldn’t prepare in time. We are also battling a historic downturn in venture investing caused by increasing interest rates and a struggling economy.These wrinkles will likely take a year or two to get ironed out, as ESMA provides further guidance, regulators get on the same page, more platforms are authorized, and the market improves. In the meantime, the trailblazers will work through the details (with legal bills to match) and start letting the next generation of great European startups raise from their communities. We look forward to being at the forefront of European startup development! 77 Likes6464 Comments 5 min read Nick Tommarello on Mar 13, 2023 ALL INVESTOR FUNDS IN ESCROW ARE SECURE Wefunder used Boston Private Bank - later acquired by Silicon Valley Bank - as one of our escrow providers to hold investor funds.On Friday, Silicon Valley Bank was taken into receivership by the FDIC.There was never any risk of losing investor funds. All funds held by Silicon Valley Bank were 100% FDIC-insured. Individual investors on Wefunder did not meaningfully exceed the $250,000 FDIC insurance threshold*.In addition to the FDIC insurance, the federal government over the weekend guaranteed all uninsured deposits. While Wefunder investors did not need this additional guarantee, this action resolved the broader banking crisis.Silicon Valley Bank no longer exists. We now have 100% access to all investor funds through their successor bank.Wefunder remains fully operational without any disruption to our services. Cash withdrawals, investment cancellations, investor payments, and company disbursements are proceeding as normal.The FDIC system worked as designed to protect the small depositors on Wefunder. We will continue to work with multiple banking partners to maximize the amount of funds insured by the FDIC.* One investor had $250,100. Wefunder would have covered the uninsured $100. 3535 Likes2626 Comments 1 min read Asbjørn Holmlund on Mar 6, 2023 HOW DILUTION INFLUENCE OWNERSHIP STAKE IN A PRIVATE COMPANY Dilution occurs when a company issues new shares of stock, resulting in a decrease of ownership for existing shareholders. Start-ups may raise capital for a variety of reasons, such as to finance growth, pay debts, or to get through tough times. Issuing new shares is less common for public companies, it's happens frequently in private markets. Therefore, when you invest in private start-ups, it's important to understand how dilution works and how it may impact your investment. When a start-up issue new shares, it is essentially creating new ownership in the company and diluting the ownership stake of existing shareholders. For example, let's say a company has 1 million shares of stock outstanding and you own 10,000 shares, representing a 1% ownership stake in the company (because 10,000/1m = 1%). If the company then issue an additional 500,000 shares, the total number of shares outstanding will increase to 1.5 million, and your ownership stake will now dilute to 0.67% (10,000 / 1.5 million).So, does this mean dilution is bad? Not always! Let's assume you invested € 10k in a start-up at a € 1m post-money, which would give you a 1% ownership stake (because 10k/1m = 1%). The company has now been growing rapidly for two years, but still see plenty of opportunity in the market for further growth. Shareholders in the company decide that to capitalize on all these promising opportunities, they want to raise EUR 1m in new capital by issuing new shares. Because business have progressed positively, markets now believe the company to be worth € 4m (pre-money). New investors put into the company € 1m and in return receive 20% ownership (because 1m/5m = 20%). Since new shares have been issued, your ownership stake is no longer 1% but instead 0.8% (because your stake is diluted to 4m/5m = 80% of it's original size). So what is the part of the company you own now worth? Well, since it was valued at a € 5m post-money, your stake is now worth € 40k (because 5m * 0.8%). Since you initially invested € 10k in the company, this means you've made a 4x return on your initial investment! - so even though you now own a smaller piece of the pie, that pie is now a whole lot bigger, meaning you and other early investors are better off. There are several ways that companies can mitigate the impact of dilution on existing shareholders. One method is to offer existing shareholders the opportunity to purchase part of the new shares - and indeed, existing shareholders often have the right to do so, also known as subscription rights. If this is the case, you have the right to subscribe for your pro-rata share of the company, in this case 1% of the new shares being issued. Should you wish to do so, you then pay in an additional EUR 10k to the company (because 1% * 1m = 10k), which means that after the round you now own 1% instead of 0.8%. If you want to learn more about subscription rights (& other special rights usually attached to 'preferred shares'), my colleague Christopher Vail wrote a post about the topic found here. In summary, dilution can have a significant impact on the value of an investors shares and can be mitigated through various methods, such as subscription rights. At the end of the day, dilution is part of the game of investing in private start-ups, and whether it's good or bad will depend on the performance of the company and current market conditions. 44 Likes2828 Comments 2 min read Asbjørn Holmlund on Feb 23, 2023 HOW EQUITY CROWDFUNDING GOT ITS BAD REPUTATION IN THE EU & WHY IT IS ABOUT TO CHANGE How did it all come to thisIn Europe, many founders today perceive Equity Crowdfunding as a negative signal - and for good reason as well. A history of poor regulation, mismanagement by (some) domestic platforms, & predatory practices, have left the reputation of the industry badly dented.Many of these happenings stem from the fact that Equity Crowdfunding is a relatively new concept (the first platform emerged in 2007), so it has taken regulators some time to figure out how to best, well, regulate the industry.In theory the European Union is one integrated market, but in practice crowdfunding platforms have had to adhere to country-by-country regulation. This was less than optimal for all parties involved (platforms, investors, & founders) and had the following consequences:Domestic platforms lacked significant concentration of investors & founders. No single platform was capable of understanding, complying with, and obtaining a license to operate in 27 countries - in fact, most of them were only licensed to operate in a couple of countries. Investors want to go where they can find the greatest selection of start-ups, and founders want to list where they can find the most investors, which the old set of legislation did not solve for.Lack of competition & transparency led to predatory practices. Some domestic platforms have been (and continue to) charge founders as much as 15% of funds raised to host their campaign. Others have charged founders money up-front or even in the case they failed to secure a successful campaign. Some platforms have even sold investors pipe dreams like ‘invest in the next Apple’ without adequately informing them about the risks of investing in early-stage start-ups. Low regulation unfortunately attracted bad apples with less than noble intentions.Inability to clearly articulate a value proposition for founders. ‘Raise money fast’ or ‘raise money from a lot of investors’ are both bad value propositions in an upbeat economy where raising money (for the best performing companies) has never been the issue to begin with. The industry failed to explain WHY founders should take their money over that of others.All of this boiled down to an adverse selection problem - meaning that the bulk of start-ups that chose to run an equity crowdfunding campaign did so because they had no other alternatives. This in turn meant that investors got poor returns, which fed a destructive cycle for the industry.One Law to Rule Them AllIt had been a long time in the making when the European Commission finally in November 2021 announced new legislation that harmonizes Crowdfunding across all 27 member states (known as ECSPR - or European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation).This is huge news for founders & investors alike, because it does away with the country-by-country legislation that has historically burdened Equity Crowdfunding. The new legislation:Creates one market with 447m potential investors. It no longer matters if your company is located in France or Germany, or whether the platform you are using is in the Netherlands or Spain. As long as the crowdfunding platform holds the ECSPR license, they can accept money from investors anywhere in the world (minus a few jurisdictions) & represent companies from anywhere in the EU. This creates a degree of concentration similar to what we are used to in the United States.Promotes competition & transparency. Every start-up that runs a crowdfunding campaign is now obligated to submit the same minimum disclosures in their KIIS (Key Investor Information Sheet). This creates transparency across countries & gives potential investors access to the same information - and for founders it comes with little-to-no extra work, because the minimum disclosures are equivalent to what most submit with their national regulator. An integrated market also promotes competition because start-ups have more choice amongst platforms - paving the way for domestic platforms to either revisit their predatory fees or become obsolete.Makes Crowdfunding a competitive supplement- or alternative to traditional capital for the savvy start-up founder. Domestic platforms inability to adequately frame the benefits of crowdfunding, was also partly due to the fact that the benefits under the old regulation were not very big. The benefits now with the new regulation are similar, if not greater, to those we have operated under in the US since 2021.This new regulation has paved the way for our (Wefunder’s) European expansion, which we happily announced on Thursday the 16th of February 2023, where we went live with 12 companies across 5 European countries.We are proud to expand our offering to help more founders get funded & to give start-ups an easy way to reward their most loyal fans.Introducing Community Round by WefunderHow does Community Round differentiate itself from old-school equity crowdfunding?Well, firstly we operate under the new ECSPR regulation which allows us to tap a much larger base of investors (US accredited, European, & RoW) & to help start-ups regardless of where they are based in the EU. Secondly, our focus is not on the amount of capital you can raise.Wait, what? You are a platform for equity fundraising, but your focus is not on euros & cents?Nope, you heard that right. We recognize that as a skilled founder you can get money from lots of places, so what’s really interesting is the benefit that comes with that money. This gets us to the core of what a community round really is:A Community Round is a way for start-ups to align incentives with their community of fans (customers, users, followers etc.) by offering them the opportunity to co-invest in their business. In turn, founders receive cash & a number of commercial benefits like increased brand awareness, additional commercial traction, increased referrals, & more.So, a Community Round is as much an undertaking in PR & marketing, as it is a fundraising exercise - in fact, we see more & more founders that choose actively to host a round, not because it gives them a few extra bucks, but because it aligns with their values.This brings us to the crux of why you might consider hosting a Community Round:Because it is the smart thing to do. Align incentives with your greatest fans by offering them the opportunity to co-invest. This drives higher retention, higher consumption, increased word-of-mouth, and a host of other benefits. For more examples, see our case studies here.Because it is the right thing to do. 30 years ago, equity ownership was reserved for senior leadership. Today broad-based equity ownership in start-ups is taken for granted. We believe co-ownership amongst fans will soon be commonplace, and we see visionary companies like Replit, Mercury, & more pave the way.We recognize that raising a Community Round is not right for every type of business - but it is for a much broader range of start-ups than what equity crowdfunding has historically catered to.If you are out there building a great EU company at Seed, Series-A, or Series-B stage, and you have a community of fans you’d like to reward & include in your journey, we would love to get in touch. You can reach me directly at asbjorn@wefunder.com. 66 Likes1313 Comments 5 min read Christopher Vail on Feb 21, 2023 WHY PREFERRED STOCK IS "PREFERRED" OVER COMMON STOCK The crowdfunding industry has used a variety of investment instruments over the years. Some platforms suggest that founders sell crowd-specific instruments like the CrowdSAFE, while others push them to sell common stock. Wefunder’s philosophy is that retail investors should invest on the same instruments as professional angels and VCs. There are two core reasons for this:1. Retail investors should get the same rights and protections as professionals and not be taken advantage of due to lower bargaining power or level of understanding2. To avoid hassle later, founders raising from their communities should get clean, simple terms that align with their other investorsThe frequent use of common stock by some platforms is particularly problematic. Except in rare circumstances, Wefunder does not allow companies to raise with common stock. Institutional investors almost always buy preferred stock rather than common due to the rights and privileges attached. As Wefunder views it, if a VC won’t invest on common stock, Wefunder investors shouldn’t either.Investor AdvantagesThe liquidation preference is the most important benefit of preferred stock. The preference is particularly critical for early-stage investments. Rather than the money going to common holders (executives and employees), preferred stockholders get their money back first. Common shareholders are generally the last in line to get any sort of payment back. As Naval Ravikant (CEO of AngelList) said: “The [liquidation] preference is there for a very specific reason: Imagine that my company was raising at a pre-money valuation of $9 million. And then you came in and you invested $1 million in the company, so the post-money valuation is $10 million. And now you own 10% of the company. Suppose I try to take the million dollars and say, “Hey, we’re just going to divvy up the million dollars to all the shareholders.” Well, if you didn’t have a preference, I would get $900,000, and you would get $100,000 back. Not what you expected…. The preference is really, really important at the early stages. You’d be a fool to do a seed round buying common stock.”Preferred stock also typically carries other important privileges. For example, anti-dilution rights can help prevent investments from losing value in case of a down round. Say a company conducts a later round of financing and issues new stock at a lower price; when these rights are included, the investor would receive additional shares for free, avoiding dilution of the value of their investment. Other advantages of preferred stock may include:Pro rata rights, which allow investors to maintain their ownership stake in a startup as it grows;the right to receive the first dividends; andcertain tax advantages (e.g., most preferred dividends are seen as qualified dividends which are taxed at same rates as the capital gains rate). Company AdvantagesCompanies raising on preferred stock also benefit in certain ways. First, companies that offer preferred stock are likely to see increased investor interest based on the advantages described in the section above. Also, if sophisticated angel investors expect to invest in preferred stock, then founders offering common stock will foreclose on the ability to raise any capital from those investors. Second, raising on preferred stock (as opposed to common) also helps safeguard the value of employee stock options, which can help attract and retain employees. Employees stock options are options to purchase common stock, with the exercise price set at the fair market value of the common stock, as determined by an independent appraisal firm. Generally, when a company raises on preferred stock, the common stock (and therefore the exercise price on employee options) will be valued at a substantial discount—typically 20% to 40% of the preferred stock price—because it’s inferior to the preferred stock in a variety of ways (liquidation preference, antidilution, etc.). This means that employees get the benefit of buying their options for much cheaper, and therefore get a much better return when the company exits. However, if the company instead raises on common stock, the fair market value of the common stock may not be discounted at all, which means that employees could be forced to pay 3x to 5x as much to exercise their options. This makes it very expensive and difficult for employees to exercise and significantly reduces on the return they can receive when the company exits. With equity being a major factor in compensation packages, this can seriously hurt employee retention and the ability to attract top talent.Conclusion Companies raising priced rounds should offer preferred stock to their investors. Retail investors – the true fans, customers, and early adopters – deserve the same protections as professional investors if their favorite company fails. If the goal is to bring the community along for the ride, they shouldn’t be given inferior terms to institutional investors. Further, down the line offering common stock can end up hurting employees, and indirectly the company itself.It's worth noting that there are rare exceptions where common stock could make sense – for example, a hot late-stage company with low risk of failure, or a small business where existing professional investors hold common. For everything else, Wefunder will continue to do what’s right for founders and investors by enforcing the preferred stock requirement. 99 Likes1717 Comments 4 min read Nick Tommarello on Feb 16, 2023 WEFUNDER EXPANDS TO THE EUROPEAN UNION I’m excited to announce that Wefunder is now live in Europe!We are the first platform in the United States authorized to operate in the European Union.We already have more startups live in the European Union than all our competitors combined.The European Launch CohortA dozen startups are now raising on Wefunder. You can browse them at https://wefunder.com/eu.Some facts about our European launch cohort:Located in Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the Netherlands;Backed by top-tier European funds like Breega, SpeedInvest, Goodwater Capital & more;Backed & founded by serial founders from prominent EU scale-ups like N26, Tier, Casper, Blinkist & more.The E.U. LandscapeBefore, each country in Europe had their own securities regulations. This made it unattractive to expand to Europe given the complexity of complying with 30 different sets of laws.Thankfully, the European Union (and the EEA) now has one set of laws to unify these 30 countries into one common framework, with an addressable market roughly equal to the United States.It’s now a race between the US and UK platforms to enter the European Union, as there is still no local EU platform with any significant traction.The two biggest platforms in the UK are Seedrs and Crowdcube, both in the UK. Seedrs (owned by Republic) is not yet authorized to operate across the E.U.Despite being the first day of launching, we are positioned well against our competitors:Crowdcube has 9 startups live in the UK, but only has 1 in the EU.Seedrs has 12 startups live in the UK, but none in the EU.All other EU platforms combined have 9 startups liveWefunder has 12 startups live in the EU (and 250 live in the US).Why We Made the Decision to ExpandLarge Common Market. The combined GDP of the E.U. is roughly equal to the U.S. We believe this will double our long-term addressable market.Network Effects. Our business is one where network effects are powerful. The first platform to launch has a built-in advantage. Founders want to go to the platform with the most funding; investors want to go where the best and most startups are. This is why we believed we couldn’t afford to wait.No dominant European competitor. There is no dominant platform in the EU. We believe we can beat the current players on product - for example, try investing on one of the platforms as a new user.Better laws for growth than U.S. The E.U. laws are roughly the same as the United States, but better for our growth in some key ways. Startups do not have to audit their financials, we are allowed to charge carry, and we are allowed to share compensation with referral partners.Startups can raise twice as much money from retail investors. A United States startup could choose to raise $5M USD in the US and €5M in the EU concurrently.We can work with more startups around the globe. U.S. law only allows U.S. headquartered companies to run a community round. EU laws allow any company around the globe to raise (provided they comply with local law).ChallengesWhile we’re the first United States platform to expand to the European Union, there are challenges to this expansion.Fewer European investors than competitors. We have less European investors than Crowdcube or Seedrs, who have been active in the UK for a decade. We’ll need to quickly close this gap.Europe is more complex than the United States. In theory, there is one European law. In practice, each country is a sovereign country with different quirks in the law, different languages, and different cultures.European startup investing is less developed. This is both a risk and an opportunity. There is less capital flowing into EU startups which makes the hair on fire problem that Wefunder needs to solve more important. But the unknown is if European retail investors will invest near the same rate as American retail investors.A shout-out to our European teamThis is the culmination of almost two years of effort by our team.Our E.U. effort is headed up by one of our longest serving team members, Katie Powers, with a big assist from our General Counsel (and now VP of Corp Development) Adrian Parlow. It was a very long process to work with the European regulators and convince them that our structure (which allows one entry on the cap table for startups) was compliant with E.U. laws.Over 2022, nearly our entire engineering team was involved in a massive effort to rework Wefunder’s backend to work with multiple regulatory jurisdictions, languages, and payment systems. I don’t think any other startup of our size could accomplish this feat.I’m also proud that our entire European team is currently only 5 team members. One of our European competitors had an estimated 120 headcount last year. And yet more startups are raising on Wefunder. This is a testament to how motivated and scrappy our EU team is.We will of course hire a larger team as we scale up. But we’re a big believer in the power of small very fast moving teams to open up a new market. This is a very different strategy than the $100 million that Republic spent to acquire Seedrs and their 100+ team members.How you can helpWe’d most value introductions to high-quality startups in the European Union who are interested in hosting a Community Round, so their most passionate users, customers, and fans can invest.Under European Law, we can also offer some very strong financial incentives to our EU venture partners.We share 1/3 of our revenue with referral partners. If the company raises €5M on Wefunder, you could earn €112,500.You could earn 5% carry - the profits on the investments. If you also invest in the company, and a company that raises €5M later gets acquired for a 10X investment return, you could earn €2.25M.If you’d like to refer a startup, please contact our Head of EU Fundraising, Asbjorn Holmlund, at asbjorn@wefunder.com. 55 Likes3333 Comments 4 min read Jonny Price on Oct 6, 2022 INTRODUCING THE YC SUMMER ‘22 BATCH We're thrilled to announce that over 20 Y Combinator companies from the Summer 2022 batch have now launched on Wefunder. Now anyone can invest as little as $100 in YC Summer ‘22 companies.What is Y Combinator?Y Combinator is the most prestigious startup accelerator in the world, known for successes including Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, Cruise, Doordash, Dropbox, Reddit, and Twitch. Over 3,500 companies from YC have been funded with a combined valuation of almost $1 Trillion. Why this is excitingBefore Wefunder changed the legislation in 2016, only wealthy and well-connected investors had the opportunity to invest in Y Combinator companies and what they believed could be "the next Airbnb."Today, anyone, regardless of background, connections, or income, will have the opportunity to invest in startups from YC’s Summer 2022 Batch.IMPORTANT: Wefunder does not endorse any company, and nothing in this thread constitutes investment advice or an investment recommendation. This is not endorsed or directly affiliated with Y Combinator.Companies:(alphabetically)Artemis Labs: Making collaboration easy for data scientists. Team previously founded and exited two startups.Raised $750k this round.Boostly: The SMS marketing platform for restaurants.$105k MRR, 400+ customers since founding.$1.1M raised from VCs.Cambio: Mobile app helping financially responsible consumers repair bad credit.Growing 50% MoM, 10k total users.Serial founders with previous exits.Coupl: A neobank for couples in India.Built and launched a neobank in under 6 months.₹500k (~$6k) GTV in under 2 weeks.Derisk: Key custody software that secures crypto assets for businesses.8 weeks from incorporation to $15k ARR.Raised $1M this round from VCs.Grai: Open source version control for metadata.Wrote first line of code 2 months ago, already have first paying customer.$650k raised in this round from investors.Gullak: Automating savings and investing them in gold.$350k Monthly GMV in 60 days, growing 25% weekly.Founders are the core team from Series C, Juspay.Juicebox: Shopify for independent tech contractors.$4K MRR and 410 contractors in 4 weeks from launch.Previous investors include Amino Capital, Phoenix Club, and Pareto.Kashin: Square for micro-merchants in Latin America.$60k+ monthly revenue, growing 51% MoM.$820k raised as part of the current round led by Goodwater Capital.Landeed: India’s fastest property title search engine.$8k MRR, 93% weekly revenue growth.$3.8M raised from VCs, including 23 YC alum.Lotus: Automating custom usage-based pricing for businesses.Raised $1M in current round.Team of MIT quants.Maverick: Extract lithium using engineered microbes.Patent-pending LithX has 53% cost savings per ton of extracted lithium.LithX uses 13% less energy and provides 43% reduction in CO2 emissions.Moneco: Neobank for African migrants in Europe.Addressing a market of 5.8M people with potential of $2.6B by 2025.Raised 1.8M from notable VCs including Kima Ventures and Soma Ventures.Movinglake: Real-time API data connectors.Three months from idea to $1k MRR.Expert team from Google, Amazon, others.Oneleet: Your Security Department as a service.$112k ARR with 12 customers, launched last month.$2M raised outside Wefunder from Metaplanet, FPV Ventures, NKM Capital.Patika: Simple Receivable Automation & Payments for Africa’s SMBs.In 6 weeks, $1.2k MRR, growing 40% MoM.$510K raised from Asymmetry, Goodwater Capital, True Culture Fund.Sideguide: Helps API companies accelerate adoption with live code sandboxes.10 paid pilots & MVP in a month; used by projects at Meta.Built a B2C education platform to $9,000/mo in just four months.Ten Lives: Impossible foods for pets.In 3 months, launched a cat snack and sold out of pre-orders.$1.2m raised from Collaborative Fund, Positive Ventures, & YC alum.Tersho: No-code business intelligence tool for spreadsheets.$1.5K MRR in 3 weeks.$650k raised from VCs and founders/CXOs of Airbnb, Nutty Gritties, TradeIndia.Trendex: Invest in athletes and creators like you invest in stock.60+ celebrities signed exclusive contracts for 20 years with a combined 45 million followers.Investors include 3 unicorn founders.Weltio: LatAm AutoInvesting in securities & crypto.From launch 8 weeks ago, $40k AUMs from 400+ users.$950k+ raised including 3 VCs, 2 unicorn founders.All companies in this thread are "testing the waters" to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding.https://help.wefunder.com/testing-the-waters-legal-disclosure 99 Likes2020 Comments 3 min read Elena Weissmann on Jun 20, 2022 IT'S #NFTNYC. CHECK OUT OUR WEB3 STARTUPS. This week, thousands of people are congregating in NYC for the 4th annual NFT industry event.NFTs stand for non-fungible tokens, and can be anything digital - such as images, drawings, or even music. They're built on the blockchain, and form just one part of the broader Web3 universe.What else is included in Web3? Decentralized finance (DeFi), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Blockchain-based games, the Metaverse, and much more. The startup world is exploding with Web3 technology, and in the spirt of Web3 - which prioritizes community-ownership and democratization of capital, just like us! - we want to highlight some companies raising on Wefunder, right now.Without further ado...BitVaultDue to the cost of machinery and expertise needed for set up, Bitcoin mining is out of reach for many. BitVault bridges that gap by allowing investors to pool their money with others to buy miners, which then earn Bitcoin. These miners run on wind power, leading to power rates 65% cheaper than the national average.Learn more here.SwopblockCrypto trading is on the rise, but trading cryptos on any central exchange has security problems and expensive listing fees.Swopblock is offering a solution to this by creating an autonomous decentralized network that cuts out the middleman and listing fees so trades can happen in real time and with proven securities.Learn more here.Bee Mortgage AppBee is helping home buyers get a mortgage 3x faster than other competitors while utilizing blockchain technology to create a completely automated process.Their tech aims to help consumers receive mortgages faster and with fewer fees. Bee has raised over $2M in funding to-date and is led by a team with experience in the mortgage industry and Blockchain.Learn more here.ABC FinTechTraditional commercial real estate investing is notoriously illiquid, plagued with inefficiencies, and only available to those with connections.ABC FinTech solves all these problems through digitalized securities backed by tangible assets, creating real value for retail real estate investors and crypto holders alike.Learn more here.Acquire InvestGlobal private markets account for more than $80 Trillion, but most unaccredited investors either don't learn about these opportunities or are barred from participating.Enter Acquire. They take unique, high value investments and tokenize them into "smart shares," which are then offered to retail investors at all income levels.Learn more here.Opulous KYLEMusic creator KYLE (artist behind the Billboard Hot 100 song "iSpy") is offering up shares in his music royalties, through MFTs (music fungible tokens). The token represents fractionalized shares of future royalties earned from an underlying copyright. This means that whenever one of KYLE'S tracks is played on platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, investors get paid.Learn more here.*Disclaimers: Company information is based on each company’s campaign page and has not necessarily been verified. Wefunder does not endorse any company, and nothing in this email constitutes investment advice or an investment recommendation. Want to learn more about NFTs & Web3? Read on!Introduction to Web3, ethereum.orgThe Web3 Landscape, a16zNFTs, explained, The Verge 1313 Likes4343 Comments 2 min read William (Classic) Thomas on May 2, 2022 WEFUNDER DIGEST VOL. 4 Your weekly read in one sitting.Venture News: Webinar with Mercury, Intercom, & WefunderAdventure Capital: Pedro MullerThat's A Big Deal: IntercomPetition: SpaceXHello, there Monday. As usual, we salute you, but also, you're a Monday at the beginning of the month, which makes you extra special. You present an opportunity to assess the previous month's activity, refine, and get back to more efficiently kicking butt and taking names.I look forward to that, and I believe our Venture News can help with that even more. Information from the Masters of Industry always helps make our Hero Journey a little easier.May 18th Intercom is hosting a live webinar with Mercury and yours truly. This is exciting because, in this forum, they'll be discussing the ins and outs of their Community Round.You'll be blessed with wise words from the above crew and they'll be going in-depth on:How Mercury raised a Community Round on Wefunder (Case Study)Ways to unlock a valuable source of both investment and customers for your startupWhere Community Funding is going to develop in 2022So register here and get your notebooks ready. Or computers. Or phones.And to keep the Intercom train rolling. We had the pleasure of having Pedro Muller on the Adventure Capital podcast. The International Man of Connectivity!From Zendesk to Angel Investor to Intercom, he's seen a lot on the International Startup level, and that's why I feel his perspective is a much-needed one.Let's expand that growth mindset and start thinking global, baby.Hold up, wait a minute, yall thought we were finished? We have even more Intercom action for you.As you know, Intercom is the modern customer communications platform that unifies every aspect of the customer journey, from conversion to engagement to support. Since you have a Wefunder company (this is me assuming, fellow reader), you get 100% off the first year, 50% off the second, and 20% moving forward.That's nuts!"We're anticipating a lot of growth again this year, so having the ability to easily onboard our associates, create great experiences for our customers, and measure our impact with detailed reporting all in one platform is huge." Natalie Hurst Director of Customer Support at NuulySo visit Intercom, sign up for the Live Demo, and prepare to start saving while creating a better experience for your customers. Technically saving them as well.We have a super cool Petition for you: SpaceX!The Too Infinity and Beyond company, founded by Elon Musk, designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft.Visit their Petition page and read what their Community has to say about why they should raise, and while you're there, Petition a Startup You Love!That'll do for now. We look forward to continuing this conversation and building more segments over time that will hopefully feed your Investor and/or Founder soul. In the meantime, let us know what you found enlightening and what you would hope to see in the coming months, and sign up to start Raising and/or Petitioning a Community Round! 1616 Likes2424 Comments 2 min read Elena Weissmann on Apr 22, 2022 IT'S EARTH DAY. INVEST IN OUR PLANET. We can recycle, walk to work, and limit plastics, but often it's not clear how else we can help the Earth. Individually, it's tough for any one person to make a big difference - but collectively, we can band together to create meaningful, lasting change. One way to do so is investing in companies with a mission to improve the environment - whether that's through solar energy, sustainable farming, or durable clothing.Check out 12 startups raising now that are doing good by our planet.1. Hempitecture – First US manufacturing facility for hemp insulation.Hemp insulation is non-toxic and carbon-storing, making it more sustainable than traditional insulation materials.2. Next Bolt – Developing a sodium-based home battery.Up to 3x cheaper than lithium-based batteries and easily installed in any home.3. SolarGaps – Superpowerful solar blinds.Smart cities are limited in space for solar panels. Enter SolarGaps - smart solar blinds to power any home, apartment or office.4. Earth Rides – Like Uber but with a fleet of Teslas.Female owned and eco-friendly; First-mover advantage as all electric in the rideshare space.5. Arqlite – Recycled smart gravel.Recycling what no one else can: complex plastics, at scale (1 ton per hour).6. ZEUS Motor – Extraordinarily efficient electric motors.20% more efficient & less expensive to manufacture than commercial motors.7. Neighborhood Sun - Community solar technology platform.Community solar is the lowest cost retail energy source - people can not only support a cleaner environment, but save money at the same time. 8. Riff - Coffee brand aiming to reverse coffee's impact on the climate. Climate friendly energy drink, using byproduct of coffee harvest.9. GroGuru - The future of sustainable farming.Patented technology with 30x improvement in scalability and 30% water efficiency improvement.10. LIVSN – Outdoor apparel: own less, live more.Clothing for outdoor adventures. Uses organic & recycled textiles.11. Slo – High-quality clothes built to last for years.Created with sustainable materials, and every garment sent into production has already been ordered - no waste.12. EV Semi-Fleet - All-electric Tesla semi-trucks.50 Tesla semi-trucks already reserved. First-mover in all-electric, 18-wheeler industry.Hungry for more? Check out more green startups raising here. *Company information is based on each company’s campaign page and has not necessarily been verified. Wefunder does not endorse any company, and nothing in this email constitutes investment advice or an investment recommendation.*LIVSN and EV Semi-Fleet are "testing the waters" to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited. If sent, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities will be accepted. No part of the purchase price will be received until a Form C is filed and only through Wefunder’s platform. Any indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. 1616 Likes2222 Comments 2 min read Load more posts More stories We have hundreds of founders who want to share their experiences with you! Community Round Case Studies Founders from Seed to Series B open up about how and why they let their customers, fans, and community invest. Adventure Capital Podcast Listen to founders talk about their adventures and the mentors that helped them on the way. Wefunder Case Studies Get tips and tactics for every step of your launch from founders who have had stellar raises on Wefunder. Second to None Read about what being a female founder means to these founders who have raised on Wefunder. 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