MicroVentures has invested in well over 100 companies so far, including early-stage startups seeking everything from seed capital to later-stage rounds. Our portfolio companies have found that raising money on the MicroVentures platform is a straightforward process – one that takes much less time and effort than institutional VC fundraising. Here are some of the high points of that process.

Due diligence 

Once our investment committee has selected a company as a fundraising target, we get started with our due diligence. Our due diligence team sends the company a list of documents we need to help us get started – everything from the pitch deck to the financial statements. It’s a detailed list of items, but the more information we have, the more effectively and efficiently we can get the opportunity in front of our investors.

Follow-up

Once the terms of the fundraise have been finalized and the due diligence and compliance teams have had a chance to review all the documents, we’ll likely have follow-up questions to clarify specific details and fill in any gaps in our understanding. Timely and thorough responses to these question keep the fundraise on track and help us round out the story for our investors.

Fund summary 

We’ll spend a chunk of time developing a fund summary for the company – detailing why we selected the company as well as providing information on the company’s product offering, business model, user traction, and historical financials. We’ll also provide research on current market trends and the competitive landscape. The company has a chance to review this fund summary before it is published on our platform.

Sign-off

The last step major step from the company’s perspective is to sign all the relevant documents, including the investment agreement, which details the structure of the raise, the associated fees, the minimum and maximum fundraise targets, and the timeframe for the fundraise. Once the documents are signed, our marketing and investor relations teams will take it from there.

In most cases, the entire process takes four to six weeks. But the beauty of working with an equity crowdfunding platform like MicroVentures is not only in the short timeline but also in the turnkey service we provide, reducing the legwork that founders have to do. We build awareness for the company, we market the offering to our investors, we field questions about the opportunity from investors, and we pool the funds of multiple investors into a single investment. This approach allows the founders to keep the focus where it’s needed – on growing the business.