Recently we hit an exciting milestone at MicroVentures. Over the past 3.5 years we have raised over $50 million in investments through our platform. This ranges from early stage startups like Space Monkey to late stage Pre-IPO growth companies like Twitter.
When I started MicroVentures 5 years ago, the landscape for investing in startups was a very different than it is today. Angellist was an email list, Kickstarter and Indiegogo had just begun perks based crowdfunding, and the Jobs Act was years away from being contemplated. At that time you needed at least $50,000 to invest in just one startup opportunity and if you didn’t have a strong network your options for access to deals was limited. Additionally, the economy was still in a slump and angels had started to become more selective in the companies they backed.
This opened up a big opportunity for MicroVentures. We were able to step in and help startups raise capital while also allowing investors, who didn’t have access to startup deal flow, invest smaller amounts of capital. Initially Investors, FINRA and lawyers pushed back and didn’t see why any investor would want to invest such a small amount of capital in a single deal. They were also worried it could be a hassle and risk to startups if they allowed several investors who they didn’t have a relationship with invest in their company.
Fast-forward 5 years and the fundraising landscape has changed dramatically. Not only do startups have more options for funding, but investors also have many options if they want to diversify into the venture asset class. There is a new platform each day that offers equity crowdfunding so investors don’t have to hunt for deal flow anymore. Today, investors can invest in consumer goods companies, tech startups, medical device companies and real estate opportunities depending on which platform they choose. I think we are getting to a point where investors are feeling overwhelmed with their options. How can they make an educated investment decision when they have hundreds of companies to research before deciding where to invest?
Over the years as MicroVentures offerings have increased to include late stage high growth secondary opportunities, Medical Technologies and Real Estate, we have maintained our core competency of providing detailed due diligence for our investors. This curated deal flow helps investors save time when reviewing startups and lets them know that someone else is reviewing the company so they don’t have to do the heavy lifting. We could list 30 companies on our platform at one time but that isn’t our model. We list 5-7 companies and pass on the 95% that are good but just don’t fit what we are looking for.
If you haven’t had a chance to log-on and review our offerings you can join MicroVentures for free. We hope you sign up and help us raise the next $50 million.
Bill
