Entrepreneurship | April 7, 2021

Crowdfunding’s awesome month

Amy Cortese
ImpactAlpha Editor

Amy Cortese

ImpactAlpha, April 7 – “Regulation crowdfunding” investments raised $60 million last month, led by offerings like Arlan Hamilton’s Backstage Capital and online digital marketplace Gumroad. The total was nearly double the capital raised in February, itself a record.

Behind the jump: New rules went into effect in mid-March that boost the amount startups can raise to $5 million, up from $1.07 million. The updated rules also enabled crowdfunding investors to be grouped into a single “special purpose vehicle,” an appealing feature for venture-backed startups that want to keep their cap tables simple. The new rules are drawing more and better startups, as well as individual investors eager to get in on the action for as little as $100.  

Y not?

On Monday, 39 Y Combinator companies launched campaigns on WeFunder (itself an alumnus of the accelerator) where individuals can invest in startups on the same terms as professional investors. Among the lineup: Airthium, a startup developing long-duration, low-cost batteries that use ammonia and molten nitrate salt to store energy ; Unschool, an upskilling startup based in India; and Macromoltek, a women-led firm using data modelling to create custom antibodies. 

Funding the funders

Wefunder has raised nearly $6 million on Honeycomb Credit, a Pittsburgh-based crowdfunding portal that recently closed a $1.7 seed round to support its national expansion. Crowdfunding platform Republic raised $36 million in Series A to fuel its growth last month.