Nicole Moss is an attorney with the law firm of Campbell & Riggs, P.C., where she focuses on taking startup companies from inception to liquidity, as well as other corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions and private securities transactions. Previous experience includes: serving as General Counsel to a small investment fund in Houston; advising private equity and venture capital clients in fund formation and M&A activities as an attorney in the Boston office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; and serving as marketing and programs manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship Center. Prior to that, Nicole founded and ran BluePrint, a provider of non-core services to startups in and around Boston and also recruited founding team and advisory board members for startups at Cambridge Incubator. Nicole is a guest lecturer for the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston. She is licensed in Texas and Massachusetts.
1. Crowdfunding Snapshot
Company Name&
Website
Type Focus How it Works To-Date Statistics
(if/as available)
The Awesome Foundation
(awesomefoundation.org)
(awesomehouston.org)
Microfunding “Forwarding the interest
of awesomeness in the
universe.”
$1000 grants to award-winning
applicants; no strings, winners submit
an approvable application
67 Chapters, 12 Countries
$497,000 Granted
497 Projects Funded
Pledgie
(pledgie.com)
Microfunding/
P2P Donation
Mostly nonprofits,
including open-source
projects, but for-profits
can seek money
Free to start, anyone can create a
campaign, Pledgie keeps 3% of anything
raised; no pre-screening, relies on
community to flag bad actors
Social Venture Partners
(svpi.org)
Microfunding Nonprofits Set up like a venture fund but no
monetary returns
2500 partners, 29 cities, 4
countries
SoMoLend
(somolend.com)
P2P Debt Small businesses Portal between prospective lenders and
startups; startups apply & lenders
(including AIs) accept/reject
Prosper
(prosper.com)
P2P Debt Anyone Borrowers can get unsecured loans
from $2k - $25k at rates from 6.5%; site
charges 0.5% - 5% of loan in fees.
Borrowers post information (less than
“campaign”) & investors select
borrowers.
1.6M members
$400M+ in funded loans
Mosaic
(JoinMosaic.com)
P2P Debt Solar-Powered Projects Connects investors to solar projects; AIs
only
$1.1M invested
100% on time repayment
Kiva
(kiva.org)
Microlending
P2P Debt
Entrepreneurs in
underserved
communities worldwide
Institutional lenders (“Field Partners”)
lend money on a microfinance basis,
then flip loans up to individuals who
can lend (or donate) – either way, no
returns on loan
2005 launch
1M+ borrowers
915k+ lenders
$418M+ in loans
99.0% repayment rate
LendingClub
(lendingclub.com)
P2P Debt Agnostic, but strict –
approve only 10% of all
applicants
More for investment-grade lending
than for entrepreneurial borrowing, but
if you can get it, rates are pretty low;
registered with SEC, restricted to AIs
2006 launch
$1.5B lent
2. Lendio
(lendio.com)
(f/k/a FundingUniverse)
Lending
Match
Qualified small
businesses
Match small businesses with lending
sources (banks, credit unions, not
individuals). Like lendingtree.com for
small business.
$240M+ loans
Startups.co
(startups.co)
Funding
Match
Helps entrepreneurs
through the fundraising
process
Maintains a database of capital sources
accessible for a fee; advises on strategy
for engagement fees; provides free
information
Cofolio
(mycofolio.com)
Funding
Match
Connects small
businesses with local
investors (AI & qualified
non-AI)
Small businesses create a profile;
investors submit indications of interest;
once target reach, funding closes. In
beta – free for now; will be $50/month
listing fee, no % of amounts raised.
Causes.com
(causes.com)
Donation Issues-focused non-
profits
Provides platform & tools to raise
funds, but also awareness and actions
other than donations (petition, boycott,
etc.)
153M users
1B actions taken (self-
reported)
142 countries
Crowdrise
(crowdrise.com)
Donation Cause-based Free to use; transaction fee covers
administrative costs of running site
FirstGiving
(firstgiving.com)
Donation Empower passionate
nonprofit supporters to
raise more money for
their causes
Partner with nonprofits to execute
campaigns, allow for individual
fundraisers to contribute through their
own unique pages
Over 10 years old
8,000+ nonprofit users
13M+ online donors
$1B+ raised to date
GoFundMe
(gofundme.com)
Donation Platform includes
volunteering, super-
micro (birthday party)
Razoo
(razoo.com)
Donation Cause-based; includes
ancillary fundraising tools
StartSomeGood
(startsomegood.com)
Donation/
Rewards
Social good projects Social change projects (non- and for-
profits) raise funds
Peerbackers
(peerbackers.com)
Donation/
Rewards
(some)
Mostly individual need,
educational, non-profits;
seeks to fund
entrepreneurs
Donation or P2P Rewards Model with
social component. If funding goal isn’t
met, but enterprise goal can still be
met, funds can be retained.
5% fee on funds; 2.9% fee
for transactions, which
goes to PayPal
3. Kickstarter
(kickstarter.com)
P2P Rewards Charitable causes,
startups, creative
projects
“P2P Rewards Model” : fund seekers
create a page explaining their need,
target, closing date; rewards to funders
at various contribution levels including
in some cases the finished product
(advance viewing of film, download
album, widget…)
91K+ campaigns
38K+ successful ones
$533M+ raised
$443M+ collected
All or nothing model
5% fee on success
IndieGoGo
(indiegogo.com)
P2P Rewards Charitable causes,
startups, creative
projects
P2P Rewards Model 100,000+ campaigns
4% fee on success
8% fee on funds if miss
goal & collect
RocketHub
(rockethub.com)
P2P Rewards Art, science, business,
social good projects
P2P Rewards Model Lower fees than most: 4%
of amount funded if
campaign succeeds, 8% if
not; 4% credit card fees
Startup Addict
(startupaddict.com)
P2P Rewards Any, mostly creative P2P Rewards Model Launched 2007;
floundering: <15 projects
New Jelly
(newjelly.com)
P2P Rewards Creative projects P2P Rewards Model
Fundable
(fundable.com)
P2P Rewards
& Equity
Startups P2P Rewards Model or receive equity
(available to AIs only, disclosures
required). Monthly charge of $99 for
the duration of the campaign.
Launched 2012
RockThePost.com P2P Rewards
& CF Equity
Startups Expanded from P2P Rewards; CF for
Equity open only to AIs for now.
Christie Street P2P Rewards Startups – products,
inventor-focused
P2P Rewards with additional support
for investors including patent filing;
offers product validation and
investment “insurance”; post-campaign
purchases supported
Crowdfunder
(crowdfunder.com)
P2P Rewards
& CF Equity
(pending)
Startups Small-time P2P (only 9 campaigns, 5 of
which are funded and closed); CF Equity
(and maybe debt) not available, even to
AIs
4. AngelList
(angellist.com)
CF Equity / VC
Platform
Startups CF for equity open only to AIs for now;
anyone can browse companies, learn
about the team, previous funding
rounds& job openings
FundersClub
(thefundersclub.com)
CF Equity / VC
Platform
Startups CF for equity open only to AIs for now Almost $4M invested
CircleUp
(circleup.com)
CF Equity Later stage startups:
$1M+ revenue, consumer
products
CF for equity open only to AIs for now
WeFunder
(wefunder.com)
CF Equity Startups CF for equity open only to AIs for now
Invested.In
(invested.in)
CF Equity
(with some
P2P)
Startups Platform built, awaiting SEC rules to
open CF Equity aspect; current projects
are all under 5% funded)
EarlyShares
(earlyshares.com)
CF Equity Startups CF for equity open only to AIs for now
IRAVest
(iravest.com)
CF Equity
(pending)
Uses IRA funds for
crowdfund investing
It’s unclear how this works, site is shut
down after announcement of
partnership with Crowdfund Capital
Advisors & GATE Global Impact. Will
this connect to other crowdfund sites
or will it be limited to issuers hosted by
CCA? Stay tuned…
Launched 2009
CrowdIt
(crowdit.com)
CF Equity Startups CF for equity, seeks to be a “virtual
incubator”, launches 6/4/13
SeedInvest
(seedinvest.com)
CF Equity Connects AIs to startups,
small businesses
Now: highly curated investment broker
Coming: CF platform
BoostFunder.com
(boostfunder.com)
CF ->
Incubator
Startups, mostly
consumer-focused
internet & mobile
Broke off from Invested.In (original
partner) to be an incubator/accelerator
Return on Change
(returnonchange.com)
CF Equity Startups CF for equity, launch pending
5. Also:
Company Focus
Quirky(quirky.com) Site to submit inventions; receive crowd-sourced input on various aspects (or influence
new products); sell/buy new products
CrowdTilt(crowdtilt.com) Very micro: P2P contributions to co-fund event or raise money to benefit a single member
International:
FundedByMe
(FundedByMe.com)
CF & rewards-
based
Startups – creative,
lotech & hitech located
anywhere in the world
Actual equity crowdfunding, in Sweden, because it is legal
there. Vetted companies go through “pre-round” to establish
interest then “open round” where investors actually invest
CrowdCube
(crowdcube.com)
CF Equity Actual equity crowdfunding in UK; companies are vetted then
open to investment
Funding Circle
(fundingcircle.com)
CF Debt Actual debt crowdfunding in UK
Ancillary Services:
Company Focus
Crowdfund Capital Advisors
(crowdfundcapitaladvisors.com)
Consulting & advisory firm: works with government & ancillary to create crowdfunding-
friendly environment; works with funds to join ecosystem
CrowdCheck(crowdcheck.com) Due diligence for investors; disclosures for companies; compliance for portals
SecondMarket(secondmarket.com) Portal for secondary market for private securities
Arctic Island(arcticisland.com) Crowdfunding software
Crowdnetic(crowdnetic.com) Develops & integrates funding portal platform technology; founded 2011
CrowdSourcing(crowdsourcing.org) Aggregates information on crowdsourcing & crowdfunding; founded 2010
Crowdfunding Roadmap
(crowdfundingroadmap.com)
Advises startups on crowdfunding; advocate of crowdfunding
Massolution(massolution.com) Research, advisory & implementation services – develop & build crowdfunding platforms
Launcht(launch.com) Crowdfunding software