Funderbeam wrapped on Tuesday largest ever equity crowdfunding campaign in Estonia, raising offers from investors worth 455,000 euros.
The issue was oversubscribed as the firm aimed to raise 150,000-400,000 euros., so syndicate manager will have to offer investors slightly smaller commitments than what they made or rule out the last offers.
“The lead investor has decided to send out proposals to all backers, so we will go above the 400k maximum goal we set,” said a spokesman for the company.
Last month Funderbeam raised $2.6 million from investors including Tim Draper, UK-based VC IQ Capital partners, and Thomson Reuters, and opened the investment round to all other investors on its own platform.
Funderbeam launched in April the world’s first primary and secondary market for early-stage startup investments, starting to bring liquidity to a market where investors have had to wait years for an exit.
“Over the past 10 years, stock markets have stopped working. They’re just not functioning anymore. Companies used to go public to gain access to growth capital, now they list for cashing out. Angels, VC’s, and private equity is gradually replacing the need, but the flow is “offline” on papers and there is no liquidity,” Draper said in a statement last month.
On Funderbeam investors can pool their money across borders to raise capital for startups. And for the first time ever, startup investors can trade their investments on an online aftermarket secured by the blockchain technology.
For startups, the marketplace provides a new way to raise capital globally and solves also the challenge of having to deal with many small investors in early days of building the company, something typical for equity crowdfunding companies.
To date, Funderbeam has launched six successful funding campaigns, and all these investments are now tradable on the blockchain.
Editor’s note: Adds comment in para 3.
