As equity crowdfunding is starting to become more widely accepted, even newer ways of funding and starting a company emerge. Take a look at the recently announced partnership between the originally Swedish crowdfunding company FundedByMe and the Danish accelerator program – Accelerace.
The two companies intend to both “push and pull” startups from and to one another. In other words, you could go through the Accelerace accelerator program and then immediately jump onto the FundedByMe crowdfunding platform in a few easy steps.
Alternatively, you could go to FundedByMe directly and then take part in the accelerator program after you are done. You could even include you intentions in your pitch, for example.
We have reached out to Christian Hoffmann from Accelerace to find more about how this is going to work exactly. According to Hoffman, there is great alignment between them and FundedByMe. Accelerace is looking for ways of raising capital for their portfolio companies and to find new dealflow of companies. FundedByMe, on the other hand, is interested in solid companies that can becomes successes on their platform.
Hoffman told us that they “are making sure that these cases are good and solid and have been tested all the way through. They are kind of ‘approved’ by us.* Additionally, Accelerace is acting as a sort-of mentor for companies that have an interesting idea but are perhaps lacking understanding of their business model, so they help them out before the companies go onto FundedByMe.
The first case for this new partnership is Water Surveillance, which is an Accelerace alumni that is solving the problem of monitoring humidity in buildings, especially right after water damage. You can find out more about them at their FundedByMe campaign page.
Christian Gabriel, Country Manager Denmark at FundedByMe also commented on the partnership saying that “most startups don’t just need funding but also advice and network. Accelerace does a great job, mentoring and improving startups. By combining the strength of the Accelerace and our platform, we can help improve and fund promising startups. Water Surveillance will be the first of many projects and will be an example of how accelerators and crowdfunding platforms can work together.“
This move is definitely a welcome one, as many entrepreneurs realize that money is by far not the only factor that contributes to the success of a company. In fact, people, connections and advice can often provide much more than a lump sum. This is also good for the backers, as 93,4% of the companies they have ever worked with are still alive and kicking.
