Wefunder is leading the movement to integrate Community Rounds for any startup that has, or wants to, build a strong community of supporters and evangelists. A community round is a funding round where anyone, including customers, users, community members, friends and family, can invest in a business for as little as $100.

Wefunder has played a fundamental role in revolutionizing the impact and opportunity in the crowdfunding equity regulatory market. Wefunder helped create the industry in 2012 and worked alongside Congress to pass new laws. Wefunder then worked to fundamentally change the landscape of startup funding – creating a whole new market for investments accessible to everyone. Starting in May 2016, thanks to a new law called Regulation Crowdfunding, it became legal for everyone to invest small amounts of money in the startups they believed in. But it took until March 2021 that the laws to be reformed are applicable and attractive to all businesses.

“One of the most powerful forces in the world is when someone believes in you and backs them up with a bit of their own money. Wefunder now enables that to happen at scale,” said Nick Tommarello, CEO and Co-Founder by Wefunder. “It’s a mark of prestige when a startup hosts a Community Round. It’s hard to build a business that your customers believe in so much that they actually want to invest their hard-earned money in the success of the business.”

These venture capital-backed companies are hosting a community ride on Wefunder this month:

• Collapse – the easiest place to start coding, building, deploying and hosting apps, collaboratively. Replit’s mission is to bring the next billion software creators online and has raised over $120 million in venture capital. Replit launched its Community tour on Wefunder early April with more $5.7M booked in less than 24 hours¹.
• “Without our amazing community, Replit wouldn’t be what it is today,” said Amjad Massad, CEO of Replit. “We know this, and while we continue to say this, we’ve worked hard to find a way to show it. We’re excited to work with Wefunder to ensure our community members have the opportunity to directly participate in our success.”
• Alto – is a self-directed IRA solution that allows individuals to invest their tax-efficient retirement funds in alternative assets such as startups, real estate, farmland, securitized wine and art, and crypto. viola lifted $70.3M to date, including a recent Series B, and will launch its next community round in line with its mission to make investing in private offerings accessible to everyone.
• “Enabling your team and the public to invest is at the heart of what we do at Alto,” said Eric Satz, Founder and CEO of Alto. “Providing investment access to everyone, your followers, your customers and beyond will benefit any brand, and a community ride strengthens those bonds.”

Almost $442 million has been raised on Wefunder to date, and more than half has been raised in the past year due to the latest round of regulatory improvements. There are now more than 1.4M investor accounts on Wefunder who have collectively backed over 1,800 founders, but unlike traditional [accredited] investors, Wefunder investors invest in median $250. Companies hold a community ride because of the obvious benefits of turning fans into investors.

“When a community of users loves a product so much that they want to personally invest in it, that’s great validation of the product. I support founders who bring ownership opportunities to their community,” said Andrew Chen, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and investor in Replit, which just raised their community round.

With Wefunder, people can invest in the startup market for as little as $100. Wefunder makes it as easy as possible for founders to open funding rounds to their community. Community Rounds are changing the future of investing; share ownership with customers and fans. To support the startup you love, visit: wefunder.com and to learn more about Community Rounds, visit communityround.com.

About Wefunder:
Wefunder is a platform that helps founders organize a Community Round with their most passionate customers and fans. Based at San Francisco With a team spread across the country, Wefunder has fundamentally changed the regulatory space for crowdfunding by making it accessible to everyone at scale. Wefunder is a Public Benefit Corp, not just for its mission to fix capitalism, but because that’s how businesses should be run. To find out more visit communityround.com Where wefunder.com.

¹ Replit is testing the waters to gauge investor interest in an offering under the Crowdfunding Regulation. To see here for important legal disclosures. Investing involves risk. Wefunder does not endorse, recommend or advise investing in any company.

SOURCE Wefunder