When equity crowdfunding materialized as a concept several years ago, it was promised as both an accessible on-ramp to the world of startup investing, as well as a valuable capital resource for early-stage businesses struggling to get a foot in the door with traditional VC.
While the concept (and excitement surrounding it) led to the birth of dozens of crowdfunding platforms - from SeedInvest to CrowdStreet to CircleUp - the sheer number of options naturally led to a dilution of truly fundable, scalable startups on any given platform.
Enter Newchip, an Austin-based investment marketplace aggregator, which just raised a $2 million seed round.
Newchip aggregates hundreds of investment opportunities from a number of platforms, allowing investors to put in as little as $100 in exchange for equity. In 2017, $300 million in investment capital was sought on Newchip by 800+ listed companies.
Investors in the company's seed round included JadeValue, Sputnik ATX, Youbi Capital, Yeoman and Polymath.
“We’re so excited about the partnerships we’ve brought on and the value each of the investors in this round brings to the table, said Newchip founder and CEO Ryan Rafols. "We started Newchip with a dream to help entrepreneurs, and now after bootstrapping the company, we’re able to finally accomplish what we set out to do.”
Added Suptnik ATX's Joe Merrill, “Newchip is bringing massive value to the industry and we love the team; they are helping democratize investing in high-growth startups. There are hundreds of crowd investing platforms and that's why aggregating them into a single market is such a revolutionary idea.”
Earlier this year, the startup reached a major milestone, making Apple’s Top 100 Finance apps list and is currently ranked #1 for startup investing.
