Equity crowdfunding offers a way for companies to raise money through the public sale of their own securities.
Passed by federal legislation in 2012 and fully approved by various regulatory bodies several years later, the concept was realized in Buffalo this year by entrepreneurs looking for new avenues to support their growth strategies.
Here are three local startups that are looking for backing from the public.
Arbol
Former M&T Bank colleagues Favio Osorio and David Gonzalez want to provide avenues to support low-income college students.
Arbol is itself a crowdfunding play – its platform will eventually seek to connect verified students to alumni and people from their hometowns or countries of origin.
So it makes sense that the company's first funding round will come through WeFunder. Arbol is looking to raise $100,000 to finish its tech buildout and support its launch in early 2022.
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Appetit
At its core, Appetit suggests a better deal for local restaurants compared to Uber Eats, DoorDash and GrubHub.
The company has grown quickly in Buffalo since it launched in 2020. Now the key is to introduce better software and to find the bandwidth to properly expand into new markets.
Led by CEO and co-founder Steve Ambrose, Appetit is raising toward a $250,000 goal on WeFunder.
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Thimble
Oscar Pedroso's STEM kits struck a rich vein of demand this year in K-12 school districts, with an opportunity to expand into new states.
This isn't Thimble's first rodeo with crowdfunding. The company launched one after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016.
The company has come a long way in understanding its product-market fit since then. Thimble is now working with 16 school districts across the U.S. and seeing interest that could increase that number quickly, according to Pedroso.
To support that goal, Thimble has raised $181,658 thus far in a crowdfunding campaign on Republic.
