Wefunder Founder Review 2024
Wefunder helps private startups & small businesses raise money from the general public. This review is targeted towards founders & business owners considering whether to raise on Wefunder. If you want to learn more about investing on Wefunder, read this review.
My Take
Platform rating: 4/5
The bottom line: Wefunder makes it easy for startups & small businesses with existing communities to raise between $50,000 to $5 million. Wefunder may be an excellent option for startups wanting to reserve part of their round for their users, fans, and customers to invest alongside traditional venture capitalists and angel investors.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Wefunder has no hidden fees and price matches.
- Raising money from the crowd on Wefunder helps companies align the interests of their users, customers, and fans by turning them into investors motivated to help them succeed.
- Founders raise on their terms, allowing them to keep more control of their company instead of giving up a more significant percentage to venture capitalists.
- Companies can start raising money in 15 minutes on Wefunder.
- Wefunder allows you the option to raise an equity or debt round.
- Wefunder built simple software to help startups easily collect investments, create a teaser page, file legal compliance documents, and more.
- Wefunder uses SPVs to group investors into one entity on the cap table.
- Wefunder has a helpful team of experienced, mission-driven individuals who support companies with marketing and running their Wefunder campaigns.
Cons
- Raising money on Wefunder is a lot of work.
- Companies must do most of the marketing work before Wefunder puts them in front of their network of almost ~2 million users.
- Companies must disclose their financials to raise from the public on Wefunder.
- Wefunder charges investors fees on top of their investments, while competitors like Republic and StartEngine do not. This may impact who contributes to your Wefunder campaign and the amount you can raise on the platform.
- Raising capital through a crowdfunding platform like Wefunder may be viewed as a negative signal by professional investors, impacting your company’s ability to raise money down the road.
- Companies raising over $124K must pay an independent review (~$2K), and companies raising over $1.235M must pay for an audit (~$10K) by an independent CPA.
- Your offering on Wefunder is public for all to see. As a result, business weaknesses and secrets may be made public or criticized on social media—for example, this Axios article on Substack’s Wefunder raise.
- Managing hundreds of crowdfunding investors may take up valuable team bandwidth.
Wefunder is best for:
- Founders of companies with large communities of users, customers, and fans. On average, about 70% of the total raise comes from the company’s network and about 30% from existing Wefunder investors.
- Y Combinator (YC) startups. Wefunder has helped over 100 YC startups raise money.
- Founders of companies building products & services that directly improve people’s lives. Wefunder investors are excited to invest in good things for the world.
- Moonshot startups. Wefunder investors are excited to support flying cars, nuclear fusion reactors, and more.
- Founders of companies that recently hit significant milestones. Many Wefunder investors index on traction and get excited about investing in growing companies.
Wefunder by the Numbers
Raised for startups: $617 million
Number of founders funded: 2,833
Jobs created: 38,636
Follow-on financing after Wefunder: $5 billion
Users: 1,922,710
Wefunder Fees & Founder FAQs
Who can raise on Wefunder: Companies formed in the United States and Europe. Wefunder accepts nearly any type of company, including local coffee shops or high-tech software startups, with a few exceptions.
Wefunder Fees: Wefunder charges 7.5% of the total raise if you’re successful. For example, if you raise $100K, Wefunder will charge you $7,500 upon close. No hidden fees and no upfront fees ever. If you find a better platform price, Wefunder will match it.
What does Wefunder do for me:
- Provide ready-to-use standard investment contracts.
- Polish your pitch page.
- Promote you to their community of 1,922,710 users.
What does Wefunder expect from you:
- Create your Wefunder pitch page.
- Market your campaign to users, customers, fans, friends, and family to invest.
- Work with a CPA to get your financials in order.
- Write an update for your annual report.
Top Companies
Founder Testimonials
- “Once you have a strong community and thousands of members in it, then a Community Round is a meaningful way to involve them in your company’s future.” - Immad Akhund, CEO of Mercury, raised $4,914,037 on Wefunder.
- “We build tools in response to the behavior we see in the community, and people notice that. So when we opened our community round on Wefunder, it went viral and filled up super fast.” - Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, raised $5,240,140 on Wefunder.
- “We wish we could have done the whole $15 million round all on crowdfunding because of how easy it was, and how exciting it was for everybody.” - Charles Harrison, COO of Synthesis, raised $2,987,382 on Wefunder.
- “We would be the first Black-owned curly hair business to be community funded, and then we could return money to our community. I think that’s dope. There’s no better story, in my opinion.” - Kim Lewis, CEO of CurlMix, raised $4,537,310 on Wefunder.
- “You have this network of people who are literally invested in your company... And if I tell them about any new product, they will tell everyone they know. It’s incredible. It’s invaluable exposure.” - Josh Hare, CEO of Hops & Grain, raised $1 million on Wefunder.
- “Raising on Wefunder saved our company from folding... we wouldn’t have lived long enough to see grants come in, hire, build an MVP, or close a round big enough to get a chance to treat dogs with a novel therapeutic” - Wesley Wierson, CEO of LEAH Labs, raised $866,493 on Wefunder.
- “The best thing about Wefunder was that we raised $2M in less than a week. Also, my relationship with my mentor Daniel Ha has been super helpful. He spent a lot of time with us and changed the future of our company forever.” - Renji Bijoy, CEO of Immersed, raised $2 million+ on Wefunder.
- “Wefunder’s XX program was the best thing that could have happened to us. It was a major reason why we got into YC. The whole team combines the rare feat of both being extremely accomplished, and among the friendliest and most supportive people we have met. We feel like part of the family.” - Mike Mahlkow, CEO of Blair, received funding from XX by Wefunder.
Is Wefunder right for you?
Wefunder is an excellent option for startups and small businesses who believe that turning their fans, customers, and users into investors will contribute to their long-term success. Additionally, companies who fundraise at a position of strength alongside interest from professional investors, similar to Mercury and Replit, will have an easier time raising money on the platform and minimize the chances of any potential adverse signaling effects from crowdfunding impacting them.
Wefunder may not be the best option for early-stage high-growth startups with alternative financing options, like raising from tier-one venture capitalists and noteworthy angel investors. Without a large community, it isn’t easy to have much success on a platform like Wefunder, given the amount of work it takes to get a campaign off the ground. Founders attracting these types of investors are better off taking the money in front of them and getting back to building their startups.
