Two organizations dedicated to helping founders raise funding have launched a partnership in an effort to better support the entrepreneurs they serve.
“Angels really fill that gap for early-stage companies but many companies are really not even ready for angels.”
– Sandi Gilbert
Equity crowdfunding platform Frontfundr and SeedUps Canada, which helps entrepreneurs prepare for investment, are combining their stengths to provide a more complete suite of tools to entrepreneurs they work with. Focused on the angel investing community with its dealflow bot AngelBot, SeedUps Canada says it has showcased over 50 entrepreneurs to its angel network, and its private capital market SaaS solution DealPoint has transacted over $4 million in exempt investment since its launch late last year.
“This partnership supports our joint mission to truly democratize investing in private companies in Canada,” said Peter Van Hoeken, founder of FrontFundr. “We are bringing together professional venture capital and everyday Canadians to invest in companies that they believe in.”
FrontFundr, a national Exempt Market Dealer, allows all Canadians to invest in early stage and growing private companies. It’s assisted more than 20 companies to raise a combined total of over $8 million. The partnership is meant to help entrepreneurs engage with new investors, while new post-investment technologies will help companies and shareholders better manage investments.
“Peter-Paul and I have long had similar visions to help entrepreneurs access capital in what we call the ‘funding gap’,” said Sandi Gilbert, founder of SeedUps. “By matching our resources with an entrepreneur’s needs, we can increase the probability of a successful outcome for the entrepreneur and its investors.”
Speaking with BetaKit, Gilbert said that SeedUps can help bring lead investments to Frontfundr, while Frontfundr can spot startups that SeedUps can help get prepared for investment. The two organizations have set up a weekly review session process where they evaluate if their inbound interest is more suitable for one or the other.
“We do a lot of work with companies to get them investor-ready, oftentimes Frontfundr will get a company that isn’t structured or ready to look for investment outside of family and friends. So we work with them to get their corporate records in order and structure deals and really get them ready to put their offering in front of investors,” Gilbert said.
On how this is addressing a funding gap in Canada, Gilbert, who is a chair of the board at the National Angel Capital Organization, said that the companies are targeting startups that are in between the friends and family round and VC financing. “Angels really fill that gap for early-stage companies but many companies are really not even ready for angels. That’s where Frontfundr can come in and help them get their initial funding to prove out their model and get to the stage where they attract bigger investments. The two of us address that gap of $250,000 to $2 million in capital.”