The StartEngine Index: October 2018

The StartEngine Index: October 2018

October 2018

The following data covers Regulation Crowdfunding raises between May 16, 2016, and October 31, 2018. Data is sourced from all publicly disclosed Form C filings with the SEC, as well as public websites.

---

Standard Analysis

Index: 1517

On paper, it seemed like October could have been a slow month for Regulation Crowdfunding. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in a thrilling matchup against the Dodgers. The midterm elections were just around the corner, and so were the holidays. The elements combined to form a recipe to distract both entrepreneurs and investors.

Yet Regulation Crowdfunding had a big month. In fact, October set a new bar for the most capital raised in 2018. Previously, the biggest month was July with $10.7M raised. In October, entrepreneurs raised over $10.9M via Regulation Crowdfunding, bringing the total capital raised since inception to $151.7M. The Index grew 5.7% this month.

Top Campaigns in October

The top campaign in September is SeedInvest’s Inside.com Inc., a monetized newsletter founded by entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis that covers news topics and delivers them straight to subscribers’ inboxes. 

October was a big month for SeedInvest, StartEngine, and Wefunder, as each platform had 3 of the campaigns in October’s top 10.

Industry In October

The Food & Beverage industry raised over $2.2M in October, which again places it as the industry with the most momentum in October. To date, the Food & Beverage Industry has raised over $32.6M via Regulation Crowdfunding. Technology companies, which raised over $1.7M in October, have raised the second most capital since inception at $14.9M, less than half of what Food & Beverage companies have raised.

Funding Portals

To date, StartEngine has launched 360 Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, which accounts for 28.3% of offerings in the industry. Wefunder follows with 302 offerings and SeedInvest with 135.

State of Operation

With just over $2M raised in October, California remains at the top as the state raising the most capital through Reg CF. New York is in second with over $1.9M raised, and Pennsylvania in third with $1.2M raised.

Security Type

Common stock is the most popular security offering. To date, 385 offerings have sold common stock, 265 sold SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), and 245 offerings sold debt. Debt is particularly popular with companies in the Food & Beverage industry, which accounts for 85 of the debt offerings to date.

The “Other” category accounting for nearly 11% of offerings, includes various types of stock and token offerings, among other securities.

Did You Know?

The average age of a company that does a Regulation Crowdfunding offering is 1093 days, just two days shy of three years.

A company that does a Regulation Crowdfunding offering has, on average, 5 employees at the time of their raise.

Raising in Los Angeles

51

campaigns in progress — up 2 from last month

4

new offerings submitted to the SEC, down 1 from last month

~$694K

raised in October