The StartEngine Index: December 2017

Standard Analysis

Index: 859

In December, the Index grew 12%, countering suspicions that people don’t invest around the holidays.

Last time we saw the ball drop, in December of 2016, about $13M had been invested via Regulation Crowdfunding in the U.S. In 2017, that number grew by over 5X — totaling over $72M invested last year.

All in all, over $85.9M has been invested in Regulation Crowdfunding since inception.

Top Campaigns in December

Four companies enjoyed maximum raises in December, each reaching that $1.07M cap before the end of the month. One campaign, Waverly Labs, broke records on StartEngine by selling out in under 72 hours in November.

Campaigns must remain live for 21 days in Regulation Crowdfunding. Therefore, Waverly Labs continued to accept investments through December, qualifying it for this month’s count.

 

Gender

Gender data has remained consistent for the past few months, with female founders or founding teams with female members accounting for about 22% of campaigns.

This metric is consistent with dollar amounts raised as well. Last month,we reported 22% of total funds raised went to women or teams with female founders. That is to say, gender does not seem to affect the total amounts raised by campaigns.

 

Industry

This month, the Food & Beverage industry re-captured its share of the Reg CF industry, accounting for 30.3% of the market share, followed by Media & Entertainment at 14.8%, and Technology coming in a close third at 13.6%.

 

Type of Company

The mix of legal formation is showing a steady constant with 68% being Corporations and 32% Limited Liability Companies.

 

Type of Securities Offered

These numbers have remained consistent all year. Companies offering common shares are at 36% of the total raises, companies offering SAFE at 26%, and debt being the third most popular offering at 21%.

 

A handful of companies are now offering SAFTs or combinations of SAFTs and common stock. We look forward to tracking the progress of these offerings in 2018.

State of Operation

California closes out the year on top with a total of $33.8 million raised.Texas, New York, and Massachusetts follow in total amount raised, just as they have for the last six months.

For capital raised in December alone, new players Florida and Maryland made an appearance in the Top 5.

 

Funding Portals

Over the course of 2017 more and more funding portals launched campaigns, competing with the early front runner in the industry: Wefunder. By the end of 2017, StartEngine had closed a large gap. Other platforms like SeedInvest and Indiegogo saw continued growth as well.

 

Raising in Los Angeles

LA continues to be the county to watch. At $8.7 million raised since Reg CF’s inception, Silicon Beach has proven itself to be a leader in equity crowdfunding.

This month, there were more live campaigns from LA than ever before. However, the total capital raised saw a slight slow down.

Los Angeles County by the Numbers

35

campaigns in progress — up 5 from last month.

6

new campaigns submitted to the SEC in December. Down 5 from last month.

11

successful campaign closings in December.

~$480K

raised in December.