StartEngine has emerged as one of the leading equity crowdfunding platforms available to entrepreneurs today.
At the time of writing, the platform has empowered creators to fund more than 500 offerings, raising more than $350M from their 400K investor network in the process.
StartEngine also accounted for 30% of all dollars raised through equity crowdfunding in 2020, second only behind WeFunder. To see these platforms compared head-to-head, visit this insightful article.
Needless to say, StartEngine is a powerful tool for startups to raise funds from the crowd in exchange for future equity in a company’s profits.
And you could be the next great success story!
In this article, we’re taking you through five exemplary StartEngine campaigns, and giving you some insights as to what you can learn from them for your own project.
Let’s get started!
Digital Brands Group
Raised on StartEngine: $5,125,075.94
Minimum Investment: $500
Investors: 4,1000
Digital Brands Group creates a digital-first portfolio for apparel brands to increase revenue, decrease operating expenses, and establish brand longevity. The company has also raised tens of millions outside of StartEngine, but their crowdfunding round was one of their most successful.
While equity will always be the leading incentive for any equity crowdfunding campaign, DBG did a great job of further attracting investors through offering unique perks in the form of store credit. This is a good idea to note for your own campaign — how can you make the offering sweeter for potential customers, clients, and investors alike?
Today, the company is listed on the NASDAQ as DGBI and is traded at approximately $3 per share. But for those who have gotten in on the ground floor, they could see a big opportunity for pay-offs down the road.
Tap Systems, Inc.
Raised on StartEngine: $1,067,513
Minimum Investment: $250
Investors: 2,862
Tap Systems, Inc. is a wearable keyboard and mouse controller that allows you to enter text and operate your device by simply tapping your fingers on a surface. It’s a wildly inventive tech product — capitalizing on the tech-obsessed investor network that is prevalent on the StartEngine platform.
The big takeaway from this campaign is their killer pitch video. Traditionally, equity campaigns haven’t put much investment into sleek, provoking, engaging video content. But Tap Systems, Inc. took a different route, with great results.
An amazing video can be the difference between a campaign that has a modestly successful fundraiser and one that makes a big splash. You should consider hiring a video expert or agency to make your video — it’s a small up-front investment that could lead to a significant payoff in the form of increased investors.
Headquartered in Pasadena, California, Tap Systems, Inc. has raised more than $5M to date. They currently sell their product for about $200 on Amazon, and have seen some consistent sales that could lead to dividends in the near future.
Monogram Orthopaedics
Raised on StartEngine: $7,400,360
Minimum Investment: $250.80
Investors: 4,903
Monogram Orthopaedics is another tech company (recognizing a theme?) that specializes in cutting-edge joint reconstruction robots. At the time of writing, their campaign still isn’t complete, and they’ve already raised almost $7.5M.
Pretty incredible stuff.
Something to note about this campaign is the first headline of their campaign page: ‘Reasons to Invest.’ They give investors tangible, compelling reasons to fork over cash by showing past success, projections, and market size.
This is a great strategy to emulate with your own campaign. Catch people’s eyes with financial statistics and you’ll be in great shape for instant trust!
We’ll have to wait and see where Monogram Orthopaedics ends up in the coming years. But they’re already set to start generating revenue in 2021 — which could lead to big-time profits with a buy-and-hold strategy.
StorEn Technologies, Inc.
Raised on StartEngine: $5,085,642
Minimum Investment: $480
Investors: 4,027
StorEn Technologies, Inc. is another project that hasn’t wrapped up their StartEngine fundraising round at the time of writing — but the storable energy company is already showing real promise.
I want to highlight some of the reward offerings that StorEn Technologies, Inc. brings to the table. With the $480 minimum investment, investors receive a 10% discount on the retail price of one battery. This works to attract customers to the product and convert them into investors, as well.
As you move up the investment tier, yet more incentives are offered. For the highest tier of a $20,000 investment, the investor receives the same 10% discount and 10% additional bonus shares.
You could consider structuring your reward tiers in a similar fashion. This will prompt people to invest more in your company with the promise of additional shares!
Atlis Motor Vehicles, Inc.
Raised on WeFunder: $1,049,296
Minimum Investment: $296.50
Investors: 1,856
Atlis Motor Vehicles is a transportation technology company building electric work vehicles. In this case, I want to direct you to how they outlined their campaign page.
The company organized their pitch with pertinent headlines that answered investors questions, such as:
- Problem
- Solution
- Opportunity
- Who Wants to Buy
- Competition Analysis
This is one of the most thorough campaign pages that I’ve seen on StartEngine. You can tell they put real thought into a full-scale, thorough pitch that covered all the bases, thus leading investors to feel confident in putting their money forth.
An investment in Atlis Motor Vehicles is a long-term play with hopes of a high ROI when they do go public, though they haven’t yet announced a date to do so. It will be interesting to see how the company pans out when they make it to market!
Conclusions and Resources
Because equity crowdfunding is so new, we haven’t yet seen big dividends paid out by any given company. However, with tons of companies coming away with huge hauls from their crowdfunding round, the expectation is that several companies — including the ones listed above — are set to make waves in the market going forward.
We hope that this list of StartEngine success stories has given you an idea of what’s possible through equity crowdfunding, as well as provide you with some valuable suggestions as you consider launching your own campaign.
Want to learn more about equity crowdfunding? Check out these resources:
- Kickstarter vs. StartEngine (Video)
- How Equity Crowdfunding Works (Video)
- What is Equity Crowdfunding? (Video)
Also, you should stay in the loop about all things crowdfunding with the consistent educational resources we put out here at CrowdCrux:
- Subscribe to the once-weekly newsletter
- Check out the Crowdfunding Demystified Podcast
- Subscribe to the Youtube Channel
- Find the book: Equity Crowdfunding Explained
Thinking about launching your own campaign? We’re one of the few agencies that are equipped to work on equity campaigns, with demonstrable successes in the past. Book a coaching call with our founder Salvador Briggman to call upon our expert team!
