-
What is KingsCrowd?
KingsCrowd is a ratings and analytics platform that helps investors track all startup investment opportunities available on platforms like Republic, SeedInvest, Wefunder, and StartEngine. We take all the startups that we track and rate them based on five key metrics to identify the most attractive investment opportunities according to our methodology. In summary, we make startup investing accessible to you through in-depth, independent ratings and analytics.
-
What is equity crowdfunding? Is it legal?
Equity crowdfunding is a legal and legitimate source of capital raising for startups and companies. The JOBS Act of 2012 was signed into law by President Obama and is recognized by the SEC.
-
What’s the difference between KingsCrowd and SeedInvest/Republic/StartEngine/Wefunder?
KingsCrowd is a ratings and analytics platform that helps investors track all startup investment opportunities raising on online portals like Republic, SeedInvest, Wefunder, and StartEngine. We are not an online crowdfunding portal ourselves. We take all the startups that we track and rate them based on five key metrics to identify the most attractive investment opportunities according to our methodology. To sum it up, we aggregate the opportunities available, take in data on them, use a little human judgement, and determine a rating for companies raising on the above online portals (and others).
-
I’m new to the equity crowdfunding space, where do I start?
Welcome to the world of equity crowdfunding! If you’re interested in investing in companies raising online, then you can invest in them through online portals like SeedInvest, Republic, and more. When you’ve found a company or startup that catches your eye and you want to research them to see if it’s a good investment, KingsCrowd makes that process easier for interested investors by aggregating most of the opportunities available and rating them based on our proprietary ratings and analytics model.
For more information, check out some of our educational articles like “What is Regulation CF?” and “What are the Risks and Rewards of Investing through Equity Crowdfunding?”
-
Should I invest in X company? / Is it worth investing in X company?
Unfortunately, we cannot tell you whether or not you should invest in specific startups. That decision ultimately resides on you. We also cannot provide any guidance or help you in your decision-making process if you are not a paying KingsCrowd customer. The ratings, research, and analytics we provide are our bread and butter. We encourage you to become a Pro level subscriber in order to receive the full benefits of our ratings and analyses.
-
What are company X’s future returns? How do I make money investing in these companies?
KingsCrowd is a ratings and analytics service for the online private markets. It’s incredibly difficult to predict the future expected returns of privately held companies that do not regularly disclose their financials. The KingsCrowd team does everything it can to predict shareholder value, but at the end of the day, it’s a private company. That’s the world we live in, and it’s incredibly exciting!
-
How long before I see a return on my investment?
Early-stage startups generally take 7+ years on average before they go public. Mergers and acquisitions are much harder to predict, but we can safely say that it’ll take quite some time before you’re likely to see a return.
-
What is Company X’s ticker/stock symbol?
Startups raising online (the companies that KingsCrowd rates and analyzes) are all privately owned. They are not traded publicly and thus do not have tickers or stock symbols.
-
I invested in Company X, what’s the status of the company?
If you’ve invested in a company, you should either approach the company directly or visit the funding portal (SeedInvest, Republic, Wefunder, etc…) through which you made the investment in order to get updates on their status.
-
How can I unsubscribe from KingsCrowd?
Shoot us an email at support@kingscrowd.com and we’ll get you sorted out! We understand it’s difficult that you can’t unsubscribe yourself, but we’re quickly working on a fix!
-
Can I raise capital on KingsCrowd?
KingsCrowd is not a FINRA-regulated platform nor a member of FINRA. As such, companies looking to raise cannot do so on our platform. We simply rate the companies raising on the various platforms using our proprietary ratings and analytics platform!
-
Can I invest in KingsCrowd?
Unfortunately, we closed our fundraising round in March, and we are currently not accepting any additional crowdfunding investment. We’ll be sure to alert everyone if and when we do raise again though!
-
Is KingsCrowd recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)?
KingsCrowd is not recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and will not need to be regulated by them as we are merely a ratings and analytics service.
-
What are the rules regarding foreign investors?
Read our article here, but in short, it depends on the country you’re investing from and their rules and regulations on the online private markets.
-
How do I get featured by KingsCrowd?
At this time, KingsCrowd produces feature-length reports on 3-5 deals per week that particularly impress us.
If your company was not selected for a feature report, it likely was not selected by the team to feature. It will still receive a rating via our comprehensive, data-driven platform (currently in beta).
Alternatively, we could have simply not gotten to it yet. It takes about a week for us to aggregate companies, assign them to our writers, and copy edit work. We want to make sure that the work we put forward is the very best. We want to show our readers just how great your company is. Please understand that this takes time and we appreciate your patience!
-
What does KingsCrowd look for in a company?
You can check out the five-point rating methodology we use to learn more about how our analysts evaluate companies.
-
Am I raising this round on a platform covered by KingsCrowd?
KingsCrowd evaluates all deals listed on Fundanna, MicroVentures, Netcapital, SeedInvest, NextSeed, Republic, StartEngine, TruCrowd, Wefunder, WunderFund, Buy The Block, Crowdsource Funded, Fundopolis, Honeycomb, Localstake, MainVest, Mr. Crowd, Razitall, Euqifund CFP, and WaterWorks. Occasionally, we feature other platforms.
Don’t see your platform? Reach out!
-
What are the different types of reviews released by KingsCrowd?
KingsCrowd produces 4 primary content types: features, founder profiles, ratings, and reports. Each catgory is broken down below-
-
What online equity platform is best?
Not all platforms are created equal. We at KingsCrowd recognize that different platforms suit different company needs.
Some platforms have a much higher deal volume than others. These include — according to dollars raised — StartEngine, Wefunder, Republic, NetCapital, and MicroVentures. On the other hand, some platforms (like Mainvest) host primarily debt-based deals. Others like Netcapital, offer a secondary trading platform, and StartEngine also acts as a broker-dealer. Finally, platforms like SeedInvest host Reg A, 506c, and 506b raises in addition to their Reg CF raises.
We suggest you choose a platform based on what best suits the needs of your company and your raise.
-
How much money can I expect to be funneled into my raise after receiving a positive review?
We have definitely seen an uptick in commitments from raises that we rate positively. It is really hard, however, to be absolutely certain that it is from us, as there are a million other variables to take into account. We do, however, attach bitly links in our backend to track how much traffic we drive to a raise page.
Additionally, we work on behalf of investors, so this is not something we track closely. Our focus is enabling investors to make informed decisions.
-
Who is in your network? Who consumes this content?
KingsCrowd currently has 366000 users and counting! Our users tend to be active crowdfunding investors (5 or more investments in the asset class per year). Our average user is 33-55 years old and has $150-200K in annual income. At this time, we do not have data on what percent of our users are accredited investors.
-
What is KingsCrowd’s business model? How does KingsCrowd make money?
We aggregate deals from all the platforms and produce the content outlined above. To access this data and research, investors pay us a monthly subscription fee.
We never take money from founders or platforms.
-
How do I get into the KingsCrowd’s newsletter?
Deals that are highlighted in long-form feature reports (Top Deals and Deal To Watch) are featured in the weekly newsletter, as well as some occasional guest features! Additionally, some founder profiles will be featured.
-
Something in my company’s report is incorrect; how do I get this fixed?
If something within your company’s analytics page is incorrect, please reach out to help@kingscrowd.com. We do our best to fix these errors as soon as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience.
-
How do I get a Founder Profile?
Reach out! You can shoot us an email at help@kingscrowd.com. Please understand that we do our best to accommodate all requests and will proceed in the order that we receive them, occasionally taking into account the close date of the raise. The process involves a call with one of our analysts that is then followed up with a q&a form.
We can’t wait to hear more about what you are building! (And if we publish a profile on you, please feel free to share it!)
-
What makes a Top Deal?
A Top Deal is one that wows the majority of our analysts in all five of our ratings categories. If you are a Top Deal founder, congrats! We were quite impressed.
-
How do I get labeled as a Hot Deal or a deal with strong momentum?
We label Hot Deals based on a deal’s momentum which consists of the weekly and aggregate commitments throughout a raise compared to all the other companies in our funnel.
-
New information/data has become available on my company since my raise went live. How can I be reconsidered?
First and foremost, know that we base all of our ratings on what is available to the public. This is not only to make sure our investors are getting valid information, but also to protect your privacy as a founder. Please know that we take all information, specifically financials, directly from forms filed with the SEC. If this data has changed, our rating will likely still reflect what has been filed and validated.
Additionally, KingsCrowd always reevaluates companies when they begin new raises. We love seeing growth and change. Frequently, we report on companies for the first time upon a second or third raise. If we published a report on a prior raise, we will often follow up with an update on what has changed.
Please understand, however, that once we make a decision, that decision is rarely changed. It is our priority to provide our readership with consistent, accurate data.
-
What are other founders saying about being rated by KingsCrowd?
“Receiving a recommendation has had a direct and quantifiable impact on our fundraising. It’s independant, credible and outside review, that makes it worth paying attention to.”
-Tom Lix
Founder & CEO
Cleveland Whisky“In the new world of RegCFs, there is more chatter than clarity. KingsCrowd brought that clarity to us and our potential investors.”
-Nate Tomasi
COO
MyCroft AI“As a founder, the value of third party rating can’t be overstated. We know that the detail and insight KingsCrowd provided gave investors and potential investors the depth they look for when making their investment decisions”
-Anne Chambers
Founder & CEO
Certifiably -
I got featured by KingsCrowd! What’s next?
If you received a Top Deal or a Deal To Watch rating, congratulations! This is a huge accomplishment and means that our analysts truly believe in what you are building.
Share this with your friends, family, and other networks. Show your investors. Post it to social media and spread the word, you earned it! We can’t wait to see where your company goes and wish you the best of luck.
-
My question isn’t listed…
Reach out to help@kingscrowd.com! We look forward to hearing from you.
-
What’s the portfolio tool for?
Once you start digging into this space a bit more, you’ll find that there are a lot of funding portals and a lot of companies raising on these portals at any given time. If you’re going to invest in a variety of companies across a variety of portals and industries (thus ensuring diversification in your portfolio), it becomes harder to track it all. KingsCrowd puts it all in one place for investors to make it a bit easier for the investors in the space. If you want more information on how to use the Portfolio tool, check out this article.
-
Is the portfolio free to use?
Yes! All you need is a free KingsCrowd account which you can sign up for here!
-
I can’t find Monogram Orthopedics, TerraCycle, NowRx, and other companies, what’s the deal?
We are aware that we currently do not have Reg A offerings like the ones mentioned above and more listed in our Portfolio tool. We are working to be as comprehensive as possible and will have Reg A and Reg D offerings as soon as possible. Thanks for being patient!
-
I can't find Flatiron Miami, Illume Nashville, or other real estate investments, what's the deal?
We are aware we do not have Compound’s various real estate investments listed in our Portfolio. It’s a unique engineering problem as our database was built for startups rather than real estate deals. We’re working on a solution and will let our users know when the various opportunities are available. Thanks for being patient.
-
Can you add X feature to the Portfolio?
You can send your comments, suggestions, and feedback to portfolios@kingscrowd.com!