Fellow Funders is a professional equity crowdfunding platform that enables investors, both institutional and individuals, to invest in early stage companies. Every project liable for investment is submitted to a thorough process of scoring and assessment, developed by Fellow Funders.
Founded in 2016 by Franscisco Mariscal and Guillermmo Azqueta, two former banking executives, Fellow Funders is today authorized and registered in the CNMV (National Securities Market Commission) and has a team of professionals with extensive experience in economics and financial markets.
The name ‘Fellow Funders’, came over a beer conversation and speaks to the nature and mission of this company: offering Spanish companies an alternative source of funding and offering investors, projects with a high growth potential.
RATING MODEL
The platform stands out for having developed its own scoring and assessment model (with their own algorithm), which allows every project to be rated and classified according to their potential and scalability. Only projects with sales metrics that justify their business models are published on Fellow Funders, guaranteeing successful investments. In addition, Fellow Funders gives investors the opportunity to be in contact with entrepreneurs and other investors, allowing any queries to be resolved directly with entrepreneurs.
TWO ROUNDS OF INVESTMENT AND INCREASING THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS
$150k of initial investment was needed to launch this platform. Apart from the amount raised among founders and advisors, Fellow Funders took out a loan from Enisa, a public institution devoted to support entrepreneurship, which also allowed them access the Be to Biz collaborative platform.
Two additional rounds of investment were spent on IT development and marketing, with venture capitalist like Investors Club, investing on Fellow Funders. Their business model is based on the fixed fee, plus a success fee charged to the entrepreneur for each investment raised.
In 2016, Fellow Funders was awarded the Best Startup Alcobendas Project and in 2017 was nominated at the European Fintech Awards, which recognizes the most innovative and disruptive Fintech companies in Europe.
Fellow Funders operates in Spain and Latin America and for the near future they are focusing on increasing the number of projects being financed with higher average round size and tickets.