The fundraising process is tough. It marks a special and incredibly time-consuming period for a company. Founders must get creative to secure funds from top investors. However, have you ever considered turning your customers into potential investors?, the first at-home baby gut health testing company, didn't just consider it, they've successfully raised 25% of their total funding round from their customers.
“We figured that by offering some of our most engaged customers an opportunity to invest, we would further energize them into vocal advocates for our product and mission,“I mentioned the raise personally to a subset of our customers, and had planned to potentially invite a few others, but we were already oversubscribed before that could happen.”Parenthood Ventures
“Tiny Health is the first company we have invested in this asset class. Our great experience with their team and our belief in the emerging field of microbiome health encouraged us to step out of our usual comfort zone to support this company.” “We’ve seen other companies launch crowdfunding campaigns to their customer base, especially in earlier rounds. It’s really up to the company if they want their customers to be investors and what vehicle they choose to do this. Crowdfunding can work great, especially where capital is proving hard to come by.