Startup Grind hosts Wefunder.

The largest equity crowdfunding platform in the world meets the largest community of entrepreneurs in the world. King Kong meets Godzilla Part 2! Fighting Funding Inequity.

I have the inside track on the next King Kong vs. Godzilla encounter: they join forces to battle the real threat Mechagodzilla IRL (in real life).

In the meantime you can join the fight against inequity in funding at 6PM tonight: https://www.startupgrind.com/e/mnxj5c/

All jokes aside, Startup Grind and Wefunder have never been rivals, rather complementary ecosystem resources for entrepreneurs and in all honesty, Wefunder representatives, including VP of Fundraising Jonny Price, have been hosted by various Startup Grind chapters over the years as well. Why all the brouhaha about his upcoming fireside chat then?

While we seem to be in the throws of an investor feeding frenzy, with valuations reaching unheard of highs and startups raising 41% more than the previous record set in 2018, underfunded entrepreneurs namely minorities and women, are still not getting their fair share of the pie.

The real monster in entrepreneurial ecosystems is the lack of diversity and equity in access to resources for founders. In a frictionless innovation economy, only the quality of ideas and ability to execute should matter not race, gender nor ethnic background.

Access to capital almost always tops entrepreneurial polls and surveys seeking insights on where to best allocate resources. Can Wefunder and other equity crowdfunding platforms help fill that gap? The platform has been the funding launchpad for many well known startup success stories and has hosted several well funded campaigns for minority and female entrepreneurs. While equity crowdfunding is not going to replace the bundle of resources that a true venture capital firm can offer besides writing a check, the opportunity to raise large amounts of capital for entrepreneurs has only been increasing following recent development.

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) recently made an announcement that allows access to even more capital for regulated startup on crowdfunding websites. With that modification, the SEC has increased five-fold the maximum amount that can be raised through a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign from $1.07 million to $5 million in any twelve-month period. Not a small amount by any measure considering that traditional VC first check size averages much less for pre-seed or seed startups.

Wefunder, recently listed 40 Y Combinator graduates. 20 companies are recent graduates and another 20 are from previous cohorts. Another indication that equity crowdfunding is breaking new grounds and cementing it's credibility as a solid funding alternative for not just traditional entrepreneurs but innovation and tech entrepreneurs as well.

While we're waiting for the traditional VC world to catchup with the diversity and equity movement, game changing new SEC crowdfunding rules and top accelerators such as YCombinator partnering with equity crowdfunding platforms such as Wefunder, are making equity crowdfunding a very compelling alternative to the VC pipeline.

If you're an underfunded entrepreneur, founder, small business owner planning to fundraise, you can't afford to miss this event.

About Startup Grind

Startup Grind is the world's largest community of early stage startups and entrepreneurs. Through local events in over 125 countries, flagship conferences with over 13k people, special programs, and online content, Startup Grind is reaching and supporting over 3.5 million startups worldwide. We host a lot of events, but more than that, Startup Grind is a community. Make friends, not contacts. Give First, don't take. Help Others. Get involved startupgrind.com

About Wefunder

Wefunder is building a stock market for startups. Where anyone -- not just rich people -- can angel invest in startups they love, for as little as $100. A Public Benefit Corporation and B Corp, Wefunder helps founders raise between $50K and $5M from their fans and customers, and Wefunder's community of a million investors. Wefunder.com 

Wefunder and Crowdfunding in the news.

• Can Crowdfunding Democratize And Diversify Investing? Wefunder Focuses On Small, Startup Businesses And Investors.
• They've recently made the news again by launching the crowdfunding campaigns of 40 recent YCombinator graduates on their platform.
• New crowdfunding rule could be a game changer for underfunded

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