Startups looking to raise capital have more options today thanks to evolving technology, regulation and market behavior. Initially, crowdfunding had adverse selection problems (e.g. only seeing deals that could not raise elsewhere), but now that it has matured, it’s becoming an option to other sources of early capital (eg. family & friends, angels, VCs). For a quality discussion on its merits see the Notes below.

Here are the biggest crowdfunders in the United States ranked by a modified FAB score, which for this category, includes the cumulative value of funds raised on the platform along with the usual inputs of the company’s funding, number of employees, and website traffic.

Rank Company FAB Score Review Founded HQ Platform Fundings ($M) Company Funding ($M) Visits
(Jan ’22)
1 StartEngine 889 8 Mar 2022 2014 LA $500 $87.6 1,800,000
2 Wefunder 616 8 Mar 2022 2012 SF 450 28.6 790,000
3 Republic 597 8 Mar 2022 2014 NYC 500 214 67,000
4 SeedInvest (Circle) 470 8 Mar 2022 2011 NYC 410 12.4 310,000
5 Microventures 458 8 Mar 2022 2009 Austin 450 3.4 68,000
6 MainInvest 40 8 Mar 2022 2018 Salem, MA 15 3 110,000
7 Netcapital 20 8 Mar 2022 2014 Boston 11 0.1 51,000

Source: FintechLabs, 16 Mar 2022; from companies, Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, SEMRush


Note: Equity Crowdfunding resources

  1. First Round Capital blog post