First Funder, a Boulder, CO-based crowdfunding platform with a community approach, has launched.
Started by high school kids Kevin Zell and Brendan Karp, both 18, and led by CEO Jonathan Beninson, First Funder aims to create a better environment for both funders and organizations by creating communities.
It works directly with organizations such as incubators, accelerators, schools, and other entrepreneurship programs to build online communities where funders can then build long-term relationships with their projects and track records. Funders can help by championing and evangelizing a cause or community they believe in, and providing capital to help launch businesses as well as to grow and expand them.
The platform, which will support equity based funding in the future, is launching with with several community partners in place including Greenlite Labs, the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute and Young Americans Center for Financial Education.
The company is backed by angel investors including Joseph Zell, General Partner with Grotech Ventures, and advertising veteran John Daltner.
FinSMEs
12/09/2012