Grow VC launches, aiming to become the Kiva for tech startups

eu.techcrunch.com

18 points·swombat··5 comments

With the returns VC investing has had the last several years, the only reason there's still money in VC is because it's a fun and exciting thing for people with lots of money to invest in.

People without lots of money and who will have no one-on-one time with the founders they're investing in are throwing their money away with something like this.

Those types of investors need index funds, not the "Kiva for tech startups".

Well, it turns out they actually screen "funders" , you have to already have a track record with funding startups before you can contribute..that right there may be the death of GrowVC.

I think it would make more sense to allow any random person with money to invest, and then work on how much power/say they have in the actual running of the startup

Yeah. This seems more like angel funding than VC funding. I'd say that money is relatively easier to arrange but finding someone who can mentor you along the way is way more difficult. It's even better if you find such mentor who is also willing to invest and give time to the idea.

By the way, I find this site is pretty good http://www.kickstarter.com/

BTW I am not related to this site in any way.

Only sophisticated investors are allowed to make direct investments. Others can contribute via community fund. I.E. via expert or startup.

aiming to become the Kiva

Does this mean that Grow VC will pretend that you are loaning to one specific individual, while actually just backfilling loans that have already been made by other organizations?

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