mittal

Alex from FC here. Good feedback, we'll work on this.

Haha, nice catch, that's not supposed to be there (it's for other parts of our site). Our dev team is removing.

Back when I used Windows I modified my hosts file to make facebook.com redirect to 127.0.0.1.

That lasted for a few minutes.

Confirmed that FundersClub Refer is not connected to general solicitation or the JOBS Act. We are simply rewarding members (accredited investors) who are referring us companies that end up making it past our vetting and due diligence processes and becoming portfolio companies.

You're absolutely right to call out these concerns ChuckMcM. FundersClub is a curated VC platform that carries out vetting and due diligence; fewer than 5% of inbound startups end up even making it to our vetting panel.

Even in spite of the above process, startup investing is risky, as we disclose in our FAQ. No one should invest money they cannot afford to lose in the startup asset category.

Also, something that might get lost in the noise around this article: "Technically, it’s not crowdfunding, but rather a venture capital advisor that raises funds online through a streamlined process rather than offline with traditional paperwork."

Thanks! Right now, our seed investments per startup have ranged from ~$100k to over $500k. We have publicly announced about $4M of FundersClub investments. The $26M figure is the total capital going to our portfolio companies--other VCs frequently lead, co-invest, or follow-on to our investments, leveraging our own capital. We have invested in more than 8 startups but have not yet announced them publicly.

Correct, FundersClub is a venture capital advisor (ie, a VC), and is not relying on JOBS Act exemptions or a broker-dealer registration. The TechCrunch article title is not technically accurate, though in their defense, people do seem to want to group online VC in with crowdfunding at a high level. There are important distinctions, however.

Extensive due diligence.