Tag Archives: Investment

5 Excellent Startup Tips on Securing a Bank Loan

Bank Loan Tips From The Startup Garage

5 Excellent Startup Tips on Securing a Bank Loan

It’s no secret that securing bank funding for your startup is difficult these days – but it’s not impossible.

Give yourself better odds with these 5 simple
Startup tips:

Write a clear and convincing business plan.

Business owners must build a strategy from the very beginning around being “lendable,” so a business plan helps lay that proper foundation. Focus especially on the financial estimates and offer well-researched documentation for those estimates.

In addition, be sure to illustrate in your plan how you will generate revenue, how
much you’ll generate and how long it will take to get to positive cash flows. (Side tip: you may
want to have a CPA look over your financials beforehand).

Boost your credit rating.

A solid credit score lends legitimacy to your request and shows you’re less of a financial risk to the bank. They’ll want to see that you have a history of paying bills on time, as well as your history of minimizing outstanding debt. Have a less than desirable credit score?

Seek out smaller, more local banks, since large banks typically are pickier as to the kinds of businesses they want to work with. Smaller ones may be more forgiving of new businesses and may have less stringent credit requirements for opening accounts and lines of credit.

Launch your business in a solid industry.

Certain industries, such as food service and apparel,are considered extremely risky by potential lenders. Thus, if you are determined to get bank funding, consider an industry that doesn’t depend on fluctuating resources (such as oil prices) and has a relatively large profit margin.

Once selecting that industry, be sure to demonstrate your experience in it: offer real, measurable examples of your expertise in your chosen industry or of your experience of running successful businesses. Banks back those with a track record of success, so you’ll have to convince them you have the skill set, drive and experience to make their lending decision a successful one.

Owner’s equity.

If you expect lenders to put their “skin in the game,” they’re going to expect
you to do the same. As a general rule, you should personally invest 20% of the total projected
loan request. Your willingness to risk a sizeable portion of your own capital (and not just capital from their bank loans) shows your commitment to the venture.

Relationships are key.

Ultimately, securing a bank loan is about building a relationship with your bank, and if done correctly, your banker can become your biggest ally. If the banker knows you, your business operations and that you have good employees and a stable customer base, they
will be more likely to go out on a limb for you.

Having a good relationship with your bank can
make running your business a lot easier, so don’t underestimate it!

If you have a question about your raising capital for your Startup or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Why To Take Caution With Investor “Finders”

Why To Take Caution With Investor “Finders”

There are many service providers that offer to help startups with attracting investors, colloquially referred to as “finders.”

While they prefer to be called business brokers or consultants, most finders are either CPAs, insurance brokers, retired executives, or former entrepreneurs. They mostly operate in the Angel landscape, targeting deals between $100K to $2M.

Typically, they will either require a large retainer, an upfront fee, a percentage of capital raised, or some combination of all three.

The service they provide ranges from screening investors and setup meetings to developing a list of high-net-worth prospects for entrepreneurs to call on.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of controversy when working with finders. First, a sizeable majority of finders are not actually licensed as a securities broker by FINRA and are therefore in violation of federal and state security laws, whether they know it or not. Second, many finders are not capable of delivering on their promises or simply disappear as soon as you hand them a retainer check.

How This Affects You:

The issue that Startups face when working with unlicensed finders is that their legal problems can quickly spread to the startup as well. Payments to an unlawful finders can cause an entire transaction to violate securities law, giving investors a right to undo the deal as well as sue the Startup for damages.

Even if an investor does not undo the deal, these unlawful transactions can come back to haunt the company if and when the company decides to sell or go public as it may be forced to disclose the violations, thereby jeopardizing the pending deal. On the other hand, working with less than honest finders will clearly be a waste of time and money.

Advice:

Retain a good corporate securities attorney before you engage with a finder. Your securities attorney should be able to:

A) help you understand the full scope of risk of using finders in financing transactions.

B) help you verify that your potential finder is licensed with FINRA and your local state’s regulators.

C) ensure that your finder does not have any substantial complaints against them.

If you have a question about raising capital for your Startup or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

7 Reasons Why Hera Venture Summit Is A Must Attend Startup Event

7 Reasons Why Hera Venture Summit Is A Must Attend Startup Event

On Aug 4, 2015 The White House, Tech Giants, Entrepreneurs, and Venture Capitalists across America committed to invest in the future of women in business.

A commitment that set the stage for previously untapped opportunities for female founders.

Leading the forefront of female entrepreneurship is the conglomeration of
Hera Hub= Female focused Co-working Space

Hera Labs= Female Focused Business Accelerator
Hera Fund= Female Focused Angel Investment Fund

On Saturday Sept 19th, Hera Venture Summit unveils a new face of Women in Tech Events

Below are 7 undeniable reason YOU’ll want to attend!

1. The Hera Venture Summit offers the ultimate platform for female founders and funders to discuss and collaborate in launching, growing and sustaining profitable businesses.


2. There’s not just 1 but 2 Keynote Speakers, excited to share their experience and expertise.



Elissa Shevinsky, a Startup CEO and Co-Founder at JeKuDo Privacy Company, a veteran coder, and editor of ‘Lean Out’ which encourages women to create their own culture in Tech Startups.



Consuelo Valverde, an Entrepreneur turned VC at SV LATAM Fund. At the age of 20, she founded one of the first PC manufacturing companies in Mexico and later on an IT learning institute.



3. Beautiful environments fuel inspiration. The event takes place at the University of San Diego an architectural dream, named by Travel+Leisure magazine one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States. 


4. One-day intensive and interactive event. Often times events are spread across a weekend, 3 days, or even week long. The Hera Venture Summit takes Startup growth hacking to a new level, fully emerging everyone into the conversation in an action packed 10 hour event.

5. The theme of the event centers around “Building Bridges” both locally, binational, and globally. Holding course to the idea that through each other’s diversity comes expansion, both personally and professionally.

6. 7 Panels of unique content, covering everything from topics of gender investing and female founder ROI to how to become a female angel investor.


*Tyler Jensen founder of
The Startup Garage will be will be part of the panel


“All about the Financials.”

7. Happy Hour, the event concludes with the ultimate networking opportunity over cocktails. The perfect place to share insights gained throughout the day, and make life long connections.

Now that you’ve decided to join us be sure to say hello to The Startup Garage Team!

Tickets can be bought here>> Hera Venture Summit 9/19

Feel free to enter promo code startupgarage40off for $40 off this once in a lifetime event.

The Importance of Bookkeeping for a Startup Business

The Importance of Bookkeeping for a Startup Business

Bookkeeping, by definition, is the process of recording a company’s financial transactions and history.

It is the first step in the broader accounting process which involves reporting and analyzing data to make business decisions.

Many entrepreneurs find that they are wearing too many hats as it is and they just
don’t have time to dedicate towards proper bookkeeping.

However, bookkeeping is crucial for any startup for several reasons:
First and foremost, it helps companies make better financial and management decisions. Proper bookkeeping can help you understanding the key financial benchmarks that determine whether your company is operating successfully or not. Bookkeeping also helps with managing cash flow and answering questions such as: who owes you money, who do you owe money to, when should you send an invoice, when are your bills due, etc.

Second, consistent bookkeeping will help minimize the headaches when it comes to preparing your annual taxes. If you can provide your accountant with a well maintained balance sheet, cash flow statement, and profit and loss statement he/she will be able to dedicate their time towards making sound tax decisions rather than fixing problems with the financial statements.

Third, sound books will help you with planning your business’ next steps. By understanding key benchmarks such as cost to acquire a new customer and cost of goods sold you can begin to make educated decision about the best way to grow your business.

Fourth, investors require solid books. The frequency of which you report financial records will be determined by you and your investors. In any case, the more automated and uniform your financial reporting systems are for reporting crucial financial information the happier your investors will be. It will show to them that you understand your cash flow needs and the business key performing indicators that will allow the business to scale.

Furthermore, when raising capital, sound records will instill confidence in your investor and significantly increase your likelihood of receiving a check.

Now that you are on-board with the important of bookkeeping for a startup, let’s look at 10 of the most common types of bookkeeping accounts for a startup or any business for that matter:

Cash:

This is your most basic account and it tells you exactly how much cash you have in your
bank. Many businesses will monitor their cash account by separating cash receipts and cash
disbursements.

Accounts Receivable:

Not all companies will have accounts receivables. Receivables represent
money that is due from customers and is therefore only applicable to companies that sell
products or services prior to collecting payment or a portion of the payment upon the time of
sale. Tracking receivables will help you understand cash flow and keeping a detailed list of your various receivable accounts will help you stay on top of billing and invoices.

Sales:

The sales account is closely tied to cash and accounts payable but provides slightly
different insight. Sales is where you track anticipated incoming revenues from what you sell.
Tracking sales accurately will help you understand whether your business is on track to meet
predetermined metrics and benchmarks.

Accounts Payable:

Similar to accounts receivable, accounts payable represent money that you
owe to your suppliers and vendors for products and services that you did not pay for entirely
upfront. Tracking your payables will help you with managing cash flow, ensuring that you don’t
pay your bills twice, and may even make you eligible for discounts if you are able to pay early.

Inventory:

While inventory is not equivalent to cash or accounts payable it is certainly an asset on your balance sheet that needs to be carefully accounted for and tracked. Properly managing your inventory will help with understanding cash flow and anticipated production runs.

Loans Payable:

You loans payable account tracks the amount of capital that you’ve borrowed, how much you still owe, and how much is due in the next billing cycle.

Purchases or Cost of Goods Sold:

This account helps you understand the cost of delivering your product and service and when subtracted from your Sales account you end up with gross profit.

Payroll:

Payroll is the biggest expense for most businesses and should be monitored closely. Maintaining an accurate payroll account will pay dividends when it comes to tax and
government reporting requirements not to mention understanding your personnel expenses.

Retained Earnings:

Retained earnings are simply profits that are not paid out to owners or shareholders. Retained earnings are cumulative, or a running total, and demonstrate the profits that are reinvested back into the business.

Owner’s Equity:

This account simply tracks the capital investment that the owners’ have put into the business. This account is particularly pertinent if there are multiple owners who have put in disparate amounts of capital.

If you have a question about your Startup business idea or you’d like to discuss our Book Keeping Management Services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

7 Lessons Learned From A Vegas Tech Startup Conference

Collision Con From The Startup Garage

7 Lessons Learned From A Vegas Tech Startup Conference

“ It’s A different kind of Vegas.”

Collision Conference invaded and innovated downtown Las Vegas, Nevada Cinco De May and 6th.

The 48 hour “crash course” included 7500 attendees representing 89 different countries, with a legendary guest-list that included: 200 WorldClass Speakers, 1000 Startup Businesses, 451 Tech Investors, and countless “smart” entrepreneurs.

Equally as interesting to the individuals that attended the conference, was where the event took place, “The Downtown Project” (Psst..If you haven’t heard this name get familiar with it, you’ll be hearing a lot about it.)

It’s there, just 6 miles from the infamous Las Vegas Strip, a small Startup town is brewing. The cutting edge urban revival project was heavily invested ($350million) in by Zappos frontman and startup cultural icon, Tony Hsieh.

His business model; to create a community of happiness, in an other wise depressed and dilapidated city centre… which leads us into lesson #1.

Lesson #1 Recognize potential and invest in it’s possibilities.

Startups Entrepreneurs are familiar with taking risks and getting comfortable in the uncomfortable. Tony Hsieh didn’t see the “Fremont Experience” and think let’s avoid this rundown area at all costs. Instead he said let’s immerse our company, culture and entrepreneurial energy into the infrastructure, and make old bones dance.

Lesson #2 Conferences, especially tech. conferences, need female minds in attendance.

Collision Conference acknowledged the fact that tech conferences tend to be sausage fests, and did something Different. They invited the top 150 females in technology to attend the conference complimentary, there by subtly shifting the dynamics of a male centric space.

Lesson #3 There’s an organic type of networking, it’s called Collision.

A Collision with another person, moves away from the hunt and gather mentality of standard networking events, and allows for the natural serendipity of individuals paths to cross.
Colliding with the right people at right place, and the right time, can become a natural and common occurrence.

Lesson #4 Never underestimate the power of food and lasting impressions.

Each morning upon entering the “event” attendees were treated to freshly baked blueberry muffins. The DoubleTree may have started this trend with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but the result remains the same… A feeling of being welcomed, comforted, and wanting to return for more.

Lesson #5 Collaboration is the easiest way to breed successful innovations.

In the chaotic sea of 1000+ Startup Businesses prepping and pitching to investors and want to be investors for funding and mentorship. I found myself wondering, how many of the Startup entrepreneurs conversed and collided with one another to exchange ideas and information? (please tweet us @startup_garage if you have a great Startup to Startup Collision story)

It seems that Collision Conference was the perfect landscape for new startup business ideas to emerge, and preexisting ones to flourish with new insights. However, my experience was everyone was there with laser focus in the hopes swooning the VC or Angel.

Lesson #6 You can’t talk Marketing without the other M word… Millennials.

#Millennials isn’t just a trending hashtag, they’re a population of 77 million people, 1/4 of the American population, who are socially and economically savvy. Millennials have big brands via-ing for their attention and approval. As a generation with an insatiable appetite for quality content and the Tinder mindset (swipe left and move onto the next) marketing power is shifting into the hands of the consumer.

Lesson #7 Innovation never sleeps.

Innovative ideas and solutions have no On and Off switch, they’re a constant switching in the mind of Startup entrepreneurs. It’s not enough that there’s a solution, the questions remains whether it’s the smartest and most effective solution possible.

There’s Startup towns brewing, do you hear it percolating?

A Tech Startup conference shifted my perception of Vegas from an epicenter of gambling, strippers, and intentional debauchery to a sustainable community of like-minded entrepreneurs, that when colliding together, have ability to transform even the most unsuspecting places.

The Correlation between A Startups Seed Round and Series A Round

The Correlation between Your Seed Round and Your Series A Round from The Startup Garage

The Correlation between A Startups Seed Round and Series A Round

Here at The Startup Garage we are often asked, “Has it become harder to raise capital for Startups nowadays?”

 

The answer is, yes and no.

On the one hand, the total dollars invested in U.S. startups in 2014 reached its highest point since the dot-com boom in 2000, according to Bloomberg. On the other hand, there are more startups competing for these dollars than ever before.

One of the hardest rounds to raise, and subsequently one of the biggest hurdles to startup success, is the Seed round. This round is potentially the riskiest round for an investor as most startups raising Seed capital have yet to accomplish any significant milestones that prove the concept.

The technology or product development is usually in its infancy,
The team is lacking,Traction is nominal if present at all, and The key benchmarks for success have yet to be proven. As a result, many good ideas never make it out of the gate.

Those that successfully navigate the Seed round significantly increase their chance at entrepreneurial success and at raising their next round of capital, the Series A round.

When raising a Seed round the question becomes, “How large of a seed round should I raise to maximize my chances of raising a Series A round?”

Smaller Seed rounds seem like a quick fix because they are simpler and faster to raise as they typically require less investors.

However, in order to raise a significant Series A round, the startup needs sufficient capital to accomplish enough milestones that will attract Series A investors. As a result, we see a direct correlation between the amount of capital raised in the Seed round and the amount of capital raised in the subsequent Series A round.

According to data from CB Insights, companies that raised both a Seed round and a Series A round can be categorized as follows:

  • Small – Below the 25th percentile (<$360K for Seed, <$2M for Series A)
  • Average – Between 25th and 75th percentile (between $260K and $1.5M for Seed, between $2M and $7M for Series A)
  • Large – Above 75th percentile (>$1,5M for Seed, >$7M for Series A)As depicted in the chart below, nearly half of all large Seed deals became large Series A deals. Most of the other large Seed deals went on to raise average Series A rounds with a small number raising a small Series A round.

For companies that raised small Seed rounds, 57% went on to raise an average Series A round, and only 13% raised Series A rounds of $7M+. Lastly, 63.8% of companies that raised an average Seed round went on to raise an average Series A round.

Moral of the story: if you plan on raising a Series A round, don’t cut yourself short during your Seed round.

Seed Funding From the Startup Garage

If you have a question about your Startup business idea or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Where to Meet Venture Capitalists?

Where to Meet Venture Capitalist from The Startup Garage

Where to Meet Venture Capitalists?

As a Startup Entrepreneur stepping outside of your comfort zone is a daily norm, especially in the search of funding for your business.

Scoring a meeting with a Venture Capitalist becomes a network juggling act between strategy and innovation.

A key point to remember when approaching VC’s is that the question always on the top of their mind is… Will your Startup idea bring a significant return on their investment capital?

Assuming your answer is an undeniable yes,
the following resources offer you VC networking location suggestions. We encourage you can develop your relationship further both personally and professionally, as often times the connections most beneficial come as a result of the most unlikely resources.

Accelerator Programs

Accelerator programs, unique startup events and other brain storming events offer great opportunities to meet hundreds of experienced mentors from around the world. Many of these accelerator events are held in Silicone Valley or other communities where experienced startup founders abound. Accelerator programs like the UnSexy, The SmashSummit and GeeksOnaPlane offer wonderful networking opportunities; a place where you can easily get your pitch heard by qualified investors. More importantly, you can also find mentors here who will help you develop your funding plan.

The National Venture Capital Association

This is a trade association that provides resources for entrepreneurs about VCs. It offers information about different venture capital organizations, tools you may find useful and resources to specific VCs and entrepreneurs. You can find this association at www.nvca.org.

Angel Investing Service Companies

Angel investment service organizations help entrepreneurs get started. Most angel investors have entrepreneurial backgrounds themselves, and in a wide spectrum do of industries, not just tech. Many angel investing companies fund large numbers of new startups. And if they don’t, well then they do offer critical business connections, hands-on mentoring and help in building a qualified management team.

Online Resources

You can search databases of Venture Capital and Angel investors on websites like Gust. This type of database gives you the opportunity to contact investors directly and pitch your idea.

Angel Capital Association

Also known as ACA, this association offers useful resources and information on ways entrepreneurs should prepare themselves for finding investors. It also offers a database with a list of professionals such as attorneys and accountants who help startups looking for funding.

Local Events

Local networking groups and events can also help entrepreneurs network with venture capitalists. Attend local Meetup events that pertain to your industry.

Participate in local TEDx events; offer to be a free keynote speaker for local events or associations. This will help you network with other entrepreneurs and investor associations.

Join local associations like the Small Business Association. This organization often has SBA investment programs you can join. Even if you don’t get funded this way, it will offer you the networking contacts you need to further your funding needs.

Industry Events

Another way of networking and meeting all the right people is by attending industry events and finding out how other entrepreneurs have attracted venture capital.

Bottom Line

Finding venture capital is not all that difficult any longer because there is so much information available over the Internet. At one time, this type of information was almost a big ‘secret.’ And only a chosen few knew where and how to find investors.

Today, investors actually want to be sought out, and they hold important events, brainstorming sessions and more. They also give you specific information that can smooth the process for you and help you find the funding you need.

If you have a question about your Startup or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

How To Determine Market Traction For Your Startup

How To Determine Market Traction From The Startup Garage

How To Determine Market Traction For Your Startup

The major thing to know about the first few years of funding a startup business is that in order to attract investor capital you must accomplish certain milestones.

Accomplishing milestones helps to reduce the risk associated with the startup venture.

Investors are constantly assessing risk when evaluating a startup and obviously prefer those that assume less risk. Additionally, accomplishing milestones allows you to raise capital at a much higher valuation because you’ve thereby improved the risk-to-return ration (i.e. the riskier the business the more equity the investor will need to compensate the level of risk).

There are seven main categories of milestones that most investors assess when evaluating a startup
investment opportunity:

– Business Planning

– Team Building

– Market Traction

– Legal

– Operations

– Product Development

– Founder Leadership

The specific milestones that you need to achieve within each categories varies depending on the type of business and the stage of capital that is being raised(startup round, seed round, series A, etc).

In this post, we’ll be focusing on the milestones that demonstrate market traction.

What is Market Traction?

According to Naval Ravikant, the Co-Founder of Angel List, market traction is simply defined as
“quantitative evidence of market demand.” Traction is proof that somebody wants your product, it communicated momentum in market adoption.

Why is Market Traction Important?

Per usual, it all boils down to risk for an investor. The more market traction you can demonstrate the less risk there is in the investment.

How Do You Demonstrate Market Traction?

Adequate market traction will vary at each round of capital simply because you have limited resources
to demonstrate it. Furthermore, one of the major reasons that you are raising capital is because you
want to grow your current traction.When raising capital from Friends, Family, and Founders in the Startup Round the amount of market traction that you can demonstrate is limited. You likely don’t have a product developed that is ready for market, so traction in the form of sales is not attainable. However, you can show potential traction by demonstrating the size of the market and trends that support your product claims and solutions.

Additionally, you can conduct primary research such as surveys and conversations with potential
customers and/or partners to help validate your value proposition. Lastly, you can put together a clear marketing plan to demonstrate how you will reach potential customers.

When raising Seed capital from Angel investors you will need to take your market traction to the next
level. This includes obtaining some Beta testers and ideally, some paying customers. You’ll need a full scale marketing plan that proves a significant market opportunity exists based on what you’ve learned about the market to date.

Ultimately, you need to prove that you understand the sales cycle for your business.

Lastly, when raising Series A capital and beyond from Venture Capitalists or institutional investors you need to show how you will scale the business. By this point, you want to deploy the capital raised in earlier rounds to not only show that there is a demand for your product but that you can scale the product. In order to demonstrate this you need to understand what it costs to acquire a new customer and what the lifetime value of that customer is.

If you have a question about your Startup or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Rocket Growth in Venture Investment Activity for 2014

Rocket Growth with Venture Capital from The Startup Garage

Rocket Growth in Venture Investment Activity for 2014

Rocket Growth in Venture Investment Activity for 2014

Look at the data, and you’ll go “Wow.” According to TechCrunch, Forbes and other sources venture capitalist investments are shooting through the roof. Investments in new startups rose to almost $6 billion, up from $3.5 billion for the same period last year. This could mean that venture capitalists are optimistic for startup investing this year.

In fact, some capitalist believe 2014 will be the year to beat all years when it comes to venture capital for young startup companies, despite the concerns of some finance industries and professionals in the first quarter of the year. This is the message delivered by many venture groups throughout the nation.

According to Forbes Magazine, this year will be a good one for young startup companies needing to raise money. These predictions are not unfounded. They are based on the nationwide increase of venture capital funding; an increase of 7% over the $29 billion in funding distributed last year.

What Does The Future Hold?

In 2014, corporations, financial gurus and VCs expect to see more venture investment and higher investment returns. This is higher than the 43% increase we saw in 2013. Most investors believe there will be a substantial improvement in funding, and they foresee higher company valuations for startups.

Where is the Money Going?

Successful startup CEOs and venture capitalists expect certain types of startups to be preferred over others. Those that offer products in business IT, Consumer IT and Healthcare IT are thought to be of more interest to venture capitalists. By the same token startups in areas such as clean technology, medical devices and biopharmaceuticals may see a decrease in funding opportunities. However, this doesn’t mean the startups on the downside of the chart have no hope of getting funding. It just means they need to hone their strategy. Put their business in a favorable light and show investors why this startup is innovative, creative and a good investment.

Hope and Reality

Though the first quarter of 2014 shows an optimistic outlook for venture capital funding, it’s still a little early in the year to make a strong determination. Expectations of higher valuations, improved IPO and increased startup funding would benefit the consumer, the economy and the startup, and increased optimism may attract more investor interest, but real statistics are still in the waiting.

Increasing the Chances of Finding Venture Investment

Of all the avenues available to raise capital, venture capitalist funding is the toughest. Even so, startups often record this avenue as the most successful. But before you take your business idea to a VC you must have an idea or business that offers a strong profit potential. Venture Capitalists are interested in profit – and they often expect a return of about 35% per year.

VCs are tough and they have stringent rules, so you need to be prepared – and you need the right mindset. Always keep in mind that these are professional investors who know the ropes. They need to know why they should give a damn about your specific proposal.
As a startup, placing a proposal in front of Venture capitalists you must be prepared for both success and failure.

What Startups Got Funded In May?

Startups That Got Funded In May from The Startup Garage

What Startups Got Funded In May?

May Monthly Startup Wrap-up.

Find Out Who Got Funded and What Type Of Deals Are Attracting Investment here:

May 1st Bookbub the bargain bin for ebooks, secured $3.8 million in it’s first round of funding.

May 3rd Waggl the startup survey app inspired by honeybees,
secured $1 millionin funding.

May 5th Automattic which runs WordPress.com, became a billion-dollar company, thanks to a new $160 millionin funding.

May 5th PearSports which acts like a human personal trainer, secured $5 millionin a second round of funding.

May 6th Allclasses an education startup, closed a $1.5 million dollar round of funding.

May 6th Flux a top-secret spinout from Google X, landed $8 millionin venture funding.

May 12th Adform an Ad-Tech Startup , that creates rich media display ads, raised $5.5 million in funding.

May 13th Bitpay a Bitcoin startup, secured $30 million, to provide business solutions for merchants.

May 14th FanTV a startup set to revolutionize cable, tuned into $8.3 million in funding.

May 15th Uber the app that delivers you sophisticated car service, raised a new round of funding estimated at $350 million .

May 19th Autopilot a marketing Automation Company, grabbed $7 milllon in new funding.

May 20th Sumologic a log management app, pulled in $30 million in funding.

May 20th Centrify a cloudbased I.D. service raises $42 million in funding.

May 21st LiveOakVenturePartners an early stage lead investors, secureed $109 milion in investment funding.

May 27th AverInfomatics a health care billing system startup, secured $8.5 million.

May 28th MessageBus a custom email platform, raised $4 million in funding.

 

May was a momentous month for the 16 startups listed above.
Uber, ranked supreme, securing the top $ investment of $350 million bringing the company’s validation to an estimated $3.5 billion.

 

From Education Startups to Cable TV Startups, a common theme remains amongst those that secured investment, they all provide innovative solutions to modern day inconveniences.

Whether you have a question about Startup Funding or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation

To read more on all success stories referenced above click here.