Though VC and PE receive all of the media attention, they are often neither a suitable nor a complete solution for raising expansion capital. Certain founders or businesses are traditionally excluded from institutional funding markets for being too capital intensive, having too lengthy of a growth cycle, pursuing a non-favored business model, or they fall prey to systemic inequalities that leave groups like women and historically excluded founders with 1-3% of investment flows. If genius is even remotely evenly distributed (and opportunity certainly is not), then there are innumerable founders identifying opportunities that others simply cannot see. These are the kinds of leaders that others want to rally around, support, and invest in, and now these founders can direct that support into institutionally sized investment rounds (e.g., $75M).
At the same time, we are in the midst of a massive paradigm shift for investors who are seeking to align what they say they believe about the world with what their money makes possible in it. By far the most natural and impactful strategy to align one’s values with what one’s money enables is to invest directly in early stage companies. Backing founders with whom you can identify and in whom you believe and startups doing the kind of good in the world that you wish to see advanced is perhaps the most direct and satisfying means of investing with Purpose, and yet it has previously been available to only the wealthiest investors. Purpose Rounds makes this alignment possible for all investors – Accredited and Non-Accredited.
Nothing is more potent than taking Community and mobilizing it around Purpose. There is no limit to what can be accomplished when like-minded investors align their values with those of a company and a founder. Community is great, but Purpose is powerful.
