Reg CF had its weakest month since 2021. In May, offerings raised just $11.1 million net, less than half of April’s total and far below recent norms. The slowdown was broad: platform activity thinned, no Reg CF campaign reached $1 million, and Reg A+ also cooled from April’s strength. The April 30 reporting deadline likely played a role, creating a post-deadline air pocket as issuers closed or cleaned up campaigns. Still, the data suggests more than seasonality alone—Reg CF now has to compete harder for investor attention, capital, and confidence.

Most investors focus on building wealth.

But what happens after that?

Join Kingscrowd and Zeus Companies for a live conversation this Thursday, June 11th at 2pm ET with Dr. Steven Kaufman, Founder and CEO of Zeus Companies, on passive real estate income, wealth preservation, and why Zeus focuses on conservative first-lien real estate debt instead of chasing speculative upside.

We’ll discuss:

Why did startup investing slow down?

This week on the Kingscrowd Podcast, Brian Belley and Teddy Lyons break down the May 2026 Funding Report and examine why equity crowdfunding activity fell to its lowest level since 2021. From seasonal fundraising patterns and investor behavior to competition from public markets and major IPOs, they explore what's driving the slowdown and what investors should watch next.

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Startup Showcase: Atlanta
June 10 at 5 PM ET — Join Kingscrowd in Atlanta for live startup pitches, investor insight, and networking with founders raising through investment crowdfunding.

How Kingscrowd Data Powers the Profitability Fund
June 16 at 2 PM ET — Get a live walkthrough of how Kingscrowd’s ratings, research process, and deal flow are used to evaluate profitable, growing private companies.

A New Path from Private Capital to the Public Markets
Join Chris Lustrino, Jeanne Campanelli, Mark Elenowitz, and Gregg Jaclin for a founder-focused conversation on Reg CF, Reg A, and how more issuers are rethinking the path from private capital to public markets.

By Teddy Lyons \ Deal Report

Brief: Aaidebook is a platform that brings hiring, scheduling, time tracking, and billing into one system, helping companies manage field employees more efficiently. Founded in 2023 by Karl Pierre, Aaidebook has more than 100 registered companies and serves customers ranging from startups to agencies with 100+ employees.

Teddy’s Quick Take: 

Back in early 2024, Kingscrowd Capital invested in Aaidebook, an operator of senior care businesses. At the time the company was essentially a mini private equity holding company, rolling up home care agencies using debt and using the cash flow to pay that debt down. Aaidebook was at $1.4M in revenue, growing nearly 70% year over year, at a reasonable $5.8M pre money valuation. Aaidebook is raising again, this time on NetCapital, and has kept growing. Revenue went from $1.9M in 2024 to $3.2M in 2025. What I find interesting this time isn't the growth, though. It's how they plan to fund the next wave of acquisitions.

When we first invested, Aaidebook bought agencies with debt and paid it back from cash flow. This time Karl is funding future acquisitions through a separate LP vehicle that raises cash, where the LPs receive an 8% preferred return paid out of the acquired agency's own cash flow rather than accrued and settled at exit. Aaidebook Holdings sits on top as the GP, collecting management fees and carry instead of carrying the debt itself. Karl's logic is that an SBA loan would cost him 10 to 11%, so an 8% pref is actually cheaper capital, and it gives LPs what they like about institutional real estate. They get regular cash distributions plus equity upside. The part I like as a shareholder is that it pulls the leverage risk off the entity we own. No debt sits on Aaidebook Holdings, and the acquired revenue plus the GP economics still roll up into its financials.

The software, OnTime, is the headline of this raise, but I want to be honest about where it actually sits. This platform was already being built when we first invested, and at the time I saw it as a nice in-house tool Aaidebook owned and plugged into the agencies it bought, not a truly differentiated product. The numbers say it's still early. OnTime's ARR was around $68K as of April, and revenue is still dominated by the home care side of the business. What's changed my read a bit is the wedge Karl wants to build next. He wants same day pay for field workers, baked right into the platform. The worker who wants instant pay covers the fee, the company takes no lending risk, and paired with transaction fees on invoicing, Karl thinks the payment rails could out earn the software itself. That's a far more interesting story than another scheduling tool, if they can ship it.

But honestly, the software isn't where I land on this one. Regardless of how defensible OnTime turns out to be, I believe highly in the founder, Karl Pierre, and his ability to find undervalued home care businesses. That's still the crux of this opportunity for me: continuing to acquire new businesses and helping them grow meaningfully. Using separate cash vehicles to fund those acquisitions is a smart move that takes downward pressure off the bottom line of Aaidebook Holdings, and it makes this investment even more compelling.

Kingscrowd Capital is actively evaluating a follow on here. Our diligence will focus on the real traction behind that $68K of software ARR, whether the same day pay economics actually materialize, and exactly how the acquisition vehicles flow back into Aaidebook Holdings. Karl and the model he's built are what make this one worth the closer look.

Dirty Dill

By Teddy Lyons

Every bar I walked into this year somehow had a pickle shot on the menu, so I stopped rolling my eyes and started paying attention. Dirty Dill has ridden that trend from a Denver garage idea to roughly 5,000 liquor stores, growing 260% last year, and is now letting its customers buy in.

Global Fight League

By Teddy Lyons

I have watched enough UFC cards to know fans pick fighters, not teams, so a city-based, season-long MMA league is the rare idea that actually makes me curious. Global Fight League is chasing exactly that, backed by World Series of Fighting alumni and former champs like Tyron Woodley.

That's a wrap on this week's issue!

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