Who Hosted the Top Deals in 2024?

CHART OF THE WEEK 📈

By Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau | Read

When it comes to equity crowdfunding, platforms vary widely. Some host significantly more campaigns than others, some cater to smaller deals, and a few bring their own marketing muscle to the table. These differences influence how deals perform under Kingscrowd’s ratings algorithm. After noticing distinct rating patterns across platforms a few weeks ago, we decided to dive deeper.

We analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of platforms that had 10 or more equity crowdfunding (ECF) deals in 2024. The interactive chart below presents the median rating across five key categories for each of these platforms, offering a high-level view of how their deals stack up.

Want the full story and takeaways? To view the complete analysis and an interactive version of the chart, read the full article for free on Kingscrowd HERE.

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KINGSCROWD PODCAST

By Sam Fiske / Watch | Apple | Spotify

This week, we dive deep into the very real shift happening in venture capital. Industry insider Scott Kitun joins us to unpack insights from Slow Ventures founder Sam Lessin on why the "venture factory" model is collapsing, what the rise of "Zombie Unicorns" means for the market, and the new investing paradigm taking its place. Plus, our monthly Regulation Crowdfunding report reveals April's biggest fundraisers and critical market trends every investor should know.

DIVERSIFY YOUR PORTFOLIO WITH PRIVATE CREDIT

Want to tap into real estate-backed private credit with attractive income potential? Join Kingscrowd for a live webinar with EquityMultiple’s Senior Director Daniel Brereton to learn how accredited investors are accessing high-yield bridge loans with downside protection. Daniel will break down the Ascent Income Fund and explain how EquityMultiple sources and manages middle-market CRE lending opportunities.

📅 May 13th at 12pm ET / 9am PT

PITCH REVIEW 💸

By Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau \ Deal Report

Brief: Presearch is a decentralized, community-driven search engine focused on privacy and neutrality. It delivers unbiased, anonymous search results without tracking or filter bubbles, appealing to users who value data privacy. Using blockchain and token rewards, Presearch aims to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that challenges traditional search giants.

Léa’s Take: It’s no secret: web search is dominated by a few giants that track every query, profile every click, and serve results via opaque algorithms. Public and regulatory pressure is growing for privacy‑respecting alternatives, but until Presearch there was no truly decentralized, token‑driven solution.

Founded in 2017 by a team more focused on mission than monetization, Presearch saw only modest growth until a leadership change in 2023 refocused efforts on scaling. Under its new CEO Tim Enneking, the company is pursuing aggressive user‑acquisition targets and deploying PRE tokens to reward both searchers and community‑run nodes, creating a differentiated product that combines privacy with Web3 incentives.

That differentiation, however, may appeal primarily to a niche of crypto‑savvy, privacy‑minded users rather than the mainstream. DuckDuckGo’s own decade‑long effort has yielded only a small 0.84% share of the global market, and 2.34% of the U.S. market, suggesting limited space for multiple challengers. At a $15 million valuation cap, Presearch may be valued too high to give investors the hope of a high return.

In a market where entrenched defaults reign supreme, Presearch’s success hinges on convincing users to manage tokens and abandon familiar search habits. The experiment is bold, but translating its novel model into mass adoption will be its greatest hurdle.

366 Investments in 366 Days: A Retail Investor's Journey

Join us on Wednesday, May 14 at 2PM ET for a webinar featuring Paul Lovejoy, a retail investor who undertook the remarkable feat of making 366 investments in 366 days. Moderated by Brian Belley, KingsCrowd's VP of Product and a leading voice in the crowdfunding space, this session will dig into Paul's experiences with various retail investment offerings, including Reg CF, Reg A, Rule 415, and other accessible alternative investment avenues.

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One of my favorite companies (and a KC Capital investment), AJNA Biosciences, a leader in psilocybin and cannabinoid development, is raising at a ~3.3X markup from its last round. Is this justified?

Plunge 

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I’ve always thought that cold plunges were just gimmicks pushed by cringey influencers. Well, with Plunge reporting $82.5M in revenue, are cold plunges now mainstream?

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