These 5 startups just raise $1 million on Republic, an investment crowdfunding platform for startups

With millions of entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own business, raising money is becoming increasingly difficult. Many startup founders bootstrap with all their savings while others turn to family, friends or angel investors. There are other sources of raising money to launch new products like KickStarter and IndieGogo. What about a crowdfunding platform primarily dedicated to startups? Enter Republic, an investment platform that enables anyone to invest in startups. With Republic, any individual investor can become an angel investor and invest as little as $10 in private startups.

Today, Republic announced the expansion of the company’s Note reward token program and the first five companies selling equities to raise $1 million. Launched in April of 2019, the Note rewards Republic users for supporting the global startup ecosystem. With the program’s expansion, users now have a multitude of new ways to earn Notes and use them for rewards on and off Republic.

Founded in 2016, Republic operates a family of businesses, including an investment platform that provides retail investors around the world with compliant access to curated startups and blockchain projects. Republic operates under U.S. equity crowdfunding regulations and is under the supervision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Since the program launched, millions of Republic Notes have been distributed, thousands of users acquired, more than 300,000 users have participated, and five startups have successfully raised $1 million on Republic’s platform. The startups include:

1. CHRGR – advertising that powers your brand (New York)
2. InnaMed – using smart, at-home blood testing tech to enable personalized medicine (Philadelphia)
3. Mealthy – home cooking made easy (Austin)
4. Sapient – using machine learning to eliminate energy waste (Philadelphia)
5. SimpleShowing – the new way to tour and buy a home (Atlanta)

Republic users can now earn credits toward startup investments, exclusive invite-only events, and a seat at the Republic Advisory Board, among several new Note rewards awarded when users reach different Note levels. This is Republic’s way of incentivizing users to engage startups, contribute to the startup ecosystem, and continue to educate themselves on an asset class that was once open to only select individuals in the investment world.

“This is an important milestone in Republic’s history,” said Shrina Kurani, Vice President of Business and Head of Tokenization at Republic. “It marks the first time that a company, outside of those involved in crypto/blockchain technology, has raised a million dollars on our platform and it’s not even one company – it’s five, all within a few months of our digital token Note launch. This reinforces that startups can successfully raise money from the crowd, and we’re pleased to roll out even more rewards as part of our program to encourage more investors and partners to join the startup ecosystem.”