Intro

Good morning and happy Monday! 🥳

Traditionally, only Angel Investors or VCs make startup investments. That’s about to change. See below.

Snippets

₿ Bitcoin as Weapon: Even though he has made billions on his bitcoin investments, venture capitalist Peter Thiel has recently declared the cryptocurrency as “a Chinese Financial Weapon”. Deep Dive here →

🎧 Facebook’s starts Clubhouse Competitor: Seems like all major social media platforms clone audio-only Clubhouse these days. After Twitter’s ‘Spaces’, Facebook is making a run at Clubhouse by introducing ‘Hotline’. Interestingly, Hotline will offer video participation as well. Deep Dive here →

Investment Idea

Invest in startups with as little as $100

Source: wefunder.com

Investing in startups is out of reach for most people. Angel investors usually invest at least $10k to be part of any funding round. Additionally, to be in a position to invest, you need to know the right people to get into the so-called ‘deal flow’. This is about to change.

What’s the deal: On wefunder, an US-based equity crowdfunding platform, anyone can invest in startups, starting at $100. Before 2016, you needed to be an accredited investor to take part in equity crowdfunding rounds. This meant your net worth had to be at least $1m and your annual earnings above $200k. The legislation changes have led to a substantial growth for crowdfunding platforms, and the quality of investment opportunities has increased substantially.

Pros: Some exciting startups on the platform currently include 37 YCombinator startups (AirBnB came out of YC). So potentially, you have the opportunity to invest in a future unicorn startup.

Cons: Potentially very risky as direct investment in young companies are classified as high-risk investments. Even the platform warns that you should expect to lose all your money.

Bottom-Line: It may be worth looking at this as an opportunistic investment opportunity, which means that you should not invest more than 2% of your net worth. In that case, a total loss will not devastate you, and there is a chance for substantial upside. Just imagine having invested 2% of your net worth in Bitcoin in 2007.