StartEngine Announces Marketing Fund: Advances Qualified Companies Up to $50,000 For Campaign Marketing and Promotions

Seeking to help more campaign reach their funding goals, equity crowdfunding platform StartEngine recently announced the launch of its new Marketing Fund, which advances qualified companies up to $50,000 to put towards the marketing and promotion of their campaigns.

The funding portal revealed:

“We understand that running a crowdfunding campaign is both costly and timely. We have also learned that posting a campaign without a thoughtful and well funded marketing strategy will yield disappointing results. Before Elio Motors raised close to $17M in capital on StartEngine, we gave them $50,000 from the Marketing Fund to put towards the promotion of their campaign.”

If a company is looking to raise $1 million, it must do the following to qualify for the Marketing Fund:

•  Pass StartEngine’s Green Light Review process and objective traction qualification
•  Sign StartEngine’s Posting Agreement within seven days of receiving the officer
• Submit final campaign to StartEngine within 30 days of accepting the offer

If a company is looking to raise $50 million, it must do the following to qualify for the Marketing Fund:

• Pass StartEngine’s Green Light Review process and objective traction qualification
• Sign StartEngine’s Posting Agreement within seven days of receiving the offer
• File Form 1A within 60 days (All Regulation A+ offerings must file their form 1A with the SEC before launching their campaign)

Explaining more details about the Marketing Fund, Howard Marks, Co-Founder of StartEngine, shared why he and his team decided to start the fund:

“We recognize that companies do not put aside funds for marketing their Online IPOs.  Mainly because this is a new industry and traditionally raising capital is time and work intensive, and less capital intensive.  We want to help them build campaigns that are successful and this means having a meaningful budget.”

He then added what the real cost of raising capital that companies need to be aware of:

“There are two types of costs. First, the cost to set up the campaign, this includes page design, copywriting and the video. Second, is the cost to run the campaign that includes the PR effort, building a mailing list, conducting the direct mail efforts, promotion and advertising.  These costs can range anywhere from $15,000 and up, depending on the amount of marketing a company wants to implement to drive exposure to their campaign.”