Upstart, started by reformed Googlers, is a crowdfunding site that crowdfunds you with a slice of economic freedom. In their own words,
Upstart aims to help you with the most important part of pursuing your dreams – taking the first step. It may be as simple as applying for an internship, relocating to another city, or spending a few months in a garage working on your idea. Your Upstart backers will provide you with a modest amount of capital, combined with the support and guidance you’ll need. In return, you share a small portion of your income for 10 years. By matching you with the right backers and by providing just a slice of economic freedom – where repayment is based on your future success – we help you get started on the right path.
Whether you’re an engineer, artist, financial wizard, or entrepreneur – we believe the most important startup is you.
Today, April 22nd, just happens to be Upstarts birthday and to share in the celebration Upstart announced some good news on their blog:
- We’ve closed a $5.9M Series A funding round (in addition to $1.75M raised in April 2012)
- New Upstart investors include Founder’s Fund, Khosla Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff, and Scott Banister
- Since launching in November, more than $1M in funding offers have been made to upstarts.
- We’ve published more than 80 upstart and 135 backer profiles to our site. 555 unique funding offers have been made to date.
They have also announced two new advisors:
- Bob Kerrey, Former Governor of Nebraska, US Senator, President of The New School, US Navy Seal, and Executive Chairman of the Minerva Institute
- Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva.org and founder & CEO of ProFounder
So Happy Birthday to the entire team at Upstart. Let’s hope year two is even better.