VentureWave, an Irish-based venture private equity group committed to impact investing and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs, and Funderbeam, an online investing and trading platform that serves individual investors, have agreed “to enter into a transaction to create a leading global entity which will serve institutional and angel investors in venture deal execution and secondaries.” VentureWave is taking a strategic majority stake in Funderbeam and will contribute its capital, global networks, leadership, and Vestiver platform capabilities. The total investment in Funderbeam was reported to be $40 million.
VentureWave aims to scale Funderbeam’s technology across venture assets serving institutions, including VCs, family offices, brokers, etc.
The Group now “has an evolved US market entry strategy through Vestiver, the institutional venture platform.”
Following the completion of the transaction, the group will “target the entire life cycle of global venture investments and secondaries, from early-stage angel funding until pre-IPO secondaries.”
Kaidi Ruusalepp, founder and CEO of Funderbeam, said:
“This transaction creates a powerful platform to fast forward Funderbeam’s vision which is to serve venture investments across borders and create a unique secondary market for private assets. The timing of the transaction couldn’t be better – we are strong at a time when the market is ready for our solution.”
In 2021, Ruusalepp told CI that changes in EU regulation for online capital formation (ECSPR) will boost growth and drive competition.
“Our advantage is the possibility to provide liquidity to fundraising through secondary trading, that provides investors essential benefit not to be locked in into relatively unforeseen time.
VentureWave’s investment in Funderbeam is a game-changer, said Alan Foy, VentureWave Chairman. He explained that combined, they have the tech, the assets and the capital to manage the entire venture investment life cycle.
“This represents a transformative moment to put impact at the centre of the investment industry.”
Investor Tim Draper, founder of Draper Associates, noted that private firms have had a long history of “difficult liquidity.” He sees VentureWave and Funderbeam as enabling startups to be liquid. Draper called the deal a “major breakthrough, and the new liquidity will allow for GPs and LPs to more easily trade otherwise illiquid positions.”
Funderbeam says it will continue to serve investor networks and provide Private Market as a service and the Angel Market.
Funderbeam is pursuing a similar strategy as several other online investment platforms have launched. Access to private securities on a global basis.
Until the transaction is approved by the regulators in the UK, Singapore, and Estonia, “no further corporate-level actions and decisions will be made.”