EnergyFunders is democratizing energy investments to make energy more sustainable. By offering benefits in speed, access, and efficiency compared to traditional transactions, EnergyFunders is becoming a leading way to finance and invest in energy.
Summary of the Business
EnergyFunders is a financial technology company that provides users the opportunity to invest into energy-related projects utilizing its internet-based application platform.
The Company raises funding for its venture capital funds that invest into individual oil and gas exploration and production projects under the name EnergyFunders Black. It earns carried interest and fees from each of the separate projects similar to venture capital funds. Investors into the projects receive access to pre-vetted oil and gas exploration and production wells, brought to us by experienced developers.
The Company also operates a registered crowdfunding portal using Regulation CF called EnergyFunders Marketplace, and it raises funding for promising energy technology and alternative energy companies. We plan to take a fee on funds raised, similar to what other crowdfunding portals charge, plus reimbursement of certain expenses.
The Opportunity
There is a significant funding gap for companies raising under $10 million in the energy industry. It is especially acute for raises under $5 million. Energy companies with new ideas and technologies are unable to get their concepts to market fast enough or even off the ground. Venture Capital investments by banks, private equity, and venture capital firms, have declined by 30% in this sector over the past 5 years, leaving a void in energy-focused start-up capital funding.
With the introduction of new crowdfunding laws and the EnergyFunders platform, energy entrepreneurs can now seek funding for their ideas, concepts, and innovations from friends, family, customers, and the public at large. EnergyFunders has multiple tools: Reg CF ($1.07MM cap; accredited and non-accredited), Reg D (unlimited raise; accredited only), and eventually Reg S (international) and Reg A+ ($50MM cap; accredited and non-accredited). Today, a Reg CF raise and Reg D raise (506(c)) can be done concurrently, side-by-side.
Customer Base
Our customers are oil and gas exploration teams, accredited investors looking to make direct investments into energy investment opportunities, energy technology companies, and accredited and non-accredited investors looking to make investments into energy technology companies.
For Investors
EnergyFunders Marketplace is a SEC-registered, FINRA-member Funding Portal dedicated to democratizing access to promising energy investments. EnergyFunders takes advantage of the paradigm shifting changes in regulations and online investing and stands at the intersection of securities laws, equity crowdfunding, and technology.Gone are the days when the only way to invest in energy was through retail stocks and funds. EnergyFunders now makes it possible to open a free account, review opportunities using transparent data, and make direct investments in a simple, secure environment.
EnergyFunders provides investors with access to projects traditionally reserved for the wealthy or industry insiders. Our mission is to provide investors from all backgrounds and geographies access to various types of energy investments.
Rather than just consuming the energy products and retail stocks and funds offered by the dominant mega-corporations, you can now have a direct influence over which energy projects and innovative energy startups will succeed in the marketplace by directly funding their growth. In return, you'll become a stakeholder and have an opportunity to reap the rewards that were previously only available to the ultra-wealthy and elite industry insiders.
EnergyFunders provides Investors with:
- Simplified energy investing through innovation.
- Direct access to top-tier private energy producers and technologies.
- Investments in environmental leaders and tech companies that help to make energy more sustainable.
For Fundraisers
Energy companies in need of startup or growth funding can use the EnergyFunders' equity crowdfunding platform to raise or attract much-needed project capital without the hassles and difficulties associated with traditional fundraising.By opening up investment access to leading energy, environmental, and tech companies through our crowdfunding platform, EnergyFunders is changing the way the $1.2 trillion energy industry is funded, produced, and distributed. Combined with our proprietary blockchain technology, we're converting ownership of energy assets from a traditionally expensive and time-consuming process into a simple, streamlined transaction that's as easy as point and click.
Technology
EnergyFunders has built, and continues to improve, a platform to facilitate the company/project submission process on the portal to automate as much as we can to ensure a clean, low-touch process that will guide issuers through. The technology platform is based on the latest technology to provide investors and Energy Companies with access to energy projects and innovative energy startups.
Benefits of EnergyFunders’ Blockchain Technology Will Include:
- Efficiency and Optimization - Bringing liquidity to an illiquid energy market, allowing transactions to occur more safely and quickly, and opening up a secondary market.
- Accountability - Providing immutability and transparency for transactions, creating an audit trail for investors, and regulation compliance.
- Enhanced security - Securing via cryptography all relevant details of each transaction, which are independently, cryptographically verified.
EnergyFunders’ blockchain technology anticipates broadening the energy investment market to include all legally permitted users around the world with built-in regulatory and legal compliance as appropriate for each user’s country of residence. We believe that EnergyFunders users will eventually experience a true borderless trading environment with a resulting reduction in transaction costs.
“In addition to enabling ground-level access to opportunities for investors, our block chain technology will offer a new, critical transparency along with greatly reduced transaction times compared to traditional transactions.” - Aalok Shah, CTO at EnergyFunders.com