CrowdCandy is an online investment platform which aims to be the easiest and simplest way to invest in alternative assets. From very conservative investments like bills and bonds to riskier opportunities like startups, we provide access to alternative investments previously reserved only for institutions and the ultra-wealthy. The platform offers vetted investment opportunities with various yields, durations, and minimums
Each NFT is unique. Our legal experts have drawn up an offline agreement showing all the NFTs minted after a successful campaign are linked to set number of shares in the company. Most crowdfunding raises usually use a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or a custodian company to hold your shares. It would be the same in our case. This is done to ensure that the “Cap Table” (list of shareholders in the company) is not overly complicated. We do this to get the highest quality startups who can potentially raise funds through other routes in the future.
Our secret sauce enables us to convert your investment into an NFT. Unlike other platforms this means you do not have to wait years just to see a return. Want to sell your stake? Head on over to OpenSea or any other marketplace to list your NFT at a price right for you.
Each NFT is unique. Our legal experts have drawn up an offline agreement showing all the NFTs minted after a successful campaign are linked to set number of shares in the company. Most crowdfunding raises usually use a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or a custodian company to hold your shares. It would be the same in our case. This is done to ensure that the “Cap Table” (list of shareholders in the company) is not overly complicated. We do this to get the highest quality startups who can potentially raise funds through other routes in the future.
We founded Crowdcandy due to our frustration and inability to find a simple way for global investors to invest in the exciting space of alternative investments. In the past investments in this space were meant mostly for the “rich” leaving the rest of us no simple way to access the outsized returns that a successful investment could generate. All the existing crowdfunding platforms were geared more towards investors from their own country making it extremely hard for other investors to get on board without spending a lot of time, effort and money. We want to simplify the process using web3 and in the process solve the other large problem plaguing early-stage investments, how long it takes for you to sell your shares!
Create an account using the email of your choice and your mobile phone number
Verify identity: Complete your KYC in the get verified tab. The link will take you to our third party provider to validate your identity information compliant with AML regulations
We try to price our opportunities to make it accessible for all. While we are working to reduce the minimum amounts further, we expect the minimum investment amount in our initial opportunities to cost around $200.
You do not need to pre deposit any funds into CrowdCandy. Currently, you can link your MetaMask to CrowdCandy to directly transfer funds into the campaign of your choice else you can manually transfer from the wallet of your choice and key in the transaction hash.
Once you have created an account, you can check out the different opportunities available on our platform. Simply click on the opportunity you would like to invest into and pick the amount. You can invest using metamask or you can manually transfer from your wallet of choice and fill in the transaction hash.
In our first few phases, we are focusing on Government bonds and Tbills, residential real estate with emphasis on short term vacation rentals, and startups with the ability to change the world!
The Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index is an index which measures the gross performance of the US Venture capital industry. At the recent highs of the public stock market the Venture Capital Index had a 11x return since 2013 while Nasdaq only had a 4x return, attesting to the potential of the startup industry. But while the aggregate industry is growing, investments in individual startups are extremely risky and have a high likelihood of failure.
Investment in an individual startup is binary in nature. You either makes outsized returns or you lose it all. To reduce the risk, we suggest only investing in products you love and use. If you don’t understand the product, you should stay away from investing in it. The goal of any startup is to change the world and if their vision resonates with you, support them! We would also suggest diversifying your portfolio by investing in multiple startups across multiple industries you are passionate about. To this end CrowdCandy helps you by offering smaller investments so you can potentially invest in ten $1,000 bets than one $10,000 bet.
Learning about the startup’s management team and looking at their past successes can also help nudge you in the right direction. While the companies on the platform will be vetted by us, even the best of investors cannot predict how a startup will perform in the future. So, invest only as much as you are comfortable losing.
Selling your investment shouldn’t be rocket science. Putting up your NFT for sale is as easy as listing it on a marketplace like OpenSea! The better the company’s performance and more attractive the price, the easier it will be for you to find a buyer.
Investments in startups, especially in the earlier rounds will almost certainly be diluted. Till what is known as a liquidity event (acquisitions, IPOs etc) the startup will host many rounds of funding including on occasions, follow-up crowdfunding rounds. But future funding rounds typically happen at higher valuations, which increases the value of your investment.
These investments seek to provide high-yield returns in the specialty-lending market which inherently brings greater risk than other debt and equity investments. We try our best through due diligence to mitigate the risk, but it’s impossible to completely eliminate it. On the safest side we have government bonds, Tbills and Notes where the returns are fixed but lower than other opportunities. On the risky side, we have startups which can either multiply your money many times over or you could lose it all. Real estate will fall between the two in terms of the risk profile and returns. We always encourage, and indeed expect, that all potential CrowdCandy investor to educate themselves to the greatest extent possible before investing on our platform, or with others. Our investors educate themselves in many ways, including, but hardly limited to, consulting financial advisors, researching the extraordinary diversity of investments available elsewhere, and exercising personal restraint and judgment when it comes to diversification, risk tolerance, and setting personal and family oriented financial goals.
How can I earn money on my investment? The simplest way to make a profit on your investment is to sell it on an NFT marketplace at a higher price. In case of a liquidity event as mentioned in the legal agreement, we will set up a link on Crowdcandy where registered users can transfer the NFTs back to us and the amount earned will be transferred back to them. Users might need to register on Crowdcandy if they bought the NFT on a secondary market and link their wallets. You can also read above on any monthly payments you receive (if any) to know how that process works
Investment in an individual startup is binary in nature. You either make outsized returns or you lose it all.
CrowdCandy is required to complete identity verification procedures for know your customer (KYC) purposes. We use reliable, well-known third-party providers to do this for us in line with international regulations.
Yes! While we ensure high quality opportunities, not all campaigns get fully funded. Minting NFTs costs gas fees which would be exorbitant if they are done one by one and would be far worse if the campaign fails and we have to return the investments. The cost of all of this is borne by us at CrowdCandy and to make a more efficient system, we mint all the NFTs together only after the successful completion of the campaign and the procurement of the asset.
The payments are different based on the different assets you have invested in. For Bills, bonds and notes: The amount will be airdropped to you (the NFT holder) at the time of maturity. For real estate: the NFT holder will be airdropped the monthly revenue and if there is a liquidation of the property, your amount with the profits will be airdropped to the NFT holder For startups, the nature of the business is that most profits (if any) are reinvested into it’s growth. You would typically only see your profits at the end of the a liquidity event. But the flexibility afforded to our investors in unparalleled and you can always sell your investment positions in the secondary market.
CrowdCandy places great importance on keeping your information secure. We encrypt all personal information on our website of which we only collect your name, mobile number, email and wallet address from where you are transferring. Our technology team endeavors to utilize best practices for security sitewide. Our Third party KYC/AML provides their own security for the information shared during the KYC process compliant with the most stringent of standards.
We highly recommend taking the below steps to ensure you protect yourself and secure your personal data, not only on our platform but also on other online accounts you have: Keep passwords long and random: Using a password management tool like 1Password makes this process easier because then you only need to remember the password to your password management tool.Use an ad-blocker: Ad-blocker extensions like uBlock , AdBlock Plus or AdGuard maintain lists that block ads that are known to be malicious.
CrowdCandy earns money in different ways depending on the asset under consideration. For real estate we get a small amount based on the negotiation with the seller. For startups we get a success fee once the campaign is successful which is again negotiated with the company. For bonds, bills and notes, we take a small percentage of the spread.
You can cancel your investment anytime till the end of the campaign to receive a full refund minus the gas fees to send back the investment amount. The amount will be directly transferred to the wallet where the original amount originated from. There will be a 7 day warning on the campaign page to let investors know that it will be closing soon. You can cancel any time before the campaign closes.
The money will be refunded to you in case the campaign is not successful. Some campaigns may have a minimum threshold above which they would consider the campaign to be successful.
If the campaign is oversubscribed, the startup can choose to end the campaign prematurely. In such cases, the same will be indicated on the campaign page and Investors are then allowed 7 days to cancel the investment following which the money will be transferred to the startup.
Using the sign-up link on the website allows you to create an account using your phone number. Fill out your profile information. For AML and KYC purposes, keep your passport handy. You can link your wallet once you have signed in. Currently we work with metamask but will soon be bringing support for more wallets.
We are working on providing support for direct payment using bank services in the future. But a successful campaign will lead to the minting of the NFT and its subsequent airdrop to you. This would ensure that you have a defi wallet linked to your account.
Once your wallet is linked, go to the campaign page of the company raising funds. Once on the page click on the number of NFTs you would like to buy depending on your investment value. Note that depending on the campaign you have selected, the cost of an NFT might vary. Once you decide to invest, you will sign off on your wallet to affect the transfer.
CrowdCandy charges the company a percentage of the funds raised as a fee. This is collected directly from the company at the end of a successful campaign. We charge no extra cost to you when you invest. But every transaction on the blockchain incurs a gas fee, which depends on the congestion level on the network at the time of the transfer. To know more about gas fees click here.
During the course of the campaign, to prevent volatility in the value of the startup you can only invest using stablecoins. Currently we support investments using USDT and USDC.
You can cancel your investment anytime till the end of the campaign to receive a full refund. The amount will be directly transferred to the wallet where the original amount originated from. There will be a 7 day warning on the campaign page to let investors know that it will be closing soon. You can cancel anytime before the campaign closes.
If the campaign is over subscribed, the startup can choose to end the campaign prematurely. In such cases, the same will be indicated on the campaign page and Investors are then allowed 7 days to cancel the investment following which the money will be transferred to the startup.
The money will be refunded to you in case the campaign is not successful. Some campaigns may have a minimum threshold above which they would consider the campaign to be successful.
The simplest way to make a profit on your investment is to sell it on an NFT marketplace at a higher price. Incase of a liquidity event as mentioned in the legal agreement, we will set up a link on CrowdCandy where registered users can transfer the NFTs back to us and the amount earnt will be transferred back to them. Users might need to register on CrowdCandy if they bought the NFT on a secondary market and link their wallets.