EarlyShares is another great crowdfunding platform launched in 2012 and run by CEO Joanna Schwartz.
We took a inside look, continue reading our full review of EarlyShares.com platform and offerings.
Interface:
The Earlyshares.com interface and dashboard is very good, clean and easy to navigate. We were a bit disappointed as the dashboard seemed to be missing any tools for real investment analysis. This includes projections of specific offerings as well as overall portfolio performance. The site is also missing out on showing the percentage of funding the specific offering has already received. This is a indicator as to how well investors perceive the offer and can give perspective investors some great guidance. We give the interface a B+ .
Offerings:
The offerings on EarlyShares.com really meet our expectations for a number of reasons. First of all the have the best mix of any platform we have seen. They give you a little of everything on their platform. Whether you are looking for growth stage private companies, real estate investment funds, commercial Class A real estate offerings or real estate development projects they have it all. They also include a mix of equity and debt offerings for the real estate investments. Of course a great variety of each would be better nevertheless they have managed to bring it all together. The minimums vary greatly as some investments have a minimum of $5,000 while others request a minimum investment of $250,000. The returns seem solid and we look forward to seeing more great offerings. We give their offerings an A .
Due Diligence:
We were a bit disappointed about their due diligence although they claim that they only accept 5% of the offerings that apply to raise funds on their platform and say they thoroughly vet the offers this seems to be limited in scope. When you actually look into any particular offer they have a disclaimer stating “All elements of the Offering – including the Legal Docs, Investment Terms, and Due Diligence – were the responsibility of the Issuer. EarlyShares and its partners have conducted only a qualification screening and regulatory compliance check on the issuer.” This is a bit disheartening but I think this is more a legal formality for protection than an indication of how well the offer has been checked. Since EarlyShares.com has a partnership with crowdcheck.com a third party site which offers outside auditing of the sponsors and all of their sponsors go through this auditing process, this certainly adds to the credibility of the offers. We give their due diligence a B+ as well.
Conclusion:
Although there are some things that earlyshares.com could still improve on they are off to a great start and have a great basis for a site that can really shape the face of equity and debt crowdfunding. We were a bit annoyed by there hyper focus on social media throughout the dashboard trying to get you to invite, share and link your social media at every turn. It is important to keep an eye of EarlyShares.com as they are a pioneer in offering a little but of everything on their site. The main question is will they be able to attract the high quality offers that a more specific equity platform would be able to garner as well. If you are trying to raise money for a real estate project will you go to Earlyshares.com or focus on a site that is totally dedicated to real estate crowdfunding such as fundrise.com or realcrowd.com.