Crowdfunding Like a Billionaire: Overview of the World’s Leading Startups

Many unicorn companies have started their way to success by raising funds from retail investors. Some of these companies that crowdfunded their way to success rely on their supporters even now.

In the article, we will review the biggest unicorn startups that leveraged crowdfunding in their financial journey to becoming billion-valued companies today:

• Boxabl
• BrewDog
• Fanatics
• Monzo
• Revolut

While they may not have relied on crowdfunding specifically, it was definitely a part of their capital raising strategy. So, let’s take a closer look at these companies and find out what we can learn from them.

Boxabl

Boxabl is a prefabricated housing manufacturer that was launched in 2017 and, since then, gained significant interest from potential customers and investors. Now, the company’s valuation is around $3.5 billion, and crowdfunding has contributed to this success, to a great extent.

May 2021, WeFunder

In a crowdfunding campaign launched on WeFunder in 2021, Boxabl raised $3,222,624 from 967 investors. That crowdfunding campaign was aimed at accredited investors only, with a promise to launch a Reg CF campaign for retail investors soon.

The company announced that it would make money by mass-producing and selling room modules built by utilizing modern manufacturing technology. The raised funds were claimed to be used for building more factories to satisfy the huge domestic and international demand. 

August 2022, StartEngine

The promised Reg CF campaign was launched on StartEngine again in 2022 with Boxabl raising over $24 million.

August 2022, Republic

Another Reg CF campaign was launched on Republic where Boxabl raised $1,069,674 from 607 investors. The minimum investment sum was $1,000, and the maximum was $100,000. The company was valued at $3 billion at that time.

StartEngine, currently – 2025

Currently, Boxabl is again raising funds in a Reg A+ offering on StartEngine. With a minimum investment of $1,000 and a maximum of $74,000,000, the company has already secured almost $3,786,000 from 1,601 investors. The offering is currently available, everyone can purchase Boxabl shares at $0.80 per share.

BrewDog

BrewDog is a multinational brewery and pub chain based in Ellon, Scotland, that used crowdfunded resources to expand its business. In 2022, the beer brand was ranked the 14th most valuable beer brand in the world by Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation and consultancy firm. The brand used crowdfunding not only to raise funds but also to create a loyal community around its brand. Here are some stages on the way to its success.

2009, Equity for Punks

In 2009, BrewDog launched its first crowdfunding campaign called Equity for Punks. The campaign’s goal was to raise enough funds to expand beer production and preserve independence from external investors. During the campaign, £750,000 was raised from more than 1,300 investors. Four additional rounds followed which collectively raised £74 million from over 100,000 investors worldwide. 

These campaigns helped BrewDog to expand internationally, open bars globally, launch a brewery in the United States, and even found a television network dedicated to crafting beer.

By 2019, the company’s value doubled, and the BrewDog founders announced that first investors saw a return of up to 2,800% on their initial investment.

Fanatics

Fanatics is a sports-merchandising company that has licenses to sell apparel of the most famous US sports teams. They service over 100 millions fans all around the world and have generated approx. $8 billion in revenue in 2023 only.

The business has had 10 funding rounds for now, with the total funding of $5 billion received from 24 VC investors and 1 angel investor. The most prominent funding rounds were the following.

May 2021, Series D 

In 2021, Fanatics raised $320 million in Series D funding round from such investors as Major League Baseball, and such investors as Silver Lake, Fidelity Investments, Neuberger Berman, and Thrive Capital, among others. The company valuation reached $12.8 billion. 

August 2021, Series D

The next funding round took place in August the same year. The company raised $337 million from its previous investors and new investors such as Rocnation, Insight Partners, Eldridge Industries, and SoftBank Vision Fund, among others. This boosted the company valuation to $18 billion.

March 2022, Series E

In March 2022, Fanatics raised $1.67 billion more in a Series E funding round from such investors as Fidelity Investments, BlackRock, MSD Capital, and SoftBank Vision Fund. The company’s valuation reached $27 billion.

December 2022, Series E

In a Series E funding round that took place in December 2022, Fanatics raised $700 million from their previous investors and such new investors as Clearlake Capital Group. This round boosted the company’s valuation to $31 billion. 

April 2024, StartEngine

The most recent securities offering was listed for Fanatics by StartEngine. The offering was catered by StartEngine Private which means it was available for accredited investors only. With the minimum investment of $8,400, Fanatics managed to raise $842,160.

Monzo

Monzo was founded in 2015 as Mondo, and in February 2016, the company set the record for the quickest crowdfunding campaign in history when the startup raised £1 million in 96 seconds on CrowdCube.

In 2016, the company announced that its name Mondo was taken by another company, and rebranded to Monzo. 

In April 2017, Monzo received its full banking license from the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, and in 2018, it already had 1 million customers.

In 2018, the company raised £85 million in a Series E funding round from such investors as Thrive Capital, Stripe, Orange Digital Ventures, and others. This funding boosted the company valuation to billion pounds. Within the same year, Monzo launched another crowdfunding campaign on CrowdCube and raised £20 million from its 36,000 community members, with almost £18 million raised within 2 hours 45 minutes.

After the most recent funding rounds, Monzo’s valuation increased to $5,2 billion, and the company is preparing its attempt to return to the US market. 

Revolut

Revolut is a global neobank and financial technology company with headquarters in London, UK, that started its way thanks to crowdfunding. Its main difference from other unicorns is that it is the first company that allows retail investors to invest.

2016, CrowdCube

In 2016, Revolut partnered with CrowdCube to enable retail investors to acquire 2.4% of the company shares. Revolut raised over $1 million from 433 investors. 

2017, Republic Europe

The next crowdfunding campaign took place in 2017 on Republic Europe (former Seedrs). Revolut raised $3.8 million from 3486 retail investors. 

Additionally, the company was raising funds from such venture capitalists as Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Ribbit Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Tiger Global Management, among others. Now, the Revolut’s valuation is $45 billion which means that the first investors see their stakes increase by 40,000%.

How to launch a crowdfunding platform with LenderKit

It’s hard to deny that all these cases became possible thanks to crowdfunding to a great extent.

If you are inspired by these success stories and are thinking of launching a crowdfunding platform to help promising startups get funding, check out a white-label crowdfunding software by LenderKit. 

We offer a scalable investment solution that helps you get started quickly and grow your business, expanding the platform as you need. Your platform is equipped with all the tools to make it work asap such as payments systems, KYC/AML, document signing tools, etc.

If you are interested to learn more about the LenderKit offer, reach out to us via a contact form.