Neufund ICBM is now closed — Quick overview and big THANK YOU

What happened?

Today, we closed the public Neufund ICBM, raising an equivalent of 12.5+ million EUR in the process and generating 26.520.727 NEU for the investors. We’re very happy that over 1.000 people embraced this new approach of supporting a Blockchain platform in a process which isn’t an “ICO”, a “token sale” or “crowdfunding”, but something completely new.

Over the past month we’ve been collecting contributions from people of various backgrounds, who share one common goal: To promote the culture of entrepreneurship, to accelerate innovation, to inspire creativity, and to remove unnecessary barriers that prevent the alliance of inventors and investors. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again:

We believe firmly that innovating, building and contributing is the only priority of our generation, and that the right to create is inherent to all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, or financial status.

Our investors trusted us and underpinned that trust with the capital they put down to support this community-owned fundraising platform, enabling Equity Token Offerings for on- and off-chain companies. We’re working hard to pay back this trust and continue with our mission: To open innovation for good — through the benefits of using Blockchain.

Since the inception of Neufund we’ve been seeking transparency, trustless-trust, and a direct alliance between founders and those who believe in their success. We work with developers, founders, investors, regulators, and financial supervisors alike, to create a fluid yet safe ecosystem for founders and investors. We aim at adding value to the Blockchain- and startup spaces alike building a bridge between the two worlds. We’re creating a platform that will allow all kinds of companies to issue equity tokens in ETOs (Equity Token Offerings). The platform will be owned by its community of investors who will receive proceeds from every successful ETO.

In the name of the whole Neufund team and myself I’d like to personally thank you for all the amazing support and great feedback we’ve received so far. It was a great start of our journey and we’re excited about what we’ve planned for 2018.

The ICBM statistics are available in the ICO Transparency Monitor

Our ICBM was tracked in the ICO Transparency Monitor. There were 1.008 investors participating in a total of 1.472 transactions. For committing their ETH and EUR, they received 26.520.727 Neumark (NEU) tokens as a reward.

Our ICBM encompassed a network of investors that reflects the position of Neufund — one between venture capital and Blockchain. From experienced VCs such as Frank Thelen, Christophe Maire and Piotr Wilam, Ethereum Developer Fabian Vogelsteller, or Lisk founder Max Kordek, to Blockchain experts such as Brian Fabian Crain, Alexander Lange, and many, many others. It’s rare to see a project supported by such a broad and diverse group of serial entrepreneurs, creatives, developers, crypto enthusiasts, venture capitalists, private equity and angel investors — all of different backgrounds and passions. And it is incredibly motivating.

What we’ve done so far

Since the inception of Neufund we consequently focus on the interplay between technological and legal frameworks to build an ecosystem compliant with both: Blockchain technology and current legal regulations world-wide. We have deliberately pursued a skin-in-the-game, one step at a time approach. We demonstrate our commitment to these goals with practical steps and projects that support our mission:

Finally, it is necessary to mention that the whole Neufund team has been incredibly dedicated to the decentralised idea, and all of our team members have been contributing actively to the growth and development of the Blockchain community overall:

What the Venture Capital and the Blockchain community say about Neufund

Our ICBM and our work have been heavily commented on in the Blockchain, technology, startups and finance world. Here are a few publications you might find interesting to read: Reuters, Investing.com, CrowdFundInsider, Next Big Future, Daily Mail, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Wired, Forbes, Coindesk, Deutsche Startups, Focus and more.

Here are a couple quotes from some of our investors, from both the venture capital and the Blockchain worlds:

Fabian Vogelsteller, Ethereum Developer, on his advisory at Neufund:

“Since then I’ve met them a few time and followed their progress towards a more decentralised version of their initial idea. Today I’m convinced they build something quite unique! NeuFund is a platform to make actual equity investments using blockchain. Something many of the current ICOs actually want, but rather invent some dodgy token, which shouldn’t be there in the first place.”

Frank Thelen, Freigeist, on their latest investment in Neufund:

“We believe technology should create a world that is simpler, faster and more secure. Therefore we are outspoken supporters of distributed ledger technology like the blockchain. It has the potential to drive innovation in many industries, particularly in financial services. So far we didn’t find the right product and team to invest in this exciting technology. This changed after discussing Neufund with Zoe, Marcin, and André. Neufund solves a problem that we face every day at Freigeist.”

Christophe Maire, CEO and Founder of Atlantic Labs, on funding innovation with Neufund:

“Europe needs more innovation. More talented people solving real problems. There is still a significant gap between Europe and the US when it comes to innovation capital. We’re talking about five to eight times less innovation capital available. When I see Neufund, it’s a platform to finance innovation. It offers a simple way with less transactions costs, for investors to engage with innovative founders. I believe that it could have a huge impact on the ecosystem, and I think Neufund gonna be huge.”

Innogy Innovation Hub on their involvement in the Neufund ICBM:

„At the Innogy Innovation Hub, we believe the future of finance and the future of energy go hand in hand. We are delighted to announce our support for the portfolio that trailblazer Neufund is building, because we believe that a decentralized fundraising platform will provide more flexibility and access to liquidity for the entire startup community.”

— Kerstin Eichmann, Lead Machine Economy

Alexander Lange, previously Early Bird VC, on why he supports Neufund:

“During the past years I spent in European VC I realized that many people in the industry have an innovator’s rather than a disruptor’s mindset […]. Some patterns I’ve seen quite often include: difficult to grasp on first sight, early or first mover, sounds like science fiction, fundamentally different business model, people behind are not driven by money, zic zacs / pivots, regulatory uncertainties, high entry barriers, turned down by conservative VCs. Neufund matches most of these patterns what I perceived as an initial signal.”

Piotr Wilam, Partner at Innovation Nest VC, on why Neufund will reimagine ICOs:

“Let me come back to my personal history. Looking at ICOs, I was not convinced enough to invest in any of them. My blockchain schizophrenia was developing, and it was becoming more acute. Then Neufund with Zoe and her team came as a cure and salvation and took me out of this misery.”

In addition to that you can watch our closest supporters talk about Neufund in a series of videos we have released during the ICBM or my interview with Brian Fabian Crain and Meher Roy from Epicenter TV.

What happens next?

Now:

Your ETH remains securely stored

All of the ETH that was raised from investors in the ICBM still belongs to those investors. It is stored in a smart contract and ready to be used for investing in companies once the Neufund Platform opens. Neufund doesn’t have any access to these funds, they are 100% controlled by the investors themselves. We will announce the launch of the platform on our communication channels: Slack, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and Blog. You will be able to sign up to the platform with your ETH address. For now to see how much ETH you committed and how much NEU you have on this status page: https://commit.neufund.org/commit/status just by entering your ETH address in the input field.

Neumark​ ​(NEU) transferability

All NEU are held in a smart contract. NEU is an ERC20 token, the transfer function is enabled. We noticed that some exchanges, like Ether Delta or Liqui, have already picked it up.

Early 2018:

Launch​ ​of​ ​platform​ ​fundamentals

Fundamental features of the Neufund Platform (e.g. registration and login flows with hardware Neukey support, KYC processes for individuals and organisations) will be launched early 2018.

Launch​ ​of​ ​the primary​ ​market​ ​platform

When the platform goes live, companies can start listing their offers, talk and negotiate terms with investors, proceed with ETOs and get funded. Neufund will also reveal a first batch of pre-selected high-quality deals prepared in advance.

First​ ​Equity​ ​Token​ ​Offerings​:​ Spring​ ​2018

First token offerings are happening: fees may be distributed for the first time, NEU are “mined” for the first time outside of the ICBM, and ETO investors become shareholders of the companies they invested in, which gives them access to on-chain company governance.

Outlook

2018 will be a critical year for Blockchain: in 2017, we saw cryptocurrency valuations skyrocket, the unparalleled surge of ICOs, and more people than ever getting excited about the possibilities of this technology. In 2018, blockchain and crypto has the opportunity to prove that its growth is sustainable by enabling new use cases that have impact in the off-chain world. We at Neufund can’t wait to be a part of this movement by bringing tokenized equity to the blockchain and to the world.

Merry Christmas and Happy Decentralised 2018

Thanks yet again to our investors, advisors, supporters, and all of you who believe in entrepreneurship, positive impact, innovation and Neufund. I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy 2018! We will be back in January :-)

Cheers,

Zoe