Thursday 27th May, London & Hong Kong - The “Virtual Silicon Valley” based platform Grow VC today announced that it has just closed a “service investment round” based on its own community funding model for early stage startups on a global platform. The service investment round concept is essentially a way for startups to secure investments in terms of expertise from individuals or businesses willing to be a part of the venture in exchange for equity options. Those who have the skill sets a startup is seeking to complete a core team can in turn offer their work and expertise to the business as an investment. According to the founders, this allows a business to source the best available talent from across the globe and build strong capabilities irrespective of geographical constraints.
"Service investment" is very real and valid solution that is available to any startup at any given stage. The process of "service investment" also tends to attract more entrepreneurial and motivated people to join as compared to what can be achieved with just a plain hire as - it's that middle ground between founders and hired people. For startup this also opens the opportunity to get more resources earlier and with a more direct approach than with "first looking to raise money and then use that money to hire people". Additionally, it also increases the company valuation as it also indicates traction for the business that is similar to external investors but in different format. Grow VC has the tools to make “Service Investments” available within its service. Including for example, a spreadsheet to calculate compensations and service agreement templates that can be leveraged by businesses pursuing this model.
“Grow VC has closed a service round and we are really happy with the team we’ve managed to build so far”, says Jouko Ahvenainen Founder & Chairman at Grow VC. “Looking to build on our software development and business development capabilities, we received many applications from worldwide talent pool and the end result is a team that is really global” he adds. The company which carried out the service investment round based on the same global community-funding model their platform offers entrepreneurs, investors and early stage startups welcomed on board:
- Andrew Ive - a seasoned serial entrepreneur from USA who will manage business development activity in North America
- Alan Moore – a visionary master in engagement marketing from the UK who will spearhead marketing and concept development
- Markus Lampinen - a young entrepreneur from Finland who will take on the responsibilities as online community manager for the company
- Neil Sequeira – a social content marketing expert from India who will contribute to blogging, PR and content marketing
- Perttu Isotalo – an entrepreneur and web software expert who will help to drive the software development and technical front
The company which announced the service investment round just a month ago in April is excited at the prospect of “the new networked economy”. “The ability to build world class businesses and find the right people to work with through the online community on a platform like Grow VC is simply game changing for early stage startups”, says Valto Loikkanen, Founder & CEO at Grow VC. “We found the capabilities we were looking for to move ahead and we’re confident other startups can use this model to acquire the expertise they need to take their ideas to the next level too.” he mentions. “Top level professionals are willing to use new models to work for the leading companies and this model enables startups to open the door for them” Jouko chimes in.
With this round closed for now (but never if there's a right talent and a good match looking to join), Grow VC moves ahead with a first funding round once again based around its own core models of private investor and crowd-funding investments. Based on the success of the service investment round and the positive response to the community-funding model, it appears the funding market will never be the same again.
