#ilikelocals

Up until this point we (the I like locals team) have bootstrapped the development of I like locals, meaning that we have built the organization with our own investment and lo-o-ong hours of hard work and play.

Now we are at a point where we have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the concept and launched our beta version in Copenhagen. And therefore it is time to get more people and more money involved, so we can step up our game, develop our organization faster, and make more meaningful solutions in a lot more cities.

To get that combination of people and investment we have partnered up with the "equity crowdfunding" platform Funded By Me. “Equity crowdfunding? Say what???” Yes - I know the term is probably new to a lot of people, which makes sense, since it’s a fairly new concept.

Basically equity crowdfunding lets a big group of people each purchase small shares of a company at a relatively low price. This means that the individual investment contribution is relatively small, but collectively the total sum is big enough to become a significant investment in the company.

So - to sum up, equity crowdfunding lets a lot of people become part owners of a company they believe in and potentially make a profitable investment. At the same time the company both gets funded, and gains a lot of partners to help promote the company. A classic win-win situation in a fun new package they call “equity crowdfunding”.   

Funded By Me Background

Funded By Me was started by a couple of Swedish guys a few years ago as a regular crowdfunding platform, similar to the U.S. based Kickstarter.com, but with focus on European projects as opposed to Kickstarter.com, which is mainly for American projects

Since then Funded By Me has been an important player in introducing crowdfunding to Sweden. In September 2011 “equity crowdfunding” was introduced as a crowdfunding alternative and has already shown very good results. Funded By Me has helped raise over SEK 20 million for a variety of Swedish startup companies, including a new vodka brand and a local burger joint in Stockholm. Because of this early success, Funded By Me was introduced in Denmark earlier this spring to grow internationally.

The crowdfunding campaign 

Investment goal I like locals is aiming to reach a funding goal of €100,000 in exchange for 8.7% equity in the company. Basically anyone can invest whatever amount they are capable of in I like locals.

Pre-round (July - mid August) The pre-round is a period that is used to measure the level of interest before actually opening up for investments. During the pre-round the potential investors can give feedback and suggestions for changes. This gives the companies the ability to improve their project and presentation before going into the open round. Anyone can register their interest in the project to stay up to date, and can still decide in the open round if and how much to invest.

Open round (mid August - end October) Once a company has passed the pre-round and accumulated enough interested investors, they move into the open round, where people can start making their actual investments. During the open round it is possible to see an ongoing progress bar that shows how much money has been invested and how much time is left to meet the investment goal. If the goal is met before the deadline, the campaign has been successful.   

People is our core I like locals is a social tool created to help people in cities to find interesting spots and people, who are otherwise hard to find. It is based on a collaborative consumption idea, and locals share their knowledge about their city with people who want to explore the city from a local perspective. In return the locals get knowledge from other users, when they want inspiration to see their own city from another angle, or when they travel and want to explore new cities.

So people are at the core of what we do, and therefore we find it natural to give our people / users the opportunity to become part of I like locals by investing in the company. To make this possible, equity crowdfunding is a super interesting way for a lot of people to get together and put their pocket change into a collective pool, that then becomes a big amount of money.

It is a democratic and social type of investment that fits our core company values, better than angel or VC investment, and we are excited about exploring it on Funded By Me.

How you can help

1)    Share with your friends and network 2)    Report your interest on https://www.fundedbyme.com/en/equity/start-up/717/i-like-locals/overview/ 3)    Make an investment 4)    Use I like locals

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about our crowdfunding campaign on Funded By Me.