Orlando, Fla. (January 8, 2021) – Led by JAXAngels, with participation from Johnson Venture Partners, SeedFundersOrlando, and Seedfunders, Orlando startup Miventure has closed a $256,000 seed round to accelerate the development of its small business crowdlending mobile app.
“We’re excited to partner with prestigious venture firms in the Southeast who believe in the power of crowdfunding to create economic opportunities and strengthen local communities,” says Jason Crystal, CEO and cofounder of Miventure. “This funding will enable us reach more retail brick and mortar stores that don’t yet know investment crowdfunding can be a great option for them to grow their businesses.”
Using the Miventure mobile app, small businesses raise capital by accepting microloans from friends, customers, and investors nationwide with investments as little as $100.
Unlike other crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and StartEngine, that offer rewards and equity, Miventure campaign’s offer debt-securities in the form of term notes. With Miventure, investors can lend as little as $100 to a business and receive monthly returns of the principal plus interest, should the business succeed.
“The Miventure platform can be a lifeline for many small businesses that don’t qualify for a loan from bank,” says Tyler Brown, partner, JAXAngels. “By putting decision making about creditworthiness in the hands of a diverse investor community armed with the proper data to make an informed decision, more businesses will have the opportunity to flourish.”
Dennis R. Pape, CEO, SeedFundersOrlando, added: “Most crowdfunding platforms are primarily equity, so investors who have short time horizons can’t participate. With Miventure, unaccredited investors have the chance to access local investment opportunities and benefit from their success, and that’s exciting!”
Finally, Matt Johnson, managing partner, Johnson Venture Partners, said: “Millennials care most about the social impact of their investments. That trend coupled with historically low interest rates puts Miventure at the intersection of some really important macrotrends.”
Miventure is the brainchild of two friends from New York City. There, Jason Crystal was working as a business consultant helping companies scale their operations His partner, Luiggi Pera, worked in banking compliance for JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, giving him insight on how to design the platform and surmount the regulatory hurdles relevant to this type of marketplace.
The two moved their families to Florida in April as they continued building Miventure and, in October, Miventure, Inc. succeeded in becoming a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a government-authorized organization that regulates funding portals.
The company launched publicly on December 17 and campaigns are actively accepting investments on IOS and Android mobile devices.
###
For more information, please contact:
Miventure: Jason Crystal, Miventure CEO, jason@miventure.com
JAXAngels: Tyler Brown, Partner, tyler@vertusventures.com
Johnson Venture Partners: Matthew Johnson, Managing partner, mattjohnson8@gmail.com
SeedFundersOrlando: Dennis R. Pape, CEO, 407-701-5577, dennis@seedfundersorlando.com.
Seedfunders: David Chitester, CEO, 813-335-0322, dave@chitester.com.
UCF Business Incubation Program: Rob Panepinto, director, Innovation Districts Strategy and Partnerships for the University of Central Florida, 407-467-5689, rob.panepinto@ucf.edu or Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com
About Miventure Inc.: Miventure, Inc. is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as a Funding Portal (“Portal”) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Miventure, Inc. hosts investment opportunities to everyone over 18 years of age under Title III Regulation Crowdfunding. For more information or to begin using the Miventure mobile app, visit www.miventure.com.
About JaxAngels: Started in June 2019 JaxAngels is an angel investment group located in Jacksonville, Fl. Their mission is to make available two of the most necessary assets that an early-stage company needs. One is capital, and the other is advice and mentoring.
JaxAngels is a group of experienced industry executives and subject matter experts with deep business knowledge and access to capital. JaxAngels is seeking to invest in early-stage startups that are currently in market generating revenues in the areas of SaaS, medical technology, financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce.
JaxAngels came together as a group of individuals interested in filling the seed funding gap for startups in our area and are interested in creating jobs and economic growth for our region. For more information, please visit www.jaxangels.com/
About Johnson Venture Partners: Johnson Venture Partners (JVP) is a micro VC fund investing in high-growth startups in the Southeast. JVP was founded in 2006 and is based in Atlanta, GA. For more information, please visit www.jvpfund.com
About SeedFundersOrlando: SeedFundersOrlando is an angel capital group that invests in pre-revenue Central Florida technology startups. Our members are world-class entrepreneurs with early-stage venture operational experience who have founded, scaled, and exited companies. We believe that smart investments in emerging startup companies will benefit both our member’s portfolios and Central Florida’s innovation economy. For more information, visit www.seedfundersorlando.com
About Seedfunders: Seedfunders was founded by Dave Chitester and Irv Cohen in St Petersburg, Florida, in 2017, with a mission to invest in pre-revenue technology companies throughout the state. In just over two years, the company made 24 investments in a wide range of technology startups. It also launched SeedFundersOrlando in 2019, as well as Seedfunders Miami this year. Collectively, there are now 44 partners in Seedfunders organizations. For more information, visit www.seedfundersorlando.com.
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2017/2018 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped to sustain more than 6,725 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of over $725 million on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned more than $12.00 in state and local taxes for every $1.00 invested in the program. In addition, for every $1.00 of public investment the firms also produced $118 of additional regional GDP and $226 of regional sales. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.
