How often have you come across crowdfunding banners online, asking for contributions in return of a fine product or service? For years, such crowdfunding platforms have allowed people of all sorts to “invest” in crowdfunding campaigns, without the return of any value for their contribution. But what if we told you that you could now make some profit out of that investment? This team of entrepreneurs and visionaries from the University City district in Philadelphia aim just to make that possible.
Meet Slice Capital, an online platform that aims to connect startups to non-accredited investors, as well as Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists. In May of last year, a regulatory change, formally known as the Title III of the JOBS Act, allowed non-accredited investors to invest in startups for in exchange for equity. Slice’s idea revolves around this regulatory change, by providing value for one’s investment through equity. The app, to be released later this April, will allow non-accredited investors to browse through registered companies, and invest with the touch of button. The app makes investment seem like a child’s play, where any non-accredited or accredited investor could register and make profits out of their investment through direct startup investments, ETF Funds, or VC Funds.
However, not any company could go on and enter Slice without some serious due diligence. To give a perspective, at the initial launch in late April this year, Slice will be featuring close to 25 companies out of over 1000 that applied, making the acceptance rate less than 3%. Slice will help these companies determine their valuation, through partnership with West Coast based investment firm Tricent Capital and a team of Wharton MBA’s with experience in VC and Private Equity on the Slice team. Moreover, individual thresholds and investment limits for users will depend upon the user’s net worth and annual income alongside other particulars, calculated using sophisticated algorithms and data mining techniques.
Slice Capital was founded back in 2016 by University of Pennsylvania sophomore Rohan Shah. Being unable to invest in startups due to lack of millions of dollars as an accredited investor, Shah came up with the idea of presenting non-accredited investors an opportunity to invest in up-and-coming companies and make the most out of their investment. Developed in-house by Shah and his teammates at Penn’s campus incubators, PennApps Accelerator, VIP-Xcelerate and WeissLabs, Slice Capital is all set to disrupt the Venture Capital industry.
The University City Post 