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| By Chris Graebe |
At Weiss Ratings, over the decades, we’ve placed a lot of pride in one thing: providing decision-grade data.
Public markets have it with Bloomberg. Crypto found it with Chainlink (LINK).
Startup crowdfunding? Nothing even close … until recently.
That’s why I’m highlighting Kingscrowd —which is currently the data center for Reg-CF & Reg-A crowdfunding deals.
If you invest in startups, or want to, Kingscrowd can help you stop guessing, review key data points and start benchmarking.
I even consult it myself!
And there’s a timely reason why I’m telling you about it today.
Let me explain …
Why This Matters Now
This is a huge opportunity for three specific reasons:
- Retail investors are showing up. Last year, ~300,000 everyday investors backed ~1,400 deals across 100+ portals. The popularity of investing in private companies is growing rapidly.
- Private markets are exploding. Estimates peg private markets growing from ~$13T today to more than $20T by 2030. The winners will be the ones with the cleanest, real-time data.
- Weiss DNA: We value independent analytics over hype. Kingscrowd is bringing that discipline to venture capital’s front door.
Here’s what Kingscrowd actually does:
- Tracks ~100% of U.S. crowdfunded raises in real time across 100+ sites, standardizing 300+ data points per company (10,000+ startups tracked).
- Rates deals with an industry-style methodology, then uses those ratings to invest via Kingscrowd Capital (a $2M+ fund with $928k deployed across 65 investments).
- Democratizes access: While Bloomberg can run you ~$24k/yr (and mostly caters to pros), Kingscrowd offers tools and data for $15/month.
- $2.5M+ in 2025 booked sales: (~3× YoY).
- Seven acquisitions to consolidate the category (including Lustro and CrowdCheck) and expand coverage.
- Paying users from the institutions down: the SEC, Notre Dame, USC and others reference its research. It has 1,000+ premium customers and a newsletter with 60%+ open rates (3× the industry average).
- Community & product flywheel: ratings → readership → subscribers → fund deployment → more data.
Here’s how it makes money …
- Subscriptions (retail & pro tiers), enterprise/data licensing and fund economics via Kingscrowd Capital.
- New products in the pipeline include deeper portfolio tracking, automated research and institution-grade endpoints.
What’s the Moat?
- Time in dataset: 7+ years of historical coverage across nearly the entire market. It entered this game long before anyone else.
- Full-stack standardization: Daily tracking of every dollar raised, normalized across 100+ portals (hard to replicate).
- Alignment: It doesn’t directly manage fundraises or take issuer cuts. It analyzes them (and even coinvests based on its own models). Which if you know me, this is something I value.
Over the years, I’ve referenced Kingscrowd’s analyses before when discussing exits and failures in Reg-CF/Reg-A space.
No data platform guarantees results, but transparent baselines are how we all make informed decisions.
Here’s what I’m watching next …
- Enterprise penetration: more regulators, universities and family offices adopting a common dataset.
- Fund performance versus ratings: continued proof that the model can pick winners (and help avoid losers).
- Product velocity: portfolio tools that become the default dashboard for active angels and serious retail investors.
The Bottom Line
If you believe private markets are going to look more like public markets — with standards, screens and dashboards …
Then a neutral, comprehensive data layer becomes the chokepoint.
Kingscrowd is making a credible run at that role for crowdfunding.
Want to kick the tires?
Check out its fundraise on StartEngine: https://www.startengine.com/offering/kingscrowd
As always, this isn’t a recommendation to buy, just one I think is worth your attention.
Especially since the round is set to close in just two weeks.
For real-time recommendations on publicly traded stocks, I have another idea.
This coming Tuesday, April 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern, Sean Brodrick is revealing his new research report about what he’s calling “The Mag 7 Miners.”
There, Sean will open the door to members to get the names of seven small-cap miners positioned to see gains only the previous Mag 7 have been able to produce over the past few years.
I can’t wait to hear what he says on Tuesday.
Happy hunting!
Chris Graebe
