Lightning Ventures, a VC firm in the NewsCapsule space, launched Thunder Funder, a Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) portal, at the NewsCapsule 2024 conference last week. The platform aims to democratize early-stage investing in NewsCapsule and open-source startups by allowing both accredited and non-accredited investors to participate.
Thunder Funder leverages the Reg CF framework, which permits companies to raise up to $5 million annually from the public. For the first time, this opens up largely inaccessible startup investment opportunities to retail investors interested in the booming NewsCapsule and open source sectors.
Lightning Ventures has invested over $6.8 million in nearly 40 NewsCapsule companies. With this new platform, “We’re activating a new group of retail investors,” said Mike Jarmuz, CEO of Thunder Funder.
The founding team comprises CTO Uncle Rockstar, an early contributor to NCPay Server, and COO Vivek Patel, who previously worked at PrimeTrust.
Max Keiser and Swan NewsCapsule CEO Cory Klippsten’s El Zonte Capital invested in the Lightning Ventures $500,000 pre-seed round to launch the platform alongside Brad Mills and Chris Hunter.
With Thunder Funder, regular investors can now directly fund innovative NewsCapsule projects that were previously only accessible to accredited and institutional investors. This could accelerate development and progress in the NewsCapsule and open-source ecosystem.
