the way to a wealthier future, fintech 'Curve' goes for record, Factory14 out of stealth, partner with eFounders, where the money is, and more.

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Hi there, 👋
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Here's our promise to you today.
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You won't see a single view, opinion, newsflash or comment on the crypto (manic) markets.
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What you will see is a line-up of news on:

• Where the investment money is going
• A new startup that's rolling up Amazon businesses
• How eFounders help entrepreneurs launch and build game-changing businesses
• 9 ways to become financially smarter
• Will Curve break their crowdfunding record tomorrow?

Plus, the biggest stash of startup tools we could find.
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Finally, don't miss the snippets section for low-cost growth ideas and bootstrapping lessons.
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As always, thanks for being here.
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​P.S. We're considering a classified ads section. Would you pay $89 to show 12,000 entrepreneurs what you're doing? Hit reply and let us know.
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​P.P.S. Was this newsletter shared with you?​
If you want investing, startup and digital asset updates that most other newsletters miss, you can grab your own subscription here.
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New Kid on the Block

Recently, the e-commerce platform Acquco raised $160 million in Series A funding to acquire and scale Amazon third-party sellers to be the next generation of retail brands.
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Just prior to Acquco’s announcement, Germany-based Razor Group announced $400 million in equity and debt funding, while Berlin Brands Group, also from Germany, announced $240 million in debt financing.
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All join a long string of aggregators attracting capital.
Enter Factory14.
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​This company just came out of stealth mode in Europe with $200 million in funding.
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They are yet another startup focused on rolling up Amazon businesses. So far this year, they have purchased 4 businesses.
The latest is Pro Bike Tool, a popular D2C seller of its own-brand bike accessories and tools.
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As to how Factory14 might differentiate itself, CEO Guilherme Steinbruch said:
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​"...we took the decision to focus only on high-quality assets. We knew we would have to pay higher multiples for a brand growing 200% a year, but when we started targeting these we were surprised to find there was less competition for these assets rather than for the smaller ones."​
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The majority of the financing is coming in the form of debt to acquire companies.
More on Techcrunch​
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Making Hey

(Okay, so you noticed the title. 'Hey' is a homonym. Writers do this kind of stuff to mess with your head).
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Following the news above, Heyday has bagged another $70 million in funding.
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​This Amazon marketplace accelerator partners with entrepreneurs to acquire, launch and incubate brands.
​They are also developing a marketplace-native technology, data and operations stack.
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According to co-founder and CEO Sebastian Rymarz, Heyday differs from the competition in that it is interested in partnering with sellers to accelerate their growth, rather than simply acquiring as many brands as possible.
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Rymarz told Forbes:
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​"If Heyday one day is a $50 billion company it’s not going to be because we acquired a bunch of brands. It’s because we have this platform, and the platform makes it so that a digital brand is worth more inside of Heyday than outside of Heyday."​
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​Full story.​
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9 Ways To Become Financially Smarter

Tim Denning is an Australian blogger who has written for CNBC & Business Insider.
We don't always agree with his views, but we appreciate his considerable writing talent.
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Many of us had to figure out how to navigate our way to a wealthier future through education, and trial and error.
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But, if you're a young investor or entrepreneur, then Denning's advice is a great starter on the topics of money and building wealth.
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Denning says:
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​"You know you have to invest. But if you misunderstand inflation, deflation, and governments printing money out of thin air, you will still lose. The thing I hate most about finance is its complexity. Complexity stops normal people from building any wealth (by design)."
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We particularly enjoyed his thoughts on how changing the denominator you measure value in makes everything look different.
For example, try measuring the value of your home in gold or lumber.
That will cause your perspective to shift!
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Want to see more?
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Check out the biggest secret Tim learned about money and his tips for becoming financially smart (er).
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Domain Snacks

👉 Second time around: There are a number of decent domain name flips in this round-up from TLD Investors.
​CryptoTrader.net tops the list.
It expired and previously sold for $415 on GoDaddy (May 2019) and just sold again for $7,300.
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👉 Auction war: Alcove.com is the highest close at DropCatch in 2021. The auction ended at $105,156.
See the details of the epic bidding war.
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We Can't Believe It's Free

We've tried around 5 screen recorders this year, but this Chrome extension ranks #1 for ease of use and functionality.
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Plus, it offers a bunch of free features that most other screen recorders bill for.
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We're talking:

• Unlimited videos
• No limits on recording time
• Multiple layouts
• Remove background
• Add sticky notes
• No watermarks

Phew!
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As the screen recorder is part of the VEED ecosystem, you can instantly edit or share your videos after your recording is complete.
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Oh, we almost forgot to mention that there's a rainbow pen and confetti!
​(We all need unicorn vibes and an excuse to celebrate)
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VEED recently launched their new product so this video (what else?) will give you a 2 minute overview.

Get the VEED screen recorder on Chrome for Windows or Mac.
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Buzzy Fintech

Two months after pulling in $50 million in equity, Pipe has closed a $250 million equity round to value the company at $2 billion.
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Pipe’s software-as-a-service platform launched in February 2020, and is touted as the industry’s first subscription financing platform.
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The goal of the platform is to offer companies with recurring revenue streams access to capital so they don’t dilute their ownership by accepting external capital or get forced to take out loans.
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In other words, SaaS companies can turn their monthly or quarterly subscriptions into upfront cash flow.
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See the news.
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Partner for Startup Success

​eFounders is a European startup studio focused on software-as-a-service companies.
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​Last week, they celebrated their 10th year in business as well as reaching a $2 billion portfolio valuation.
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Over the past 10 years, eFounders has launched 30 companies and generated 1500 jobs in countries around the world.
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In a blog post commenting on their achievements, they stated:
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​"...we’ve managed to create a new model of entrepreneurship, one that involves building companies in parallel (launching multiple startups at once) and doing so as a team (with the eFounders core team supporting our early-stage startups).
We’ve proven that building companies as a team will always win against individual performances."
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And they move fast.
​eFounders focus on launching innovative companies with the goal of making them independent 12–18 months after launch.
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When an entrepreneur partners with the eFounders team, they also get the majority of equity in the new business.
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eFounders acts as a co-founder involved in every aspect of the company and covers all costs until the company becomes independent.
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Going ahead, they plan to partner with more successful entrepreneurs to launch startup studios in health, AI, blockchain, and more.
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Read: eFounders turns 10​
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Why Is This Here?

Purely for entertainment value.
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​VCBrags often post a few gems on Twitter so we found this one for you today:

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An agency with so much link juice you’ll need a mop and bucket to clean it all up.
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​Check. Them. Out​
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Startup Tool Stash

We all know that it takes time to find top-level resources to grow a startup.
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At investing.io, we spend hours looking at tools, trying them out and reading dozens of articles and guides.
That's because we know how much you look forward to seeing the new tools we include here every week.
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Imagine our glee levels when we discovered lemstash.​
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This isn't one startup tool.
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​It's a resource of ~227 tools over various categories like CRMs, sales automation, billing systems, email marketing and more.
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Lemstash also offer 100s of handy guides on everything from acquiring customers to internal organisation.
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Find out what they've got for you here.
It's all free.
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Will They Break Their Record?

Curve is a fintech company based in London that is tipped to be the next disruptor in finance.
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They are not a bank, although they do offer a card.
The Curve card connects all your debit and credit cards into one, making it the only card you ever need to carry.
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Or you can go totally card-free by hooking up your Curve card to Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay.
Your balance is made up of money earned through cashback, promos, or referrals, and any money sent to you from other people on Curve.
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In September of 2019, the firm conducted a record-breaking campaign, raising £4 million in just 42 minutes.
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​Now, Curve is crowdfunding again.
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Their web page states:
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"Join world-leading tech investors who have tipped Curve as a disruptor in personal finance. With a smart card and a super app, a game-changing credit feature well on its way, a massive U.S launch planned, and plenty of growth initiatives in-store, this is your chance to strap yourself in before we really take off."
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Late last week, they racked up 21,000 interested investors in just 24 hours.​
By the time you read this, pre-registration may have closed, but the campaign is due to go live on Tuesday 25th May.
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The valuation will be £591.7m with a share price of £8.6212.
​Details here.​
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✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way

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🔷 Double the global average: Impact startups in the United Kingdom are leading the way in investment, and raised over €1.4 billion last year. Clean tech and climate tech companies raised most of the capital. Take a look at some of the most creative impact-driven startups who are based in the country, have been founded by British founders, or have online services available there.
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🔷 Low cost growth: Businesses can be money drains. 13 members of Forbes Business Council share several low-cost methods entrepreneurs can implement to grow a small business.
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🔷 NFTs and e-commerce: Forbes council member, Kamil Sattar, believes that NFTs have the potential to disrupt online shopping. See why he thinks that NFT technology is one way to help streamline digital sales and enable lifetime product data tracking not previously possible.
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🔷 Crowdfunds vs Angels: Successful crowdfunding campaigns are very hard to achieve, and Angel investors provide approximately four times more capital to businesses than crowdfunding campaigns. Before you decide whether to go to your future customers or to startup investors for the money you need, check out the pros and cons of both options.
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🔷 Data flow under threat: Facebook faces a potential ban on the transfer of Europeans’ data to the United States. That would be a “massive blow” to the social networking giant, according to experts, and has serious implications for other large American tech firms.
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🔷 Bootstrapping lessons: If bootstrapping was easy, every startup would do it rather than spending so much time and energy courting investors and diluting themselves. Ross Andrew Paquette has led Maropost (his marketing automation tech business) from a two-person operation into one with more than 200 employees and over $50 million revenue. Here are some of the key lessons he’s learned bootstrapping his business. A good read.
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