The story
CircleUp was founded in 2011 by ex-private equity professionals Ryan Caldbeck and Rory Eakin. Prior to launch, CircleUp raised $1.5 million from investors such as Clayton Christensen, David Topper (ex-head of Equity Capital Markets at JP Morgan) and Maveron (a venture capital firm founded by Howard Schultz). The company officially launched in 2012 as a platform for entrepreneurs to raise capital and for investors to find companies to fund that were not part of the tech industry. Only original shares of the company are sold through the CircleUp platform. On the site, entrepreneurs can connect with investors and investors are able to find investment opportunities as well as diligence materials such as investor presentations, financials, product details, industry information and third-party data. CircleUp partnered with SecondMarket to cross-list companies seeking investments. In 2014, CircleUp raised $14 million in a financing round led by Canaan Partners and including previous investors Google Ventures and Union Square Ventures.
In 2015, CircleUp raised a $22 million fund, the CircleUp Growth Fund, which would match investments coming through its platform. On November 11, 2015, the company announced its Series C funding round of $30 million led by Collaborative Fund.
In 2016, CircleUp ran a closed trial of its Marketplace Index Fund, designed to give larger investors access to a portfolio of consumer products companies, which were identified through the company's classifier software, which was later named Helio.
CircleUp Credit Advisors was announced in July 2017 as an online lender for companies seeking credit with favorable investment data. Community Investment Manager partnered with CircleUp to provide a $20 million credit facility.
In October 2017, the company launched a $125 million investment fund, CircleUp Growth Partners, dedicated to early-stage consumer companies. The fund uses CircleUp's Helio software. CircleUp joined the Nielsen Connected Partner program in December 2017. The partnership allows CircleUp to use Nielsen data for its Helio software.
On December 11, 2018, it was reported that CircleUp's founder and CEO Ryan Caldbeck was "talking about building a systematic fund in the private markets."
From Wikipedia’s article on CircleUp, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4