StrideCorp Equity launches crowdfunding platform

StrideCorp Equity Partners has unveiled of Stride Equity, an equity crowdfunding platform backed by a dedicated venture capital fund, Stride Lead.

Stride Equity will provide cornerstone investment to all companies successfully raising capital on the crowdfunding platform.

Stride Equity will assess each unique investment opportunity against their internal selection criteria.

They will back pre-qualified companies with up to 20 percent co-investment from Stride Lead, with the remaining amount raised on the Stride Equity crowdfunding platform.

The model also goes further to provide mentoring and industry contacts to the early stage founders, further enhancing their companies’ chances of success. 

The founding team at Stride Equity is Jon Brett, chairman; Alan Chonowitz, director; and Maria Halasz CEO who together have several decades of collective experience across M&A and investing in emerging companies across sectors including IT, biotech, telecom, funds management, property and consumer products.

The team, who previously all worked together at Investec, collectively have over 30 investments in scaleups and startups including Vocus, Airtasker, Goanna Ag, MediPay and MadeComfy.

Maria Halasz CEO, Stride Equity said, “Around $220 million has been raised by crowdfunding intermediaries since 2018 but only a few exits executed so far. Unlike our model, where we pre-qualify investee companies, crowdfunding is normally transactional and companies are not routinely vetted by professional investors.”

Halasz said Stride Equity’s purpose it to close the funding gap for emerging businesses by combining its experience as venture investors with the power of equity crowdfunding.

She said, “We back these companies with our money, expertise and connections.”

Alan Chonowitz, director at Stride Equity said, “I am especially excited about the uniqueness of our offering in the crowdfunding market, which brings our own funds as co-investment into each offer, making our model more attractive to investors and investee companies alike.”