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Republic (fintech)

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Republic
Company typePrivate
IndustryOnline fundraising, financial services
Founded2016
FounderKendrick Nguyen, Peter Green, Paul Menchov[1][2][3]
Headquarters
New York City

Republic is an investment platform headquartered in New York City that allows individuals to invest in startups,[4] growth-stage pre-IPO companies, real estate, video games, and crypto companies (despite the crackdown on fraudulent initial coin offerings in 2018).[5]

Overview

Republic was founded by Kendrick Nguyen, Paul Menchov and Peter Green in 2016 - as a spin-off from AngelList.[6][7] The platform has deployed over $500 million in investments.[8][9]

In November 2020, Republic launched the Republic Cities program in Dallas to fundraise for companies in Dallas from the local community.[10]

In 2021, Everyrealm (at the time, Republic Realm), formerly a metaverse real estate investment channel of Republic, purchased a parcel of virtual land in Decentraland for close to one million US dollars.[11] The lot has turned into a virtual shopping district & houses JPMorgan's lounge.[12]

Republic has its own profit-sharing digital security token, the Republic Note - but has not minted the tokens or made any new developments since launching.[13][14][15]

On October 19th, 2021, Republic announced a $150M Series B round led by Valor Equity Partners.[16]

Republic Capital - its venture arm, has invested in notable companies - like Carta, Dapper Labs, Klarna, Kraken, Pipe, and Plaid.

Acquisitions

In June 2019, Republic acquired SheWorx, a company that helps female entrepreneurs raise capital.[17] Lisa Wang - the founder - has since left Republic.[18]

In April 2020, Republic acquired Fig, a video game crowdfunding platform.[19][20] The first offering from Fig that was co-hosted by Republic is that of Intellivision Amico. Despite its fundraising success - to the tune of $39 million across multiple campaigns (including one on competitor site StartEngine), it has faced multiple delays and remained in development up until July 2022.[21][22][23]

In June 2020, Republic made an acqui-hire for Compound, a real estate investment platform to create Republic Realm.[24] However, the division later spun off & rebranded as Everyrealm.[25] In October 2022, a sexual harassment & racial discrimination lawsuit was filed against Everyrealm & Republic.[26]

In November 2020 acquired certain assets of NextSeed, a local crowdfunding platform.[27]

In December 2021, Republic entered into an agreement to acquire British equity crowdfunding business Seedrs for $100 million - in an effort to expand to Europe.[1][2][28] This acquisition has faced pushback from regulatory bodies & the Seedrs investor base - citing preferential treatments given to large shareholders.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b Butcher, Mike (1 Dec 2021). "Republic acquires the UK's Seedrs in $100M deal to push into Europe". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022. Kendrick Nguyen, Republic's founder, said: "We knew international expansion was necessary to achieve cross-bordered participation [...]"
  2. ^ a b Thomas, Daniel. "Seedrs bought by US group after merger of UK rivals was blocked". Financial Times. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  3. ^ Megaw, Nicholas (16 Aug 2021). "A progress report on fintech's record-breaking year". Financial Times. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 Aug 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  4. ^ Gallagher, Jacob (3 May 2021). "Investment Crowdfunding: Is Buying $100 in Equity in Your Favorite Shoe Brand Worth It?". Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  5. ^ Geron, Tomio (16 April 2018). "New Wave of Firms Race to Capitalize on ICO Gold Rush". Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2022. Despite a potential crackdown on U.S. offerings, many upstart crypto-trading platforms are barreling into uncharted territory
  6. ^ TV Anchors. "How Crypto Will Impact Start-Up Financing". Cheddar (TV channel). Retrieved Jul 26, 2018.
  7. ^ Crain, Brian Fabian; Couture, Sébastien. "Episode 353 - Republic – Bridging the Gap Between Investing and Startups". Epicenter TV.
  8. ^ JD Alois. "Republic Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary, $500 Million in Capital Deployed". Crowdfund Insider. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth. "Virtual real estate plot sells for close to $1 mln". Reuters. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  10. ^ Edwards, Alex. "Republic Cities Is Launching Its Investment Platform For Community Capital in Dallas". Dallas Innovates. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  11. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth. "Crypto billionaire Novogratz leads funding for virtual real estate firm". Nasdaq. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  12. ^ Lau, Yvonne. "JPMorgan bets metaverse is a $1 trillion yearly opportunity as it becomes first bank to open in virtual world". Fortune. Fortune. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022. Last June, developer Everyrealm (formerly known as Republic Realm) bought a piece of Decentraland land for $913,000. The land has now been turned into the Metajuku shopping district, where JPMorgan's lounge is located.
  13. ^ Leising, Matthew (24 June 2020). "Crypto Push by Republic Platform Sparked by New Token". Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  14. ^ Roberts, Jeff. "AngelList Spinoff Republic Announces a Token Sale". Fortune. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  15. ^ Geron, Tomio (4 April 2019). "Crowdfunding Site Republic Creating Token to Give to Users". Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Republic Closes $150M Series B Funding Round". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  17. ^ "SheWorx Gets Acquired By Republic". Grit Daily News. 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  18. ^ Kantor, Jessica (10 September 2022). "How former gymnast Lisa Carmen Wang created a new investment pipeline for female founders". Fast Company. Fast Company. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022. She left SheWorx and Republic on strong terms, according to Pialy Aditya, Republic's chief strategy officer, who says that Wang "will always remain a good friend to Republic."
  19. ^ "Republic acquires Fig, adding games to its startup crowdfunding platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  20. ^ Kaser, Rachel (16 December 2021). "Republic launches Fig Portfolio Shares for video game investment". VentureBeat. VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  21. ^ Good, Owen S. (5 Aug 2020). "Intellivision Amico reboot delayed to next year". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  22. ^ Kim, Matt (6 July 2022). "Intellivision Amico Console Still in Development, CEO Says". IGN. IGN. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  23. ^ Strickland, Derek. "Intellivision has raised at least $39 million for the Amico". TweakTown. TweakTown. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  24. ^ "Republic Moves Further Into Real Estate With Acquisition Of Compound Launching Republic Real Estate Vertical". www.crowdfundinsider.com. 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  25. ^ Ramaswamy, Anita (10 February 2022). "Republic's metaverse real estate arm spins off, rebrands as Everyrealm". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  26. ^ Ramaswamy, Anita (15 October 2022). "Former Everyrealm execs sue company for sexual harassment, race discrimination". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022. Ex-NFL player Teyo Johnson has filed new allegations against the crypto startup and its CEO
  27. ^ "NextSeed And Republic Discuss Acquisition". www.crowdfundinsider.com. 2020-12-21. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  28. ^ Butcher, Mike (1 December 2021). "Republic acquires the UK's Seedrs in $100M deal to push into Europe". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  29. ^ Hurley, James. "Seedrs sale to Republic a betrayal, say small backers". The Times. The Times. Archived from the original on 8 Dec 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
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