Startups Raise Over €5M On Blockchain-Enabled Bourse Funderbeam

The model mirrors equity crowdfunding platforms but adds something they lack: a liquid secondary market where shareholders can trade after initial rounds close. Funderbeam uses Colored Coins, a blockchain-based mechanism that represents ownership rights between investors and syndicates backing startups. Because the blockchain records and verifies all transactions, these coins move freely in the secondary market.

Kaidi Ruusalepp and Urmas Peiker founded Funderbeam in 2013. Ruusalepp had run Nasdaq OMX exchanges; Peiker worked as a regulator. They built the company to dismantle the gatekeeping that kept most people out of early-stage investing. The platform addresses three investor pain points: inadequate data for decision-making (Funderbeam provides this free), minimum investment sizes too steep (co-investing shrinks the ticket), and illiquidity before exit (the secondary market fixes this). "Imagine if Bloomberg, AngelList and Nasdaq had a baby," Ruusalepp said.

The company operates from Tallinn, Estonia and is now focusing on Southeast Europe. It signed a partnership with the Zagreb Stock Exchange in October 2016 to build momentum in the region. Three of the ten most-funded startups in Croatia now trade there. Slovenian regulators approved the platform to operate there. Ruusalepp said they plan to open their first Slovenian syndicate in December or early 2018.

Funderbeam has raised $7.3 million from backers including Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn and Tim Draper, a Bitcoin-friendly venture capitalist.