Interview Edition: Beibamboo

I spoke to Nina Ignatius from Finland-based Beibamboo about her successful campaign on the Sweden-based platform Fundedbyme last year.

Beibamboo is an award winning Finnish innovation that helps hospitalized children to recover faster (and saves staffs time and hospital equipment). Pain-free & safe for children. CEO/Founder Nina Ignatius was on the list “40 Women To Watch” by Forbes. Beibamboo raised just under 60.000€ for 7% equity from 93 individual investors. Today, Nina plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign which is “no loss of equity”.

What do you do?

The world’s best baby clothing.

What alternatives of raising money did you consider? How did it go?

Angel money — could not find any in Finland. There, the typical angel is male and over 50, so we did not get anybody with experience in babies or clothing.

Why equity crowd funding?

Our products appeal to a lot of people and it is easy to understand the benefits.

Why FundedByMe?

FundedByMe was new and fresh. At the time (summer 2013) others were not available to us. Kickstarter (we are launching tomorrow!) and Indiegogo.

What was your strategy there? How did it go?

We wanted to appeal with an emotional video …

Would you do something differently today? What is your recommendation to others?

We did what we could. I would not change anything. Be simple, do not try to be too smart with language etc. Make great visuals/video/graphics. Look professional.

What to do? What to avoid in campaigns?

Appeal to emotions. And have a great, unique product. Avoid too many details. People are busy and won’t read super long projects in detail..

Do you think that backing from business angels coud help?

An angel syndicate could definitely boost the campaign.

What do you recommend to startup founders that plan to raise their first bigger money? When should they stop with bootstrapping?

Hmm..So it as long as you believe in it and have a roof over your head.

What is your take on reward-based crowd funding?

Love it. No loss of equity. We are trying it now (tomorrow).

This interview will be a part of my book on funding of your companies, with focus on equity crowdfunding and angel syndicates.

Invesdor is a pioneering equity-based crowdfunding platform in Northern Europe. We provide an online investment matching service where entrepreneurs looking to raise equity financing can easily connect with investors who are seeking to discover and invest in exciting new startups and growth companies from Northern Europe.

We founded Invesdor to solve many of the difficulties and delays associated both with raising funds and investing in new ventures. Our technology facilitates and speeds up the investment process while preserving full customization and control for the individual entrepreneur and investor.

For companies, rather than being forced to spend valuable time looking around for financing, Invesdor provides an easy-to-use online tool through which a business can promote itself and connect with a large audience of potential investors. Invesdor also gives businesses full discretion over how they raise money, including deciding who can see their investment requirements and who should be able to invest.

For investors, Invesdor enables easy searching and access to a wide range of investment opportunities. You may be a business angel, a stock market investor looking for alternative sources of return or someone who just wants to get in early on the next Angry Birds or Facebook. Our investment matching service is a transparent, secure, and convenient alternative to spending time with lawyers and other advisors at lengthy investor fairs and meetings.