Wefunder is the largest stock market for retail investors to invest in 'private' startups. We created this industry in 2012. Then we lobbied 9 years for regulatory reform. We petitioned Congress & shaped law. Invited to watch Obama sign the JOBS Act.We’re a Public Benefit Corporation with a goal to fund 20,000 more founders by 2029. In all 50 states. From all backgrounds. From coffee shops to supersonic planes. Backed by the people who believe in them. We help anyone invest in what they believe in – to vote with their dollars on what our society should fund. Together, we help more scrappy, hungry risk-takers take their shot to move our world in a better direction.Our vision is to be the pre-NASDAQ stock market. We want to make it normal for every high-growth startup to raise from their customers and fans in a "Community Round." Startups will be able to raise up to $150M in a primary offering from the public... but legally, they remain private companies. Secondary trades happen once every 9-18 months in a "long term stock market" that lines up with traditional VC raises. Companies get the upside of fans investing and liquidity, but without public company restrictions or quarterly earnings pressure.
Wefunder, Inc. (wefunder.com) has 377 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 3.3 out of 5.
Also known as
Wefunder, wefunder.com
Website
wefunder.com
Category
Investments & Wealth
Location
San Francisco, California
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
About these reviews
Replies
The company replied to 90% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: October 2026.
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Reviews are shown as their authors wrote them. The company can reply, but cannot edit them.
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I've used WeFunder for several years now. I agree the platform has some growing pains and could do a better job of communicating status on pending investments. They do provide K-1 forms for investments that fail or have returns but not always by US tax deadlines.
When a company exits, or does additional raises through another firm, WeFunder may not be the final custodian or transfer agent. That's happened on a few investments.
One item to note is unlike other crowdunding platforms WeFunder is incorporated as a public benefit corp.
I have not experienced a higher failure rate with WeFunder compared to other sites like MicroVentures (highest), Republic, or StartEngine (lowest) or concierge firms like Alumni Ventures.
What they could do better:
1. Status reporting - StartEngine provides monthly reports;
2. K-1 delivery - provide notifications if they will be late
3. Communicate when deals are stalled
JE
James E.
They take your cake and eat it, too
I filed a medium-sized “reservation” to invest in a local startup. WeFunder:
− took 2% transaction fee, which is unnecessarily large as I paid via ACH (this is in addition to the 7.9% fee they charge the investees!);
− took the money immediately, despite the company not actually being ready to receive it yet; and
− has been sitting on my money, KEEPING 100% of the interest on it for these past several months!
To be clear, I’m not blaming WeFunder for the delays — they can’t control how quickly the investees move — but I must blame them for their own actual behavior.
EDIT: They “responded” to this review with a string of weird non-sequiturs 🤨 [2024-12-21 Reply from Wefunder, Inc.]
• Instead of explaining why ACH supposedly warrants a 2% transaction fee when banks generally charge well under a dollar for it, they just vaguely announce that they offer some *even worse* payment options- namely, credit card with higher fees, and bank wire with the same fees but higher minimums.
• They correct something I never claimed, which is that “investors” are responsible for the 7.9% investee fee. (I mentioned the 7.9% investee fee in my original post only to emphasize that, at least prima facie, WeFunder *does not* need to be charging excess fees on the front end of the transaction since they’re already profiting substantially off the back end.)
• They remind me that I “approved” my third complaint in a tiny paragraph (§19.4, “Interest”) buried a fifth of the way into their 46,000-word ToS document.
• They conclude by bizarrely “apologizing” for the *only* negative aspect of my experience which I clearly stated that I understand isn’t their fault.
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Nov 21, 2024
Hi James,
Thanks for reaching out. I wanted to clear a few things up for you so that you had accurate information.
Wefunder charges investors a transaction fee of 2% for payments made by bank ACH or wires. The minimum fee is $8, and the maximum fee is $150. For payments made by credit cards, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, Wefunder charges a 5.5% fee + $2 with a minimum of $10 - per transaction. (If you increase your investment, the fee structure starts over.). However, there is no maximum fee cap for these payment methods.
To be clear, investors do not get charged a 7.9% fee.
When making a reservation, you are interested in a Community Round that is currently in what we call the "Testing The Waters (TTW)" phase. This means they are taking reservations to gauge if they would have a successful Community Round.
When making a reservation, you will be asked how you intend to pay:
- If paying by ACH, Wefunder will transfer the funds from your bank to your Wefunder Cash account (https://www.wefunder.com/cash).
- If paying by Wire, Wefunder will put a request to transfer funds to your Wefunder Cash account (https://www.wefunder.com/cash). The investor must use the directions in their account (also sent via email) to initiate the transfer from their bank.
- If paying by Credit Card, Wefunder will pre-authorize their credit card to ensure it is active and can be charged. The pre-authorization will drop off the credit card holder's account within 48 hours.
When you authorize the reservation, you do approve a statement right by the complete reservation button that says it will move money from your bank account to your Wefunder Cash account.
As for the time it takes for a company to go from reservations to live investments, that is completely up to the founders of the company you are investing in and we do not have control of that. I'm sorry about that!
If there is anything else that I can help with, please let me know by emailing [email protected].
EDIT: I'm sorry you felt my attempt to clarify things for you was weird. We have worked to keep our fees as low as possible, but we are a business and have to cover our costs as a platform to provide the services we offer. My reasoning for sharing all of our fees was to be transparent with you. The company is charged a fee since there are services we provide not only during the raise but also after the raise. The same goes for investors, as we provide services not just during the investment-making process but also afterward.
I work with the rest of the team to provide excellent service and a quality experience. We welcome your continued feedback. If you want to speak more, I'm happy to do so. You can reach us at [email protected], and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Mark Mercer
Director of Experience
Wefunder
EP
Elizabeth P.
Certainly there is a way to track…
Certainly there is a way to track investments gains and losses. We can't seem to get an answer on where to go to follow that.
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 24, 2023
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for reaching out. As there is no liquid secondary market for private securities in the vein of the NYSE, it is difficult for us to provide a dynamically updated value for your investment. The best way to approximate the value of your investment is to compare the valuation of the company in the round that you invested with their later valuations. If and when the company was to IPO, you would then be able to track the value of your shares in the way that you would traditionally expect but know that this may not be for some time or at all.
We are currently in the testing stages of making our portfolio for investors more dynamic to display more real-time and accurate information on how their investments are doing. We hope to begin rolling these new features out soon in phases. We thank you for your patience as we work to make this a reality for you and other investors.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
ML
Mark L.
Excellent Sign-Up Process!
The sign-up process was very well done, and it was good to see additional information provided about the protection of key personal data required by the IRS. I can't give 4 or 5 Stars until I see how the entire TUSK Web Browser initiative actually works out, and if there's any return on my investment.
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 22, 2023
Hi Mark,
Thanks for reviewing us. We are glad you have had a good experience. We want to remind you that your rating of Wefunder shouldn't be based on other companies, but simply on how we do business.
Investing in startups is very risky. We encourage investors to only invest what they can afford to lose; do not invest so much that it would impact your lifestyle or retirement plans. Every investment listed on Wefunder is much riskier than a public company listed on the stock market and it is entirely possible that you will lose every dollar you invest on Wefunder.
The advantage of investing in the private market is that it can potentially provide access to higher returns than those available from the public markets. Private investments can sometimes offer returns of 10-20%, and in some cases, even higher. Returns depend on the quality of the company, the sector it's in, the amount of capital invested, the risk taken, and the timing of the investment. Private investments can also be more illiquid, so it's important to understand the risks associated with each individual investment before committing funds.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
BA
Baguete
Bank crisis
Expecting the best... prepared for the worst
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 17, 2023
Hi Baguete,
Thanks for reviewing us. Wefunder used Boston Private Bank - later acquired by Silicon Valley Bank - as one of our escrow providers to hold investor funds.
On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank was taken into receivership by the FDIC.
There was never any risk of losing investor funds. All funds held by Silicon Valley Bank were 100% FDIC-insured. Individual investors on Wefunder did not meaningfully exceed the $250,000 FDIC insurance threshold.
In addition to the FDIC insurance, the federal government over the weekend guaranteed all uninsured deposits. While Wefunder investors did not need this additional guarantee, this action resolved the broader banking crisis.
Silicon Valley Bank no longer exists. We now have 100% access to all investor funds through their successor bank.
Wefunder remains fully operational without any disruption to our services. Cash withdrawals, investment cancellations, investor payments, and company disbursements are proceeding as normal.
The FDIC system worked as designed to protect the small depositors on Wefunder. We will continue to work with multiple banking partners to maximize the amount of funds insured by the FDIC.
Should you have any other questions of concerns, please contact me at [email protected]. We hope that you will feel us worthy of a higher rating in the future.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
JC
J. Clifford O.
More Support/ Secondary Market
It is offering the opportunity for non-accredited investors to buy into startups. However, more support is needed: 1. updates are not sent to investors e-mail accounts usually so updates are often missed. 2. Investors are not always notified of the failure or functionality status of an investment. This is important for tax purposes. 3. WeFunder has no secondary market so investors can trade and sell investments 4. The system is flawed. Some old investments don't show up. The system seems stuck at a certain amount of investments.
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 17, 2023
Hi there!
Thank you for your feedback. Founders have the option of emailing their investors when they make an update, so unfortunately, this is out of Wefunder's control. However, if you make it a habit to log on every so often, you can always check your notifications at the top right of the screen to see what is new since your last visit.
We are making great progress in addressing your second concern. In 2023, our team is aiming to ensure that all companies submit updates every quarter, preferably, but at least twice a year. Additionally, we are working on making our portfolio more dynamic to display these types of updates. This project has taken much longer than we first anticipated, but we are making good progress. In the meantime, we are beginning to post the dissolution paperwork for companies that fail to provide these documents to us. Unfortunately, many companies that fail stop responding to everyone, and this is out of our control.
It's important to note that Regulation CF does not currently have a secondary market - not just on Wefunder. However, this may change in the future. Stay tuned.
If you're having trouble viewing your investments, please let me know by emailing me at [email protected], and I'll be happy to quickly fix this issue for you.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
XT
Xterm
Hard to contact a person on the Investment Team
Wire instructions were clear and I have sent wire funds before for an investment in 2022, but this time I did not receive an email verifying the wire was received, even with a confirmation from my bank.
I tried numerous times via email, to contact someone because there is nothing on the website other than FAQ’s no phone numbers, my investment will expire within 1 day if no one responds. Oh well
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 11, 2023
Hi Anthony,
I'm sorry you felt that my service was three-star worthy. As you know, I emailed you just about 30 minutes before this post showed up letting you know that the wire was now applied to your investment. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
CU
customer
For first-time users the reconfirmation…
For first-time users the reconfirmation process needs to be clarified.
Response from Wefunder, Inc.Mar 9, 2023
Hi there!
Thanks for reviewing us. This was actually a bug and we apologize for that. We were able to locate it and get it fixed. Sorry for the confusion and annoyance that it caused.
Merc
Head of Investor Success
Wefunder, Inc.
