How Retail Invested in This Startup at Better Terms Than Bill Gates

Vantem Global, a modular housing startup, raised from retail and then went on to get an investment from Bill Gates.

The modular and pre-fabricated housing market has been on fire recently, especially in the equity crowdfunding world. Boxabl recently maxed out both a $75 million Reg A campaign, a $3.65 million Reg CF campaign and raised tens of millions more in a Reg D offering. There are a number of companies popping up, both chasing this success and finding some of their own. There’s Outdoor Office and Rize Modular on StartEngine that recently launched, Azure Printed Homes on Republic that just passed $250,000, as well as several others outside of the Equity Crowdfunding market.

One that caught some attention recently is Vantem Global, after it received an investment from Bill Gates-founded Venture Fund, “Breakthrough Energy Ventures.” The fund co-led Vantem Global’s Series A, which happened around the same time as the highly publicized and Elon-associated startup, Boxabl, was raising funds. This is important in this specific instance because one thing most people don’t know is Vantem Global actually raised money from retail investors before going on to get an investment from one of the world's richest humans.

The company initially raised on NetCapital in 2019 at a valuation of just $10 million, then went on to raise a whopping $10.1 million in their Series A. While the raise, like many private deals, doesn’t disclose what valuation the money was invested at, most companies sell anywhere between 10–25% of the companies during their Series A, with the average valuation being a little over $20 million. However, the average Reg A size is usually only $3 million. Using these metrics, it’s likely they invested at a valuation of $40–100 million, and probably closer to the $60 million dollar range.

This means that not only did retail invest in a company that Bill Gates ended up taking a significant stake in, Bill Gates paid between 4 and 10x as much. This also means that retail investors are sitting on significant paper gains of those same multiples.

As stories of winners continue to pop up in the equity crowdfunding stories, this very well could be another big one. Not only are investors already sitting on significant paper gains, but they are also now backed by Bill Gates. This only goes to show the continued proof of concept within the industry. As we see more winners coming out of the likes of NetCapital, StartEngine, Wefunder, and more, this very well could be a turning point in history for wealth equality.