Investing in startups on equity crowdfunding platforms can help investors address a few important questions. Specifically, why you should invest in startups, how you can invest in them and where to find fresh investment opportunities. The why, how, where and even when are all very important aspects of investing. Assuming you have decided to invest in startups, then you should know that early stage investments entail a lot of risks. So when is the right time to invest in startups?
The answer is twofold. First when you as an investor are ready to diversify your portfolio and are OK with the high risks involved. Second when credible investment opportunities arise, and you are fine with extra due diligence. That’s the right time invest in startups.
But how do you find the best startups? Here are seven of the best startups to invest in on StartEngine now. These startups are among the companies that will be ending their equity crowdfunding soon:
- Everybody Water
- nVIAsoft
- SmartFoam
- Life Imaging Fla
- Memik
- TRAQ
- Brakes To Go
Best Startups: Everybody Water
Can water have a social impact? Everybody Water is a women-owned company with a fundamental principle of having a social impact. This is achieved by supporting sustainable clean water infrastructure projects that can provide water to communities for the first time and transform the lives of women and girls. Water is an essential part of our daily lives; however, today there are plenty of communities globally where water is not easily accessible.
How does Everybody Water want to disrupt the packaged water business?
The company donates a portion of revenues to non-profit organizations supporting clean water projects that provide water to homes for the first time.
The product is premium water filtered by reverse osmosis. The cartons Everybody Water uses are are 100% recyclable and not plastic bottles. The plastic water bottle alternative is lightweight, which benefits the transportation process as fewer trucks are needed to move the product to its points of sales. In this process, the company claims to reduce its CO2 emissions.
The potential is large as the bottled water market is a $70 billion market that’s expected to experience year-over-year growth of 8.02% from 2021 to 2025. There are numerous sales channels, like cafes, universities, hotels and resorts, spas and hospitals. The business model generates revenues via direct sales, sales to local high-end distributors, merchandise sales and there are plans for growing eCommerce channel too.
You can invest in Everybody Water on StartEngine with a minimum investment of $248.88.
nVIAsoft
Biometric processes enhance security, but facial, voice and fingerprint recognition methods are not without flaws. These methods, which most of us consider safe, can be either stolen or reproduced and compromise security.
Verihand by nVIAsoft is the world’s first multimodal contactless hand biometric that uses advanced technology to read not only the veins in the palms or fingers but also analyze the complex vein structure of the entire hand. This means it analyzes more data than other biometric solutions.
The use of a proprietary algorithm generates a unique encrypted code and a digital id with almost zero odds of being falsified. In an era of coronavirus, verihand uses a contactless reader making it both a secure and a hygienic biometric with multiple applications.
The Biometrics Technology market is expected to grow to $59.31 billion by 2025. Another market, the global healthcare biometrics market size is expected to witness strong growth too, with a CAGR of 18.4% from 2021 to 2026. It’s estimated that it’ll reach $16.2 billion by 2026.
The industries that can use verihand are numerous. Some of them include education, energy, financial services, travel and hospitality.
You can invest in nVIAsoft on StartEngine with a minimum investment of $400.
Best Startups: SmartFoam
Technology and data are everywhere today and personal health is no exception to this rule. What if you could convert any shoe into smart shoes?
Smartsteps’ patented insole technology turns shoes into smart sensing data collectors. This simple and accurate approach to fitness tracking makes it a viable alternative to current wearable fitness products.
Its insole technology generates signals that create an activity tracking sensor that is connected to a mobile app or a smart device.
The fitness data is gathered by counting steps, distance and calories. Note that there is no use for charging, cables or batteries. Instead, with the built-in memory all data via your exercise, either running, jogging or even walking will be gathered.
These connected sensors have plenty of advantages. They are accurate and economical, but also self-powered, comfortable, durable and sweat proof. Furthermore, they are convenient as they download data to your mobile phone when you are near to it, so you do not necessarily need to exercise wearing your mobile phone.
Smartfoam has plans to expand this technology to other areas like mattresses, furniture, flooring and home security. The startup estimates that it has an addressable market of nearly $19 billion.
You can invest in SmartFoam on StartEngine with a minimum amount of $350.22.
Life Imaging Fla
Today the two deadliest diseases worldwide are heart disease and cancer. What if there was an affordable, early detection system for these diseases? How many lives would be saved?
This isn’t the first time Life Imaging has raised capital. Using funds from the last raise, it opened a clinic in South Florida scanning more than 1,600 people in the first six months and generating revenue of $837,097 in the first seven months of business operations.
In the U.S., the healthcare system performs poorly at preventative care. The firm uses Food-and-Drug-Administration-approved CT scanners that can detect deadly heart disease and cancer a decade before they occur. It can do so all without patients being exposed to the much higher radiation levels of most CT scanners. The scanning process is quick as it can be completed in about 8 minutes and is convenient too since it doesn’t require use of any dyes, and there’s no need for patients to remove their clothes.
The packages cost up to $500 a scan. The business model used is direct-to-consumer and the company plans to expand to two or three other locations after having set the goal of generating more than $100,000 per week, and $5 million a year in one location.
You can invest in Life Imaging Fla on StartEngine with a minimum amount of $248.
Best Startups: Memik
If you love to dance, then Memik may be a startup you will love. Why? Simply because it blends music, dance and innovation creating the first augmented reality dance and social media platform. On other social media platforms, you can only monetize music, not dance. Memik changes this as it allows users to monetize their moves and talent to dance.
How is this possible? Users can choose an avatar and follow other people’s moves, or even better, have an avatar follow their moves. The use of cutting-edge motion capture technology allows users to have no boundaries about their dance floor.
The social media platform allows full customization of avatar styles, accessories and skins. Influencers can build avatars according to their likeness. They can also add their music and dance challenges. Influencers get paid when their content or dance moves are used.
Memik has a business model that generates revenue from multiple sources. Brands will buy in-feed ads and sponsored campaigns, users will probably buy from a variety of dance packs and more customizable avatars. Finally, influencers will pay for subscription access to get revenue-generating tools.
You can invest in Memik on StartEngine with a minimum amount of $267.
TRAQ
TRAQ is a fitness, health and wellness tracker that is a taking anew approach to the space with an emphasis on prevention and early detection.
What is TRAQ? This portable fitness tracker uses saliva to measure wellness and health categories ranging from nutrition and energy to stress, sleep, heart health and hydration. It uses a point-of-care test (POCT) device named “Stone,” which uses disposable testing cartridges that measure various biomarkers like glucose, cortisol, cholesterol, lactate to analyze deeper conditions inside the body at the advanced molecular level. It is quick too, as it takes 30 seconds for the results.
TRAQ is an alternative to expensive blood tests, which require several days for results and about one in five people globally are afraid of needles. Athletes, professional or not, need to constantly monitor their overall health conditions, and taking frequent medical tests can become too expensive and inconvenient.
TRAQ makes testing easy. The saliva test cartridges are inserted into the “Stone” and results appear in real-time, either on the Stone’s display or to another smart device via the TRAQ app.
The total addressable market for TRAQ is estimated to be more than $60 billion.
You can invest in TRAQ on StartEngine with a minimum amount of $362.25.
Best Startups: Brakes To Go
Brakes To Go is a mobile brake service that makes car repair a convenient and mostly affordable experience.
Dissatisfied customers can either destroy a business or present a brand-new market opportunity for other business owners who will address previous problems in a clever way.
Brakes To Go visits users anywhere, on site, to fix their car problems, but also at the user’s convivence, according to their schedule. It does all of this at a much more affordable rate compared to brick-and-mortar shops. Finally, the repairs are made by ASE-certified automotive technicians.
The numbers speak for themselves about the traction. From May 2015 to the end of January 2021, the firm made more than $9 million of revenue. Before the pandemic hit, the average year-over-year quarterly growth for its Austin operations were an impressive 46% and in FY 2020 the average customer ticket was $492.
Brakes To Go has numerous five-star reviews on Yelp and on Google, which adds credibility to their high level of customer experience. In Texas, the firm estimates that there is a potential $1.5 billion of revenue and it plans to go nationwide.
You can invest in Brakes To Go on StartEngine with a minimum investment of $152.36.
On the date of publication, Stavros Georgiadis, CFA did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Stavros Georgiadis is a CFA charter holder, an Equity Research Analyst, and an Economist. He focuses on U.S. stocks and has his own stock market blog at thestockmarketontheinternet.com/. He has written in the past various articles for other publications and can be reached on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
