Sono Motors Raised Money with it and the tool is now freeWe challenged ourselves how we can help … as a small software developer in the current crisis for struggling companies…. So, we reduced the price of the funding tool to ZERO.
Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk
Covid19This interview is part of our ongoing coverage of Covid19 for the German startup scene. We talk to the startup CrowdDesk since we found their tool very helpful. Please note that CrowdDesk is neither paying for the interview nor are there affiliated links to sign up for their service.
 
The founderIn this interview, Joe from Startuprad.io talks again to Johannes Laub, CEO, and Co-Founder of CrowdDesk, the financing startup from Frankfurt. You can learn more about him in our other interview here: https://www.startuprad.io/interviews/the-fintech-crowddesk-offers-funding-as-a-service/
 
You only need a website and our software. Even our law firm is giving away the contract for free, for everyone affected by the Covid19 crisis.
Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk
 
Affiliate LinksThe current situation with the Coronavirus related lockdown is frequently compared to severe economic recessions including, but not limited to the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Stock Market Crash of 1929. If you want to know more, consider these books below.
“Galbraith was asked by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. if he would write the definitive work on the Great Depression that he would then use as a reference source for his own intended work on Roosevelt.” (from Wikipedia) - The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith https://amzn.to/3cl41sAEssays on the Great Depression https://amzn.to/2VvEsht by former Fed Chairmen Ben S. Bernanke “an American economist at the Brookings Institution[3] who served two terms as Chair of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, from 2006 to 2014” (from Wikipedia)From John Kenneth Galbraith as well: A Short History of Financial Euphoria https://amzn.to/2VxngbgA great book on crashes, bubbles and economic uncertainty in general is “Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation” by Edward Chancellor https://amzn.to/2VaUDSl 
The StartupThe fintech CrowdDesk offers Funding-As-A-Service. With the go-fund-me Button a company placed on its website, any company sticking to the local rules could raise funds this way.
ONE StarterCrowdDesk gives away the ONE Starter package, with which startups can raise up to 400.000 Euros from friends, customers, fans, network and, website visitors: https://www.crowddesk.de/crowdvscorona/
Note: The tool is only available in Germany right now, due to legal constraints.
The Munich-based startup Sono Motors raised more than 50 mn Euros in total and out of that they raised more than 2.5 mn Euros with the tool of CrowdDesk.
 
We all share the same fate at the moment.
Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk
 
The ONE Starter is a software tool, which startups can use to raise funds in Germany
 
The startup has to activate their own network … so everybody knows about your campaign.
Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk
 Observations in Fundraising during Covid19 When you come to the VCs when you need the money, you are too late.
Johannes Laub, CEO and Co-Founder CrowdDesk
 
CrowdDesk is also currently raising venture capital. So Johannes also shares some insights on how fundraising is working right now:
An urge to need the money now hurts your valuationVCs safe their cash for follow-up investments of their current portfolioMost VCs can’t lookout for new deals, as they did in the last few monthsIt is very hard to start fundraising right nowIf you return to fundraising in fall, you may find the VCs unable to raise VC funds and add new investments.Only some investors try to push down startup valuationsStartups raising for shorter time periods to get better valuations further d...