US-based CircleUp, which connects accredited investors with retail and consumer companies, has raised $14m in a series B led by Canaan Partners, which invested for the first time, and which also included prior investor Google Ventures.
Google and Canaan Partners joined existing investors Maveron Ventures, TriplePoint Capital, Rose Park Advisors, Union Square Ventures, angel investors David Toppe, Jerry Gramaglia and Elad Gil, and author Clayton Christensen in the round. CircleUp secured $1.5m in 2012 during its seed funding round and $7.5m in its series A round in 2013.
The site has helped more than 30 companies raise over $30 million in growth capital in the past two years. The amount invested using the platform increased fivefold this past year and there are currently 60 projects. Successful campaigns include cosmetics company Willa Skincare, which raised $1m through the site.
CircleUp lets qualifying investors (those with either a minimum annual income of $200,000 or a net worth of $1m) invest in businesses that are, according to chief executive and co-founder Ryan Caldbeck, “too small for private equity” and “aren’t the right industry to pitch Sand Hill Road”.
While Caldbeck claimed that the additional funds were in fact not needed, he welcomed the opportunity to work with Dan Ciporin, general partner at Canaan Partners, who joins CircleUp’s board and brings with him considerable expertise gained as a board member of US-based credit marketplace Lending Club.