The Atlantic
When the Happy Couple Registers for Cash
Get rewarded for investing more into Honeyfund.com, Inc.:
Revenue and Gross Marketplace Volume (GMV)
As of June 30, 2022...
100% Growth in Revenue per Member
Market Highlights
Overview
More than 1.1 million couples have received support through Honeyfund’s existing online wedding gift registry, which gives couples the opportunity to create a wish list of honeymoon experiences, wedding-related costs, or just receive money from friends and family to support other savings goals. Honeyfunds are simple to set-up and come with 5-star customer support.
As a giver, it’s easy to visit a couple’s honeyfund page, choose a gift, and check out with a credit or debit card. The cash goes directly into the couple’s PayPal or bank account, less a small processing fee.
You can also give a digital gift card from our nearly 200 brand partners, like Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon.com, Delta, Southwest, Hotels.com, Uber, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons, Skyhour, Royal Caribbean and many more.
The Problem
In 2005 when the founders were paying for their own wedding, they didn’t have the budget left over for the once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon, and going into debt wasn’t an option. So they created a makeshift honeymoon registry, and their wedding guests loved it, enthusiastically giving more than $5,000 and raving about the idea. With that, Honeyfund was born.
Like the founders, today couples are paying for their own weddings with little budget left over for the honeymoon or life beyond. They care about starting life together without debt, and they simply don’t need nor value the material items on a typical wedding registry. In other words, they crave experiences over things.
With these two universal shifts that we observed in consumer behavior -- couples paying for their own weddings and wishing for experience-based or cash-based gifts more than things -- Honeyfund transformed the wedding gift industry. Now the company sees an opportunity to lead the same shift in life events beyond the wedding.
Let’s face it: Life for a married couple is costly and unpredictable. There are countless life events to plan for -- baby showers, anniversaries, home purchases, graduations, retirements, health emergencies and deaths in the family to name a few. Close friends and family members want to be there to help with these monumental moments.
COVID-19 placed further financial burden on us all, making it clear that anything can happen when we least expect it. What we care about now isn’t the hustle, bustle and stress of daily life. It’s the people we love. Now more than ever, we all need a place like Honeyfund to stay connected and support each other financially.
The Solution
We created Honeyfund for everyone who longs for that dream honeymoon experience but doesn’t have the budget and doesn’t want to go into debt. After funding more than 1.1 million couples’ honeymoons with the support of 6.2 million givers, Honeyfund has established itself as a trusted brand in experience and cash-based gifts. And we learned a lot along the way.
Shortly after starting Honeyfund, couples started asking us if they could have a similar service for other life events. As a result, we’ve funded more than 13,000 baby showers, anniversaries, retirement parties, graduations, hardships and more.
What we learned by hosting these individual events is that the same friends and family came out to support each one. That’s why we’re building a permanent life-long funding platform that doesn’t require separate accounts and campaigns pages, unlike other crowdfunding competitors such as GoFundMe and IndieGoGo. Each personalized honeyfund account can be tailored and transformed to handle any life event, for example what was a wedding gift site can become a baby gift site.
All the friends and family that contributed to your previous events will be notified if you make a change or post an update to your honeyfund, prompting them to support you again.
One thing we’ve always heard since launching Honeyfund is, “What a cool idea! I wish I had that when I got married.” With our new life-long funding page, you can have it for anything in your life. If you didn’t use Honeyfund for your wedding -- you can sign up for a baby on the way, a milestone anniversary or birthday, even an unexpected hardship. Just invite your friends and family to visit, follow your honeyfund site and make a contribution. Your honeyfund account and all your friends and family stay with you through that event and all the others that will inevitably come your way. They’ll never have to worry about missing an important milestone in your life.
Finally, every Honeyfund gift you give or receive will earn a reward, taking more financial pressure off no matter what life throws your way.
The Market
We have already made our mark in the evolving wedding gift market, which is valued at $19 billion annually (source). Now we are expanding into all-occasion gifting, with a market size approximately seven times larger at $130 billion year-round (source).
We have also capitalized on the fact that the gifting market is essentially a self-powered marketing engine. Everyone that signs up for a Honeyfund wedding registry invites, on average, 150 of their closest friends and family to their page. Each of those relationships potentially leads to additional platform users, contributing to our super low customer acquisition cost.
Further, donation-based crowdfunding has become more popular with a 2016 report from the Pew Research Center finding that 22% of American adults had contributed to a crowdsourced fundraising project, and most donors (68%) contributed to help someone in need. (source) The fact is, giving feels good. Especially when someone we love is hurting.
Our Traction
Since our 2006 launch, we have played host to over 1.1 million couples receiving $703 million in gifts given, from 6.3 million givers. Honeyfund’s innovation in crowdfunding has also been recognized by prominent media outlets and partners. In 2012, Honeyfund was named one of TIME.com’s Top 50 websites.
In 2014, we made an appearance on Shark Tank and ended up with an investor and advisor in Kevin O’ Leary, aka ‘Mr. Wonderful.’
In 2018, Honeyfund launched an exclusive partnership with Target to power honeymoon gifting on Target’s online wedding registry.
In 2021, Honeyfund partnered with Hilton to provide honeymoon registries for guests of the company’s global hotels.
And in response to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Honeyfund partnered with Kevin and the Jamaica Tourist Board to provide relief to wedding couples impacted by the global pandemic.
The Business Model
Honeyfund truly is remarkable when it comes to its business model. Unlike other crowdfunding sites, we do not charge platform fees, which is great for our customers and their friends and family. There’s just a simple processing fee of around 3-4%, deducted from the amount received. There is never any fee to the giver.
Honeyfund earns revenue from the partners that help us facilitate gift payments and gift card fulfillment. For example, the average eGift Card gift of $120 results in about $10 in commissions paid by the gift card brand. And the recipient receives the full amount!
We also work closely with our gift card partners in retail, travel, and other industries. These partnerships drive advertising revenue to the company without resulting in unwanted or disruptive ads on the platform. We simply add value to customers in the form of travel deals, gift card bonuses and more. We will expand these partnerships with our planned rewards program to grow customer lifetime value while providing savings to our customers.
Finally, even though our core customer acquisition strategy happens at the wedding planning stage, our expanded capabilities will enable acquisition during any life event at the same low customer acquisition cost of about $5 on average.
OUR LEADERSHIP
After a winning appearance on Shark Tank, our CEO and co-founder Sara Margulis was propelled into several media and speaking engagements. Her thought leadership in entrepreneurship, women in business and work/life balance has been shared at SXSW, Aspen Ideas, Wedding MBA and the Inc. Womens’ Summit. After fully acquiring the company from her co-founder in 2019, Sara overhauled the product with a fresh site design and improved payment methods, doubling customer engagement in just one year.
Sara is supported by a 23-member team. This includes an agile and extensible technology team, a 5-star customer service team, and an 8-person marketing team.
Finally, Sara’s key advisors include Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank, David Jakubowski, founder of Ureeka and former head of data at Facebook and former GM of search monetization at Microsoft, and Rebecca Messina, senior advisor at McKinsey & Co. and former CMO of Uber and Beam Suntory.
Why Invest
Our vision for Honeyfund: a closed social network for gifting -- where friends and family support each other through all of life’s milestones, mishaps and monumental moments -- gifts that last a lifetime.
This model is better than a one-off “fund me” type campaign because everyone we know and love is already connected to us on our Honeyfund gifting site. When life happens, simply post an update and Honeyfund notifies your support network.
Your investment in Honeyfund will power 1) feature and app development to expand the popular gifting platform’s capabilities from wedding to the gift occasions beyond, 2) the development of a rewards system that will keep customers and their friends and family coming back again and again, and 3) marketing to attract customers at all stages of life, as well as re-engage our database of 7 million past couples and givers.
Honeyfund has established itself as a beloved brand in the wedding gifting space because it transformed wedding gifts from “things” to experiences. It has a substantial customer database, a finely-tuned product, and the customer engagement to become the de facto platform for online gift giving for any life event. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity as we expand into a $130 billion market.
partnerships
When the Happy Couple Registers for Cash
Should You Ask Your Friends to Fund Your Honeymoon?
This service has helped nearly 800,000 couples raise over $600 million for their honeymoons
Passing on Wedding Gifts, Millennials Prefer Cash
Target partners with Honeyfund to add cash gifts to its wedding registry
Hilton, Honeyfund Announce Honeymoon Registry Partnership
Moms turn to crowdfunding to pay for maternity leave
The New Registry: Needs Versus Wants
Company | : | Honeyfund.com, Inc. |
Corporate Address | : | 2519 N McMullen Booth Rd. STE 510-260, Clearwater, FL 33761 |
Offering Minimum | : | $9,999.00 |
Offering Maximum | : | $3,932,184.60 |
Minimum Investment Amount(per investor) | : | $135.00 |
Offering Type | : | Equity |
Security Name | : | Common Stock |
Minimum Number of Shares Offered | : | 5,555 |
Maximum Number of Shares Offered | : | 2,184,547 |
Price per Share | : | $1.80 |
Pre-Money Valuation | : | $39,328,992.00 |
Voting Rights of Securities Sold in this Offering
Each Subscriber shall appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the Company (the “CEO”), or his or her successor, as the Subscriber’s true and lawful proxy and attorney, with the power to act alone and with full power of substitution, to, consistent with this instrument and on behalf of the Subscriber, (i) vote all Securities, (ii) give and receive notices and communications, (iii) execute any instrument or document that the CEO determines is necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its authority under this instrument, and (iv) take all actions necessary or appropriate in the judgment of the CEO for the accomplishment of the foregoing. The proxy and power granted by the Subscriber pursuant to this Section are coupled with an interest. Such proxy and power will be irrevocable. The proxy and power, so long as the Subscriber is an individual, will survive the death, incompetency and disability of the Subscriber and, so long as the Subscriber is an entity, will survive the merger or reorganization of the Subscriber or any other entity holding the Securities. However, the Proxy will terminate upon the closing of a firm-commitment underwritten public offering pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933 covering the offer and sale of Common Stock or the effectiveness of a registration statement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 covering the Common Stock.
Time-Based:
Friends and Family Early Birds
Invest within the first 48 hours and receive 25% bonus shares.
Super Early Bird Bonus
Invest within the first 5 days and receive 15% bonus shares.
Early Bird Bonus
Invest within the first 14 days and receive 10% bonus shares.
Previous Investor
If you invested in Honeyfund's previous StartEngine raise, receive 5% bonus shares.
Amount-Based:
$250 | Free Honeyfund Elite Account
For couples getting married, get our full Elite suite of design tools, password protection, and more. We’ll upgrade your Honeyfund account free of charge (a $39 value).
$500 | 30-min Honeyfund Registry Consultation & Bonus Shares
Lower tier perks + Receive a 30-minute consultation with a Honeyfund member success expert. They will help you design your perfect wedding registry (a $99 value). Receive 5% in bonus shares.
$1,000 | 30-min Vacation Consultation & Bonus Shares
Lower tier perks + Receive a 30-minute consultation with a vacation planning expert. They will help you design your perfect vacation and locate the best available deals to book. They’ll even guide you through designing a Honeyfund page to help fund the trip. Receive 5% in bonus shares.
$2,500 | Vacation Planning & Bonus Shares
Lower tier perks + Receive a full trip design completed by a vacation planning expert. They will help you design your perfect vacation and locate the best available properties to book (a $199 value). Receive 7% in bonus shares.
$5,000 | Honeyfund Swag Box & Bonus Shares
Lower tier perks + Receive a box full of Honeyfund goodies: A Honeyfund t-shirt, a Hydro Flask insulated water bottle, and a “popup” style cell phone handle. Receive 10% in bonus shares.
$10,000 | One-hour Zoom Business Coaching with Sara Margulis & Bonus Shares
Lower tier perks + Do you have a business idea that you need help growing? Receive one hour of coaching via Zoom with Honeyfund’s CEO and Shark Tank winner Sara Margulis. Receive 15% in bonus shares.
$25,000 | Two-Hour Zoom Business Coaching with Sara Margulis
Lower tier perks + Do you have a business idea that you need help growing? Receive two hours of coaching via Zoom with Honeyfund’s, CEO, and Shark Tank winner Sara Margulis.
$50,000 | Four-Hour In-person Business Coaching with Sara Margulis
Lower tier perks + Do you have a business idea that you need help growing? Receive four hours of coaching, in-person, with Honeyfund’s, CEO, and Shark Tank winner Sara Margulis. Your choice of location: San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, or Tampa, FL. (Transportation not included.)
*All perks occur when the offering is completed.
The 10% StartEngine Owners' Bonus
Honeyfund.com, Inc. will offer 10% additional bonus shares for all investments that are committed by investors that are eligible for the StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc. OWNer's bonus.
This means eligible StartEngine shareholders will receive a 10% bonus for any shares they purchase in this offering. For example, if you buy 100 shares of common stock at $1.80/ share, you will receive own 110 shares for $180. Fractional shares will not be distributed and share bonuses will be determined by rounding down to the nearest whole share.
This 10% Bonus is only valid during the investors eligibility period. Investors eligible for this bonus will also have priority if they are on a waitlist to invest and the company surpasses its maximum funding goal. They will have the first opportunity to invest should room in the offering become available if prior investments are cancelled or fail.
Investors will only receive a single bonus, which will be the highest bonus rate they are eligible for.
A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. Furthermore, these authorities have not passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this document. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature. These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.
Dear investors,
Yesterday I introduced you to National Honeymoon Day, coming up on August 14.
What I didn’t say is that this is just one of our amazing PR strategies to increase awareness of Honeyfund – and more broadly raise the importance of honeymooning and travel in a healthy marriage.
When we invest in long-term strategies like PR, we see ongoing benefits to core KPIs like increased sign up conversion rates, checkout conversion rates, funds raised per member, etc. In addition, we’re increasing trust and recognition of the Honeyfund brand ahead of our expansion into life events beyond the wedding.
On the direct marketing front, we have just rolled out a brand new Google Adwords campaign targeting couples looking for a wedding website. This allows us to bring couples into Honeyfund at the beginning of their wedding planning cycle, long before a registry is typically set up.
Thanks to your investment, these two strategies together serve to expand the Honeyfund customer lifecycle both backward and forward at the same time!
If you haven’t yet invested, please consider investing today! There are just 17 days left.
Warmly,
Dear investors,
Honeyfund is proud to announce National Honeymoon Day, this month on August 14! We established this national holiday to bring attention to the importance of a honeymoon – and ongoing travel – in a marriage. In fact, a recent study commissioned by Honeyfund shows that couples who both 1) took a honeymoon and 2) continued to travel together are more likely to rate their marital satisfaction as high, compared to couples who didn’t honeymoon and don’t travel.
National Honeymoon Day, six months after Valentine’s day, reminds couples to take a break from the pressures of life, spend time with their partner, have new experiences, and make time for intimacy.
Do you know a couple who missed out on their honeymoon? Or someone planning a wedding that could use a little honeymoon help? Refer them to Honeyfund today!
Do you believe travel is important in relationships? Invest in Honeyfund’s vision for our couples is to “keep the honeymoon going” with the support of friends and family.
Warmly,
Dear investors and followers,
It was an honor to talk to ForbesWomen columnist Shelley Zalis last week about how we created Honeyfund and how we made the decision to pivot from a passion project to a growing technology company. It’s not every day that founders get the opportunity to stick around for the next phase of growth -- I'm humbled and grateful to get the chance.
When we were invited to Shark Tank we were a small team of seven employees doing our best to serve hundreds of thousands of customers. I pinch myself to think of how far we've come since then. A team of 25 with more than 1.1 m couples and more than $700 m in giving. And our growth is accelerating, with H1 2022 revenues up 257% over last year!
I hope you’ll join me in the journey as a Honeyfund investor. There are just 24 days left!
Warmly,
Dear investors and followers,
A big shout out to Mr. Wonderful himself for sharing this campaign on social media last week. This raise has gained a lot of momentum thanks in part to his support, with about $54k committed investments in the last week!
When you watch Shark Tank you never really know if the deals come through and what impact the Sharks have. Yet here is Kevin O’Leary continuing to support Honeyfund’s growth. And for good reason! Kevin is earning a great return on his Honeyfund investment.
Are you ready to invest like a Shark?
Warmly,
Dear campaign followers,
We are so close to $300k committed investments in this campaign – will you take a moment to invest now?
Once we hit the $300k milestone, StartEngine will promote the campaign via e-mail, which will help us on our way to the next milestone - $500k!
There are just 27 days left to invest in this second and final round. Thank you for your partnership.
Warmly,
[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].
Hello!
As you might know, Honeyfund.com, Inc. has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Honeyfund.com, Inc. be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.
This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.
Thanks for funding the future.
-StartEngine
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