- Fintech startup Crowded raised $7.5 million in funding led by Flashpoint.
- The fintech startup aids nonprofits in financial management, boasting over 35 institutional clients.
- Crowded’s fundraise comes as the White House withdraws its federal grant freeze.
Miami-based fintech startup Crowded, which provides financial management for nonprofits, just closed a new funding round.
The 35-person company clinched $7.5 million in Series A funding led by London-based firm Flashpoint, the startup told Business Insider exclusively. Florida Opportunity Fund and Wilson’s Bird Capital also participated in the funding round, along with Sarona Ventures and The Garage.
Crowded helps nonprofits track spending, deposit funds, and generate tax forms. The startup has over 35 customers, including the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and Harvard Athletics, which uses the platform to manage funds for student-athletes.
Crowded will use the funding to build out its sales and marketing teams, co-founder and CEO Daniel Grunstein said. “We really want to double down on what’s worked for us, which is that in-person, field sales approach,” he said.
The investment follows a $6 million seed round led by The Garage in October 2022, bringing Crowded’s total funding to $13.5 million.
Before co-founding Crowded, Grunstein worked in financial services at JP Morgan, where he helped out with products for donor-advised funds. There, he noticed that nonprofits lacked resources on how to manage finances, like banking and tax filing. “This recurring theme kept coming up,” Grunstein said. “There was a lot on how to get money and not a lot on how to manage the money you’ve raised.”
Grunstein’s co-founder, Darryl Gecelter, previously worked for Graduway, an alumni networking startup that merged with Gravyty, a fundraising startup, in 2021. Gecelter’s higher education contacts from Graduway helped Crowded secure collegiate clubs and fraternities as early clients, Grunstein said.
Crowded’s fundraise comes amid increasing uncertainty for government funding of nonprofits, says Grunstein. President Donald Trump’s administration temporarily paused the payment of billions of dollars of federal grants and loans on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the White House Office of Management and Budget pulled the memo.
Still, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that President Trump’s executive order on federal funding would “remain in full force and effect,” adding to confusion over the funding freeze.
Many nonprofits depend on these federal grants for their operations. While the funding freeze memo was scrapped, the sudden shakeup is “coming out of left field,” Grunstein said.
Despite the potentially uncertain future for government funding for some nonprofits, Grunstein still expects these organizations to see an uptick in reporting and compliance requirements.
Crowded is one of a handful of companies attempting to streamline nonprofit financial management. Givefront, a startup in Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 cohort, also does bookkeeping for nonprofits.
