Dear community,
It is 7 a.m, the first day of the year, and I’m writing from a small countryside town in Northern Catalonia, Spain. A bit far from home, as we’re moving, but I get to see landscapes like this when I go for walk.
This time I’m not listening to any music. I realized a few years ago that, whenever I get this sense of fulfilment, or of just being at peace, adding background music will disrupt it. It’s also when I feel like writing the most. Maybe this is what they call being “in the flow”.
The eulogy of “us” 🧑🤝🧑
I’ve talked to you about “us” a few times now. There is very little we can achieve when we do things alone and I caught myself thinking about the many “collectives” we, at Goparity, are thankful for in 2022.
If you’re reading this email, you’re probably part of one (or more).
The Team (which is also your team)
I couldn’t start by thanking any other collective: for bringing 100 projects alive in 2022 alone, while managing all our 244 funded projects; for all the new features, automation, optimization and problem-solving. And also for the great human beings they are. The spirit of friendship, concern and mutual help and care combined with professionalism, responsibility and mission makes our team unique and probably our greatest asset.
The investor community
To all the people and companies for investing a total of 20,4M€ — as much in 2022 as all the previous years since Goparity was created. And also for all the feedback, spreading the word and engagement in our different channels.
The project promoters
The companies that develop the projects we fund and that believe a different type of economy is possible — one that is powered by renewable energy, that aims to bring waste to zero, that is inclusive, socially responsible and impactful.
The shareholders
To all the investors up to our Seed round of 2022, to Mustard Seed Maze who reinforced its position at Goparity’s cap table, to Schneider Electric Energy Access who just joined and to our almost 1000 equity crowdfunding investors (more than 90% of which are also Goparity users) for believing in our mission, project and in our capacity to deliver.
The partners
All the companies, “influencers” or content creators, freelancers and service providers we work with. We grow together. In +15 years of experience I have probably signed more than one hundred partnership agreements, it takes much more than a signature to make them happen: it takes intention, effort, commitment and, most often, mutual benefit.
The ExCo
The Executive Committee of Goparity, to which we were very happy to welcome Rita and Beatriz by the end of 2022 (adding to our gender balance commitment 👫), for handling the toughest problems and providing practical solutions despite the long and intense meetings we have.
The Board
Composed of 2 representatives of the most recent investors and the 3 founders, for all their support and understanding and pushing for improvements as much as for real impact. A particular thank you to João Carreira (Critical Software) who will now leave his border member seat to become an observer, for all his great dedication and inputs, and a big welcome to Marta Carneiro Enes (Schneider). Apart from her great experience and alignment with our mission, she’ll also become the first woman in the board of Goparity. Just like we promised in our App launch event in June 2022 💪
The Founders
My co-founders, Luís and Manuel, for the great relationship we have, with several challenges that we’re always able to overcome in a constructive manner. May it always continue to be like this and may our friendship thrive.
What’s in line for 2023?
We are very positive about 2023 and we hope you will be too.
🌎 Launching Goparity overseas: after almost two years of hard work, it seems we’re almost there. I won’t be a spoiler, but you might have heard of it here and there. Hint: it starts with a “C”…
💡 New projects: we’ve just launched our first project in public city lighting. It was one of our biggest campaigns ever (250k€) and it got funded in only 4 days. There’s much more of this to come.
🗺️ New countries: we are present in 15 countries and expect to bring you new geographies in 2023. We’re in quite an advanced stage for at least one new country. Hint: it was home to some of the most famous ancient civilizations and has also offered us some of the world’s most renowned food types;
📱Platform news: our commitment to listening to your feedback and adapting to your needs remains. This year, we’ll launch:
- Transfers between wallets, so you can easily move your money from one of the wallets in your account to another;
- A financial information area, where you’ll find everything about the performance of your investment portfolios;
- Premium features, such as saving via roundups, multiple investment strategies or (finally!) accounts for children. We won’t be able to offer all of this for free but we promise to make it accessible and find fair and inclusive solutions for the most committed users. And don’t worry, investing with Goparity is free and always will be.
We’ll also be updating our public website, to make it more in line with our mission, and values and to align it with the platform itself. We sometimes get a feeling we’ve developed a lot on the inside but kept the same cover for a bit too long now.
I know this was a bit of a long read. Thanks a lot for putting up with it. I want to emphasize how grateful I am for all we’ve done so far and how happy we all are for having you around too.
The sincerest thank you is probably the one we make in our mother tongue. So, “obrigado”!
Let’s make 2023 a beautiful year 🌱💪
Nuno
PS: Just a quick note to say that, whereas I started this letter on the 1st of January without listening to any music, I finished it on the 10th, after a few “flu-ish” days, while listening to Luanna Averie’s “Bed of tulips”. I do realize that when I’m not feeling “it”, some relaxing piano music does help set the mood 🎹✍
