Loyal3 is an incredibly creative way of owning companies

Loyal3 = an incredibly easy and creative way of owning stocks.  Loyal3 is making company ownership fun and easy - and flips the investing model over by introducing flat contributions instead of a per-share price as well as select “brands you love”. Revolutionary.

[reproduced from VentureBeat]
Loyal3 raises $18M to make buying stock as easy as a Facebook ‘like’
[By Rebecca Grant]

It is one thing to ‘like’ a brand’s Facebook page, but quite another throw down actual dollars. Loyal3 has raised $18 million so consumers can put their money where their mouth is.

Loyal3 makes buying stock more social and accessible for people who don’t have much experience with the stock market. In three steps, you can invest as little as $10 in well-known companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Starbucks, Disney, Google, Coca Cola, Walmart etc…

Loyal3′s core philosophy is “own what you love.” Buying stocks can seem daunting for people without financial expertise. Loyal3 wants to make this process more user-friendly by providing fee-free investing and enabling the purchase of stock through a brands’ Facebook page. Loyal3 is a registered broker-dealer and offers stock in publicly traded companies, stock in Initial public Offerings (IPOs) and stock in follow-on offerings.

Consumer engagement is a major buzz word in the brand world right now as companies try to deepen their bonds with consumers and build loyalty. Loyal3 serves companies that want excited shareholders, as well as consumers who want to feel a strong connection to the brands they use everyday.

DNS-L3, LLC, an entity owned by Michael and Gigi Pritzker Pucker, led this round, along with existing investors Cris Kelly (former Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook) and Barry Schneider, Loyal3′s CEO. This is the company’s third round of financing. Loyal3 is based in San Francisco.