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GoFundMe

“Can GoFundMe become the end-to-end giving infrastructure for both consumers and nonprofits by layering payment processing, compliance, and donor-advised fund rails onto its $40B+ crowdfunding network?”

Founded2010
HQRedwood City, California, USA
FoundersBrad Damphousse, Andrew Ballester
Total raised~$600M-$650M (2015 round, exact total undisclosed)
Latest roundSeries unknown, 2015
Valuation$600M-$650M (2015)
IndustryMarketplace / Two-sided
The story

GoFundMe launched in 2010 as a personal crowdfunding site built on PayPal's API, bootstrapped until 2015 when it raised institutional funding at a ~$650M valuation. It grew into the world's dominant personal and emergency crowdfunding platform, processing tens of billions in donations. The strategic pivot came with the 2022 acquisition of Classy (now GoFundMe Pro), moving the company into B2B nonprofit SaaS — selling fundraising infrastructure directly to nonprofit organizations. This embedded-finance angle deepened with the launch of GoFundMe Pay (powered by Stripe and PayPal), Giving Funds (donor-advised funds via Plaid ACH), and multi-currency support — transforming GoFundMe from a consumer marketplace into a broader giving infrastructure company.

Last 12 months
2025-06
2025-11
2026-04
2026-04
Product timeline
2010
GoFundMe launched in May 2010 by Brad Damphousse and Andrew Ballester, initially built on PayPal's API as a personal crowdfunding platform.· pivot
2015
Raised venture funding valuing the company at $600M-$650M, led by Accel and TCV, marking its first institutional capital after bootstrapping to $1.2B+ in lifetime campaigns raised.· banking
2017
Became the world's largest crowdfunding platform, surpassing $3 billion raised.· pivot
2022
Acquired Classy, a nonprofit SaaS fundraising platform, expanding into B2B nonprofit software (later rebranded GoFundMe Pro).· acquisition
2024
GoFundMe surpassed $40 billion raised from over 150 million donors since launch; rebranded Classy to GoFundMe Pro.· pivot
2025
Launched GoFundMe Pay (rebranded from Classy Pay), an all-in-one payment processing solution for nonprofits across GoFundMe and GoFundMe Pro platforms.· banking
The stack
5 layers disclosed in GoFundMe’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
StripeBraintreePayPalAdyenGoFundMe Pay (self-operated brand over Stripe/PayPal)
Ledger
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
4 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.