# Sweater: Invest in Startups — user reviews > 51 indexed App Store user reviews of Sweater by Sweater LLC, rated 4.81/5 from 340 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sweater-invest-in-startups/id1572894118/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sweater-invest-in-startups/id1572894118.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 314 · 4★ 11 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 4 · 1★ 9 ## What do users think of Sweater? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 💰 Low minimum investment ($500) democratizes venture capital access - 📱 Intuitive and easy-to-navigate app interface - 📚 Excellent educational content with informative videos - 🔄 Bi-annual redemption windows unique to venture investing - 👥 Responsive and helpful customer support team - 🎯 Transparent portfolio company information and fund strategy - ⚡ Seamless account setup and funding process - 📊 Clear NAV tracking and investment history visibility - 🤝 Founders actively engaged with and responsive to user feedback - 🎓 Great resource for beginners new to venture capital **Cons** - 💸 High management fees (6%+ of AUM) concerning for long-term returns - 🐛 App bugs and glitches despite improvements - 🔐 Password reset functionality issues - 📉 No historical NAV price graph available - 🔌 Doesn't integrate with account aggregators like Mint - ⏱️ Bi-annual redemption windows limit liquidity - 📞 Aggressive phone outreach during business hours - ❌ Charges users without explicit confirmation in some cases - 🚫 No clear way to delete stored bank account information - ⚠️ Launched as minimum viable product with rough edges **Commonly reported bugs** - Automatic charging without explicit user confirmation - Password reset functionality not working - Unexpected sign-outs with Face ID failures - Login screen clunkiness and error messages - Unable to access app for extended periods - No support option visible on login screen **Most requested features** - Historical NAV share price graph - Integration with account aggregators (Mint, etc.) - Marketplace for portfolio company coupons/ambassador programs - Clearer fee structure communication - Ability to delete stored bank account information - Better error messaging for technical issues - Performance-based fee structure to align manager and investor incentives ## Newest reviews (19 of 51) ### 5/5 — Enjoying this investment app *2022-07-23, version 0.3.0* The information is well organized and easy to consume. It allows me to see how my investments are being utilized and has good information about the company philosophies and approaches to their portfolio management. ### 5/5 — Easy, straightforward *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* The app is easy to navigate, information is straightforward. All information is also available in the app. ### 5/5 — Amazing! Finally an Easy Way for Anyone to Invest in Startup Companies *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* I've been looking for years for a way to invest in startup companies, but was always locked out but high minimum investment amounts. Finally Sweater offers a way for those of us without millions of dollars to invest in companies before they grow up to become publication traded. I was able to meet Jesse Randall at an event in 2021 and super excited to hear about the progress the team was making. Now it's live with SEC approval. Love it! ### 5/5 — The first and only *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* This is the first and only way to get involved in venture capital today without having filthy amounts of money. They make it simple to get started and get invested. Your money is managed by this fund and they decide which companies and investments to make. The research is still on you though. Be sure you invest an amount you are comfortable losing as venture capital is still a large risk regardless of who manages your money or how it gets invested. ### 5/5 — Great Product App Can Be Buggy *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* This is an absolutely amazing company that is building a revolutionary product. However the app is subpar, but will only get better from here. ### 5/5 — Works great! *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* The app is very easy to use. I love that they have an education piece and j can watch videos to learn more about Sweater. The app is very easy to use and I have zero complaints. ### 5/5 — App is great - investment return to come *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* The app layout and product is amazing.. as to if it turns out we will see! Like any investment, it will take time to mature and only invest what you are willing to lose. ### 5/5 — Great App So Far *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* So far the app has worked great and the Face ID is working well for my iPhone. It’s easy to see your earnings and the companies they invest in. It’s a risk to invest via VC for sure, but if you can handle the risk I hope it’s a great opportunity for the everyday investor! ### 5/5 — Solid investment opportunity *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* I’m not an App expert. But these type of funds have typically been open only to high net worth investors. This is great opportunity to get into a previously closed investment group. Seems legit. I have spoken to some high level execs there. Always conduct your own Due diligence before investing. ### 5/5 — Easy and functional app *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* Love the app and service. Does exactly what it supposed to do. Easy to navigate through and update account. ### 5/5 — Good concept and good execution *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* The concept of connecting VC and retail users is good with some inherent challenges. Sweater addresses them from the start and provides clever solutions. The app works as expected and has great UI ### 5/5 — Great app and team!!! 💪🏻🤩 *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* Sweater has made some excellent progress on their app recently. The dashboard is easy to navigate, I can track and understand my investment history, and the videos are very informative. I’ve met with the founders and execs, and they’re very open to feedback to make improvements. As a founding member, I will continue to make investments into Sweater. **Developer response:** Thanks so much for your feedback; good or bad it's always greatly appreciated! ### 5/5 — Great Idea, Good App *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* I have loved following Sweater’s marketing on LinkedIn, and think they have a great business plan. Their app is fairly easy to use and well organized. Their fee structure could be communicated more clearly - but overall I am pleased with my experience so far! ### 5/5 — Great Experience! *2022-07-22, version 0.3.0* Founding member here. Very impressed with the entire experience so far. The app is well-built with a pleasing and easy UI. Account setup and funding was a seamless - impressive for a newly launched app and platform. Excited to see what this new approach to retail investing brings. ### 5/5 — Great team and open to feedback *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* I was part of the waiting list, the sweater team kept me inform of the process and even schedule open Q&A sessions. Once launched, it was easy to navigate through the app, set my profile and start investing. Wrote to the support team, regarding the recurring investment capability. The team promptly responded, accepted the feedback I suggested and incorporated the change in the next release. Love to see, how close the Sweater team is to their customers and genuinely trying to make it better every single time. **Developer response:** The love is mutual, we're incredibly grateful for our Members' support and the feedback that helps us constantly improve -- keep it coming! ### 5/5 — Intuitive app *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* The app is simple and intuitive. I have had no issues going through registration, connecting payment, or subscribing to the service provided. ### 5/5 — Finally *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* The world of VC has been out of reach for many, personally I have been looking for opportunities for years. Sweater is an easy to use platform that quickly connects to your funding source and allows for education, and investing. ### 5/5 — Democratizing Venture Capital *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* The app and company has a chance to change how we view venture capital and who is invited to the table. Easy to invest. Now hopefully, investors can be patient and embrace long-term thinking needed to be successful. ### 5/5 — Good app experience *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* I had my eye on Sweater for a couple of months before I downloaded and chose to invest in their fund. I am excited to see where this company goes. I downloaded the app a few weeks before I was ready to invest. I originally skipped submitting my bank info because I knew there are no refunds for an investment like this (this isn’t Walmart). When I was ready to invest, I experienced a smooth process to make the investment. If you are interested in VC investing, but are not an accredited investor or don’t have the capital to make a number of angel investments, you should learn more. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Called me on the phone, and during business hours! *2022-07-01, version 0.3.0* Look I get it, you’re new and you’re hungry for subscribers so you’ve got this “core member” system going and you’re really hustling for users. Fine. Email me all you want. Don’t call me. You’re not an enterprise B2B vendor. You’re an app. It’s difficult to overstate how much I hate being called on the phone to be hustled. That gets your app deleted. Doing it during work hours gets you a one-star review. Please pass this along to whom ever in sales/marketing thought this was a good idea. Best of luck ### 1/5 — Will confirm your investment regardless of whether you click confirm *2022-06-01, version 0.1.1* Do NOT put your bank account information into this app unless you’re absolutely certain you want to invest and lose access to that money. Once you put your bank account information, the app will automatically charge your account EVEN IF YOU DON’T CLICK CONFIRM. This is a major issue they need to address immediately, and even though I contacted customer service the second it went through, they told me they couldn’t cancel it and I would have to wait for the transaction to post on my bank account and dispute the charge. It took 5 days to post on my account, and once it did, the charge had already finalized, so I had to file an official dispute payment request that could take up to 10 days and MAY NOT EVEN WORK. Absolutely unacceptable, I know this is a startup, but I haven’t heard back about anything they’re trying to do to fix this problem or rectify my situation. Oh and once you input your bank account information, there’s no clear way to delete it from the app, so who knows if they’ll charge me again in the future? Now I have to block the merchant from charging my bank account, so even if I want to invest in the future, I wouldn’t be able to. **Developer response:** Our team carefully investigated this issue and confirmed that funds are debited if and only if the user clicks the Confirm button on the final screen. Unfortunately there is no way to cancel an investment once it's finalized due to the terms described in the prospectus and highlighted during the onboarding process. Shares are issued instantaneously upon finalization, and liquidity is only available twice per year through redemption windows. While we do our best to educate our Members, providing liquidity outside the terms of the prospectus would not only violate financial regulations but also disadvantage the rest of the Members invested in the Fund. ### 2/5 — You’ll get charged without confirming *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* It’s disgraceful that the reviews I’ve seen about this issue they reply that you get charged only if you hit confirm. BUT IT IS NOT THE CASE. I didn’t dispute anything because I was eventually going to invest in this but if you just want to go through the workflow know that your money will get taken out of your account without hitting confirm. Other than that I love the idea of enabling us to build the future. But the app itself needs lots of improvements **Developer response:** This really shouldn't be the case and we'd like to look more into this specific issue for you. When you have a moment, if you could kindly go into the Sweater app, pull open the menu on the right, click Support, it will prompt you to provide the details that will help us dig in further. Your help is greatly appreciated so we can make sure everyone has a smooth, bug-free investing experience! ### 2/5 — Great Concept, Poor Tech *2022-06-30, version 0.2.2* Love the idea and would love to be apart of this (as a client anyway), however I am unable to log in (haven’t been able to for a week), I get an error saying they are having issues and too try again later. And there is no support option (that I could find anyway) on their website or app (at least on the login screen). It’s a bummer too as I was looking forward to getting that founding member status. ### 3/5 — Doesn’t yet pair w/ aggregators (Intuit’s MINT) *2022-07-28, version 0.3.2* Excited to see what’s next for Sweater. Taking a “John Bogle” Index Fund / ETF approach to VC is a long overdue innovation and opportunity to democratize private equity and diversify personal portfolios. So glad Sweater put such a focus on making a good app. Only complaint is that Sweater does not yet work with account aggregators like MINT from intuit. Means I have to add my Sweater investments manually so I know my financial status in real time and in detail. ### 3/5 — Decent app but has some fundamental bugs *2022-06-26, version 0.2.0* The app has rich features and a great UI. Issue with password reset functionality though which has not been resolved. I also had difficulty reaching customer service for this as well. ### 4/5 — Great app *2022-07-21, version 0.3.0* Great looking app and UI. Also had the same pw reset issues others have mentioned, but when I reached out via their support email, they responded quickly. But considering it’s a finance app, and being new, that does spook you a bit ### 5/5 — Best way to get into venture *2023-03-07* Love what Sweater has done. Generally you need to write a $250k check to be an LP in a fund. Sweater allows you to get in with just $500 and they open up bi-annual redemptions which is a first for venture. Usually have to wait 5-10 years until there’s a distribution. Low commitment way to dip your toe into venture - highly recommend. ### 5/5 — A new unique way to invest *2022-12-01, version 0.7.5* Sweater has been a great app. I think it’s important to not put all your eggs in one basket. VC can be risky, but if Sweater does their DD, then these investments should be sound. So far, everything has been great though. One thing I’d like to see added is a historical graph of the changes in NAV share price. ### 5/5 — Great app, time will tell about the returns *2022-07-30, version 0.3.2* Great app functionality so far. Gives me my daily NAV, education on VC funding, some “disruptor” content for new up and coming companies. If you read the prospectus, the management fees include a large chunk for marketing expenses, which obviously initially I understand is needed to get the kind of reach that is needed to make this a feasible operation. But having expenses potentially over 6% of AUM concerns me long term in eating away at any returns. Hopefully as the AUM grows, these fixed cost percentages will lower and they will build in a performance structure that better aligns both portfolio manager and investor incentives. **Developer response:** Thanks for your review! Worth pointing out, one of the nice things about how our Fund is structured, is we actually can NOT have expenses ever go over 5.98%, because our Expense Limitation Agreement prohibits it. In any period where expenses are exceptionally high, Sweater will forego part or all of our management fee (where our revenue comes from) in order to keep expenses at a predictable and reasonable level for our investors. It's true that investing in VC has higher costs than some other asset classes, like an index fund of publicly-traded stocks for example, but the historical returns on private companies balances out that cost across most time periods, which can make it a good addition to a well-balanced, diversified portfolio for a lot of folks (please consult a financial advisor if you're wondering whether it's a good fit for you!). ## Most praised reviews (7 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Opportunity *2022-07-27, version 0.3.2* I did not know much about Venture capital until I ran into this fund. I’m always looking for efficient ways to invest and diversify my portfolio and the sweater fund breaks it down in a simple way to understand with short informational videos. They are transparent with what you are getting into and the startups that will be in the fund. Overall the app is simple to use and simple to input automatic reinvestments for long term goals. They do have biannual redemption windows if you want to sell of your shares keep that in mind and don’t invest money that would you need in the short term. This fund is definitely for long term investors. **Developer response:** Thank you for your review! So glad you find the educational content valuable. ### 5/5 — Proud to be a Client *2022-07-25, version 0.3.0* I love that I can now diversify my personal portfolio into Private Equity. What Sweater is doing for the “common investor” is awesome and their transparency is refreshing. The app is also easy to use and Sweater’s staff are quick to help if you need it. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next. ### 5/5 — Great starter for those just getting into VC *2022-07-25, version 0.3.0* I’ve never invested in VC before and found that this was a great way to start. The founders provide videos as to how the world of VC works and what different terms are used like NAV. The app has good functionality. No complaints there. ### 5/5 — Sweater makes investing in startups risk free *2022-07-24, version 0.3.0* Before sweater, I could only invest in Reg-A and Reg-cf seed rounds and had to research myself to determine the startups to invest money in. With sweater, the access to top tier startups without being an accredited investor has opened paths for another investing avenue. Thanks to Jesse for creating this. As always nothing is risk free but with a seasoned team to vet the startups, it feels a lot better than direct investments into startups. ### 5/5 — Invested! *2022-07-23, version 0.3.0* Super easy app to navigate. A wealth of information guiding you to make sure you understand before moving forward. The education videos and back story or provided was instrumental in my decision to move forward. I’ve been telling everyone that know about Sweater! This is what leveling the playing field for all of us means! Highly recommend!! ### 5/5 — Easy, Clean, Exciting *2022-07-23, version 0.3.0* I had heard of Sweater a few months ago and was instantly excited about the potential of the idea. When it launched I was sure to get involved as soon as possible. The idea is fantastic, team is great and the App interface is easy to understand. I have weekly reoccurring deposits set and excited to see what will happen over the coming weeks, months and years! ### 5/5 — Thank you *2022-07-23, version 0.3.0* Sarah reached out to me via email. I had been seeing Sweater in several different feeds but did not take an in depth look right away. Both Sarah and Georgina helped me to make sure my investment was complete. Thank you to them I was able to invest. Their member experience team was great! I highly recommend Sweater to diversify your portfolio. Regards, Rizwan **Developer response:** Thanks so much for your comments, Rizwan, it's a pleasure to help you and to support all our Members! - Sarah --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*