Josh and Sara Margulise introduced Honeyfund, an online wedding registry that newlyweds can use to save for their honeymoon. As an alternative to wedding gifts, the Margulises launched Honeyfund in 2006 to allow their guests to donate towards their honeymoon. For lack of better options, they designed and developed their website from the ground up.
Honeyfund lets couples register their vacation plans as a traditional wedding registry does. Guests can use a PayPal account to contribute to the honeymoon cost. The owners of this website believe that a honeymoon crowdfunding campaign is a way better idea than registering for other wedding gifts.
Various Honeyfund upgrade choices range from $19.99 to $99. It’s now easier to tailor the app to your needs. Regular gift registries can also be linked to the Honeyfund site. This site makes its money from upgrade packages and advertising. Honey fund couples have raised more than $230 million thus far.
Josh and Sara also have a sister site called Plum fund. It is a more traditional type of crowdfunding. It can help fund anything, from a school sports team to a fledgling enterprise. However, this website was not presented on the Shark Tank platform.
Now that we know what the venture is all about, let’s explore if it was able to strike a deal with the sharks.
Josh and Sara sought $400,000 for 10% interest in the business. As soon as they entered the Shark Tank, they started describing their business. They showcased the services on a large television screen. Once they were done, they dived into the stats portion right away.
According to the website owners, they had raised more than $200 million for their consumers since they started fund-raising. They said they receive a portion of the PayPal transaction fees due to the massive volume of transactions. The profits were $217k on $987k in sales per year. The Sharks were then given a customer acquisition cost of $0.88 and a customer value of $9.
According to Josh and Sara, it has been a lifestyle business up to this point. Among their offerings are Plumfund and other gift-specific websites. They’d like to branch out into the Spanish market, too. Despite their high value, Mr. Wonderful predicted that customer acquisition costs would rise in the future.
Lori decided to quit because of the overcrowding. Mark left the discussion because he didn’t like how things were getting bigger. Instead of only profiting from the deal, Robert wanted to add value, not just cash in on it. He proposed to buy a 50% ownership in the company for $500k since he believed he could contribute and take this venture to the next level. He wanted them to rely on him as he’s their go-to person.
Mr. Wonderful proposed to offer $400K for a third of their transactional revenue until he receives three times the amount he invested. Despite Mark’s eagerness for the transaction and his compliments for Mr. Wonderful, Robert believed it was a terrible idea.
Barbara offered $400K for a 30% ownership in the company. However, it didn’t go well with the owners. Before accepting Kevin’s offer, they asked Robert to decrease his share to 25% so they could reach a decision. Nothing concrete came out of that front. In the end, they accepted Kevin’s offer. They believed they had gotten the best deal ever.
Season 7 Episode 703 saw Honeyfund and Mr. Wonderful on Nantucket, where Mr. Wonderful conducted a wedding. With the introduction of his Something Wonderful Platform, he wanted to merge his Shark Tank businesses into one multibillion-dollar sale and marketing organization for the wedding industry. Nantucket’s other enterprises include Wicked Good Cupcakes and Bottle Breacher.
Furthermore, an update on Honeyfund surfaced in Episode 920 when a new affiliate program was created to help with the sales. Since the company serves as an affiliate network for the wedding industry, it makes money via advertising.
The couple made their home in Clearwater, Florida, since then. The couple parted ways in 2020. Therefore, only Sarah remained in charge of the business. She decided to sell some shares of the company in the following year. The business stock on Start Engine raised her $1.057,877 at the time. There will be a long-term profit of $20,000,000.
A second equity crowdfunding campaign was started on StartEngine in January 2022 to raise $3.9 million. As of May 2022, almost $700 million had been raised for the benefit of newlyweds.
Our Review of HoneyFund
The newlyweds can use HoneyFund to track their wedding and honeymoon costs. Sharing your honeymoon savings with family and friends is a great way to save money. It’s a double bonus since you can utilize the money for the necessities and plan a beautiful getaway with your significant other.
The HoneyFund registry is a go-to source for financing weddings, philanthropic organizations, and even down payments on homes. It has been featured in Vogue and has a partnership with Target.
Your wedding and honeymoon planning page should include a list of classic Christmas gifts tailored to your message, a gift card registry for HoneyFund, and a global register. Make sure your database is current.
Honeyfund offers a selection of pre-selected honeymoon packages if you don’t know where to begin or don’t have the time to do the work. You can use the Honeyfund Balance as a payment option.
Pros
- It offers discounts and promotional offers for in-house services.
- It is a fantastic source if you want to get your gifts in various manners.
- It is free to use. You don’t have to pay a dime.
Cons
- Use users seem to have problems with the transfers.
- Some users complained of being unaware of whether or not the payment was sent.
- Some users complained that the process was stressful.
Who is it Best For?
Honeyfund is a must-have resource for newlyweds and those looking for the perfect wedding gift when organizing their honeymoon.
Are There Any Alternatives?
Zola and Traveler’s Joy are two of the most common alternatives to HoneyFund. These two websites let users use coupons and cash gifts and offer easy usage.
Our Final Thoughts
Honeyfund is a unique addition to the world of matrimony. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a gift the couple wouldn’t even use. All you can do is transfer the money as part of the crowdfunding and contribute to the greatest experience of their life – honeymoon.
