Back DMV startups building the future.

A pitch competition run by District Angels across DC, Maryland and Virginia. Each region crowns a winner, and those companies come to Play Money, so you can invest alongside the local angels and VCs who picked them. There's a second prize on the line. The company from the region with the most angel sign-ups wins a cash prize from us at DC Startup Tech Week, which is why the sign-up asks which region you're in.

Yes, you must be accredited to invest. During sign-up, we'll ask you if you meet one of the accreditation criteria: $200K in annual income or $300K with a partner, $1M in assets outside your home, or financial licensing (Series 65, 7, or 82). One in five US households makes the cut. You check a box. We trust you. Done.

We've designed Play Money so you can build a diversified startup portfolio without writing big checks. It's always free to lurk and learn — there's no membership fee to sign up and browse deals. You only pay when you invest. When you invest, you'll pay 10% or $1,500, whichever is less, with no hidden fees later. That's very standard for private markets — a typical venture fund charges ~2% per year for 10+ years plus expenses, more than twice as much. Some deals also charge “carry” — a share of the profits (0–20%, shown on each deal) that you only pay after getting your full investment back, split between Play Money and the lead who sourced and vetted the deal.

Most early-stage startup investments on Play Money qualify for QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock), which means you may be exempt from capital gains tax on any profits. Maryland gives up to a 60% tax credit to certain types of startup investments. And Play Money lets you easily use tax advantaged money from your IRA or DAF (yes, charitable dollars!) to invest in startups. Click the chat icon in the lower right hand corner to learn more.

Every deal is sourced and backed by experienced deal leads and domain experts who write their own checks first. They run the diligence and share their reasoning, materials, and terms on the deal page, so you see the thesis behind every opportunity, not just a pitch.

Most platforms hand you a wall of listings and wish you luck. Play Money curates down to one vetted deal a week, sourced by deal leads who invest alongside you and explain why. You get the cadence, the curation, and the community instead of an open marketplace.

Plenty of our members are. They use Play Money for sharper, curated deal flow, the deal-lead reasoning on every opportunity, and the option to invest with friends, without an annual membership fee. It's built to sit comfortably next to the groups serious angels already trust.

No! We help existing angel groups engage more of their members to invest, and then we bring new angels, both locally and nationally, to invest alongside them. This is zero-effort syndication, with upside to the group or deal lead who did the diligence and brought the startup to Play Money.

Run the round on Play Money. You keep the founder relationship and set the terms; we handle the SPV, the paperwork and the investor experience, so nobody on your side is chasing signatures. Where it helps most is the long tail. You probably know fifty people who would happily write $1K to $5K and no practical way to administer fifty small checks. That's the part Play Money was built for, and those angels tend to come back for the next one.