How One Passionate Vegan Turned $100 Into a Movement — And Why You Should Join Him

Back in 1971, a 20-year-old Mark Perlmutter made a quiet but radical decision — given the time and cultural context — to stop eating meat. Long before oat milk lattes and plant-based burgers were on every corner, this was an act of conviction. Decades later, after a career as a licensed stockbroker, pioneering some of the first online IPOs in the '90s, and building vegan food and film ventures, Mark combined everything he'd learned into something new: Planet Positive Investing.

The idea is simple. The planet needs better companies. Better companies need funding. And shares in such companies shouldn't be reserved for the wealthy.

What Is Planet Positive Investing?

Planet Positive Investing is a free club of over 30,450 members who signed up to receive email alerts when planet-positive startups open equity crowdfunding rounds to the public. Think clean energy, health tech, and plant-based innovation — the kinds of companies that are solving real problems and need capital to scale.

Thanks to the JOBS Act, everyday people — not just venture capitalists — can now own a piece of early-stage startups, often by putting in as little as $100. That's the power of equity crowdfunding: you're not donating or pre-ordering a product. You're becoming an actual part-owner of a company you believe in.

Vegan Investing Meets Real Returns

Planet Positive Investing sits at the crossroads of vegan investing, climate action, and smart finance. This investing club has helped fund more than 30 startups, including:

Don't think these are just niche fringe projects. These are companies responding to a future-forward market projected to surpass billions globally — and everyday investors are getting in before the mainstream catches on.

Why Now Is the Right Time for Planet-Positive Investing

The old Wall Street model left regular people on the sidelines. By the time Beyond Meat went public and shares soared nearly 1,000%, it was already too late for most small investors to see meaningful gains.

Equity crowdfunding changes that equation. Platforms like Wefunder and StartEngine now let you invest as little as $100 into mission-driven startups at the ground floor — the stage where real upside lives.

“Mark and his team vet the deals, alert members when something is worth a look, and help you get early-bird pricing before rounds close. Members have seen offerings close within days of an alert going out.” — Planet Positive Investing

And here's what makes Planet Positive Investing different from simply scrolling a platform yourself: curation. It's always entirely up to the member whether to put money into a round or not. Mark and his team take nothing from members. Companies do, however, pay an advertising fee to Mark to get announced to dedicated members.

Good Things Take Time, and Then They Pay Off

The best outcomes rarely happen overnight. But when they do happen, they validate everything.

Then there's Blackbird Foods, the New York-based brand behind chef-crafted plant-based pizzas, seitan, and wings. Members who backed Blackbird early watched it grow to over $11 million in lifetime sales, land shelf space at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Target. In February 2025, it was acquired by Ahimsa Companies, a plant-based investment firm on a strategic buying spree of promising alternative protein brands.

Rather than disappearing into a corporate machine, Blackbird continues to operate under its own name, now with the backing and distribution muscle to grow even further. Co-founder Emanuel Storch described the deal simply: "Ahimsa Companies shares our passion for plant-based innovation."

These are two very different outcomes. One went public, one got acquired — but both represent exactly what this kind of equity crowdfunding is meant to produce: mission-aligned companies, backed by everyday people, reaching the scale they deserve.

Your Money Can Do More Than Sit There

Whether you care about reducing your carbon footprint, supporting plant-based innovation, or simply backing companies that reflect your values — planet-positive investing lets your portfolio reflect your principles without sacrificing the potential for returns.

It's free to join. There are no fees, ever.

Thirty thousand people have already decided their dollars should work for a better world, $100 at a time.