Make:
Where unleashed potential, creativity, innovation, technology and hands-on-learning intersect
Last Funded May 2025
$321,969
raised from 779 investors
What Investors Say
LEAD INVESTOR
I am Austin Eckman, founder of inventr.io, a brand focused on teaching creative engineering through creative storytelling.
I am investing in Make because I believe in its mission to empower and inspire creators through meaningful projects and hands-on learning. Make Magazine and Maker Faire is actively at the forefront of the maker movement, providing valuable resources and fostering a global community of creators. From schools to universities, and from professional engineers to families, Make has been a critical resource for those looking to explore the technical unknowns.
With a proven track record of success since its first publication in 2005, Make has consistently fueled its community with value, innovation, and creativity.
Investing in Make is not just backing a company; it’s fueling a vision for a more creative and empowered future accessible for everyone.
By supporting Make, we are enabling individuals to reach their full potential and create meaningful impacts in their local communities.
In 2024 and beyond, supporting the maker movement is essential for thriving in a world where technology continually reshapes our lives and work. It's about ensuring everyone has the resources and knowledge to invent, innovate, and adapt, rather than being left behind.
While I am passionate about Make's mission and vision, the company's strong execution and diverse revenue streams are equally compelling to me as an investor. Make has multiple avenues for growth, including e-commerce sales of tools, kits, and training materials; digital and physical magazine subscriptions; advertising placements; sales to schools; event ticket sales; in-person product sales at events; and sponsorships from major brands. Each of these existing revenue streams presents a significant opportunity for expansion and long-term financial success, making Make a brand with immense potential for both impact and profitability.
If you’re ready to join us - let’s Make something meaningful together.
Keep Make Making the Future
I'm a long time fan of the magazine.
Mechanical/manufacturing engineer. Running a community grange.
I love makers! I just want to be involved.
S/W developer, Amateur Radio operator, maker
I have been a subscriber for years and I have attended Maker Faire since 2012 in Toronto and New York City. I still attend the ones here in the Bay Area.
love the magazine.
Science Teacher
I invested because I believe in the Maker community. As a science teacher, I see the impact we can make. I'm honored to be a part of this.
I'm producer of the Burning Man Webcast and have had years of experience helping individuals and small businesses achieve their dreams.
I've always been a fan of Make Magazine and Maker Faire. It's a hard working team focused on an important mission. Looking forward to sharing a small slice of their success!
Just yesterday I was looking at my shelf of Make magazines stretching all the way back to Issue 4, and reflecting on the role that making and Make have played in shaping my career.
Make magazine started as I was finishing my PhD, and reading about all the amazing DIY projects played a formative role in convincing me I could make things as well. So after I my PhD (modelling ant swarms), with no previous experience building anything, a friend and I decided to start building timelapse systems and other environmental monitoring tools. This led to a pile of interesting projects including an online timelapse platform (launched at one of the Bay Area Maker Faires where we timelapsed the whole thing), a few museum exhibits and finally, building a billion pixel timelapse camera to monitor remnant dune ecosystems along Lake Michigan and more or less managed to pull the whole endeavour off.
Back in the early days, when search wasn't very good, it was really hard to find obscure components for whatever research contraption we were building and so the first thing I did when a new Make issue arrived was to flip to the back to look through the ads since this was an irreplaceable way to find new vendors. Then there would be a slew of interesting new projects to read about to inspire me to continue inventing.
The billion pixel timelapse camera led to a job in Australia setting up imaging systems for plant phenotyping. I joined the makerspace here, attended their first DIY drone building class and started using drones to do 3D time lapse of forests and everything else I could point a camera. Then there were VR timelapse point clouds, digital twins of forests, a national drone platform, and a host of other hacked together cool things dragged into being by sheer force of deciding to make them exist.
So here I am almost 20 years later, still inspired to tackle challenging problems and find ways to make hard technical things easier for people so they can do better science. Still reading Make and still being inspired by everyone's creativity.
Teacher
I teach hands-on science to middle and high school students.
I'm upset that I missed this year's faire and intend to never miss another.
Retired after 20 years in the tech industry as an industrial engineer followed by 20 years in government as an emergency manager.
I have been attending every Maker Faire Bay Area since it started at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. I’m a huge advocate for the maker philosophy and all manner of STEAM education. I want to see the fairs grow and be accessible to everyone in the community.
Proud to invest! My children inspired me to reconnect with my maker roots, and being part of the Make: community allows me to inspire others. I had the privilege of exhibiting at Maker Faire and being featured in an article in Make: magazine, which was a special honor and made me feel like I’m truly making a difference. As the founder of Masterful Creations STEAM Academy, this investment also aligns with my mission to empower others through making.