# Experiment

Crowdfund science research. Be a patron of science.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/microryza
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:5733
- Last updated: 2026-06-06T05:00:35Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-06T14:16:00Z

## Quick facts
- $1.45M in funded projects
- 9,327 backers
- 16% weekly growth
- 262 funded research projects

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:5139: 506(b) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:4810: 506(b) successful (USD)

## Story
The average age in mission control was 26 when we put a man on the moon. Hundreds of thousands of Americans contributed to the effort and a half-billion people watched the first step. Experiment is a crowdfunding startup with a mission to bring that same sense of excitement to the science research each one of us cares about. The meteor that struck Russia in February showed how the internet changes the way science can be experienced. At least for a moment, the world was united over a single scientific event. Experiment co-founder Denny Luan believes this can happen much more often. "The Internet provides a nice way to connect with science. It happened with the Curiosity rover. These events are like the 60s when a man landed on the moon," Denny said "Everyday in labs and in the field, there are these big moments when discoveries are made, we want to share that sense of wonder back with anybody." How Experiment Was Born Experiment helps donors fund scientists that are left behind by the traditional grant funding model. They have big goals, hoping their platform can one day be used to fund a cure for cancer, alternative energy, and put a man on Mars. When they began the startup, it seemed the only thing holding them back was their young age and their non-Silicon Valley cred. To change that, the young scientists-turned-entrepreneur duo Denny Luan and Cindy Wu persistently stalked 500 Startups VC Dave McClure until he invested $25,000. This determination shines through in everything they do. To get Experiment off the ground they taught themselves how to code, design, and record production quality videos. Their current team has made big improvements to the site, but the first version of Experiment was completely home grown by the founders. Their efforts gave them validation that Experiment could transform the way science is done, and tap the power of the crowd to fund thousands of compelling projects that don’t fit within the rigid confines of the traditional grant funding model. Denny’s email signature says it all “Not stopping until we fund the cure for cancer, intergalactic photon rocket, and time machine.” Denny and Cindy met while they were undergrads in David Baker's lab at the University of Washington in Seattle. Cindy had discovered a potential way to create an antibiotic to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, there was no way to get the small amount of funding she needed to run some initial tests. Luckily her professor funneled money from an existing NIH grant to fund her side project. “Not stopping until we fund the cure for cancer, an intergalactic photon rocket, and a time machine.”- Denny's email signature "I never would have been able to take the idea forward otherwise, and I was in the unique position of having a professor that could help me. Later, we interviewed 100 scientists and they all told us they had an idea that they had to put on the shelf due to lack of funds so they could definitely use our platform," Cindy said. She later turned down offers from the best Ph.D. programs in the country in order to start Experiment because she knew thats the current funding structure wouldn't allow her to do the kind of science she wanted to do. Fixing The Way Science Is Funded Experiment is structured a lot like Kickstarter in that it takes a 5 percent cut of what is raised and the projects only get funded if the goal is met. Experiment is its own scientific experiment, beginning as a place to fund the long tail of research, projects that don't cost that much or require a multi year commitment. The scientists give donors a front row seat to the projects as they unfold by sharing photos, text, and video updates in real-time. Typically, researchers spend three months a year writing grants, only to have 80 percent of them rejected because they don't fit into the big projects that agencies like the NIH are set up to fund. Helping university researchers is just the start. Cindy and Denny are also building Experiment for the new world of science where innovation can happen at home as well as in the lab. "Once you think about research and ideas outside of universities, you start to look at citizen science. To do computational biology today, all you need is a fast computer and a PCR machine," Denny said. "Getting beyond traditional research, you start to look at developing countries. It's not just a lack of funding, it's a lack of infrastructure in countries like Africa, Brazil, and India that prevent innovative ideas from getting off the ground. Helping to surface those ideas and get them funded is the long term vision of where we want to take Experiment" Denny added. For instance, scientists in Tanzania found that they can trap mosquitos by isolating chemicals that cause stinky feet. They couldn't get funding, so they took a grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.They created a device that attracted mosquitoes to it and lowered malaria rates by 4 times. Donors Get Excited When Cindy was a kid, she wanted to be a paleontologist. Her mom and dad would take her to museums, but she really wanted to go on digs herself to see the excavation process unfold first hand. One Experiment donor, who was keen on donating to a dinosaur project put up by University of Washington paleontologist Christian Sidor, wanted to give her son exactly what Cindy had dreamed about. Cindy said: "Sidor received an e-mail from a mother asking if she could send her son on the trip. Her son was still very young likely in elementary or middle school. Dr. Sidor obviously could not take a kid on the trip, but he wrote back saying that there may be a chance for her son to be involved with his research in a more hands on way when he was older. The mom made a large donation to the project afterwards." A few professors are already successfully crowdfunding their own projects. Experiment will open that up to everyone and give donors more options of interesting things to fund. There are thousands of projects that would get a specific group of people as excited as the general public was about the meteor, but they have no way to find them, or participate in the experiences as they happen. Jose Gomez-Marquez is a professor at MIT who has experienced the pain of grant writing first hand for the do-it-yourself medical devices he makes for the developing world. "Crowdsourcing science can disrupt the established trends of of prevailing funding targets. It can provide gateways to respond to patients faster than the academic research process as long as it doesn't get hijacked into funding more science for the sake of publishing instead of our quest for impact in everyday people. But like every good experiment, science projects can often fail --- and the backers have to accept those possibilities," Gomez-Marquez said.

## FAQ
1. **Have you guys (founders) backed any of the projects on Microryza? If so which and why?**
   - Here are all the projects I've backed: https://www.microryza.com/users/cindy There's a story behind every project I've supported. :)
2. **Why do you fail to mention Petridish.org as a competitor?**
   - The Petridish founders have moved onto another business. You will find that there have been no projects running on the site for over 6 months.
3. **Hi Experiment team, please reply directly if you can't post publicly... thank you for the investor update.... 1) Will there be a followup funding round? If so, when? Have you considered Angellist? 2) Given the current revenue, growth and runway, what is the current forecast fo...**
   - James, thanks for your questions. 1/ There may be another funding round in 2017. We don't know if or when. When we know, we will let you know. We have used Angellist in the past and have had a great experience with their syndicates. Our did a triple syndicate led by Jude Gomila, Dave Morin, and Joshua Schachter. We would also love to use Wefunder again! 2/ We plan to focus on revenue in Q1. Our forecast for a break even point is in May 2017, but that may change. As long as Denny and I are ali...

## Team
- Cindy Wu (Founder)
- Denny Luan (founder)
- Oscar Jasklowski (Engineer)
- Ryan Lower (Engineer)
- Andrew Wong (Operations)
- Megan Guerin (Designer)

## Recent posts
- Robert Downey Jr. donates $300k to Experiment Foundation (2021-12-15T21:52:32Z)
- angel round closing friday! (2020-05-12T23:02:10Z)
- Our Annual Dinosaur Dig, Earth Day, Science Magazine (2018-04-12T22:07:45Z)
- a podcast (2017-07-14T13:57:47Z)
- The Experiment Grants Program (2016-01-29T16:49:33Z)
- Introducing Sergey Varaksin! Sergey is joining Experiment as an... (2015-08-20T22:07:44Z)
- Today we're celebrating over $2 million dollars contributed to science on Experiment. 🎉Now, that's a big milestone. As a thank you to our community we are matching all pledges until midnight! 💵=💵+💵experiment.com/twomillion (2015-06-22T20:44:25Z)
- I've been traveling all over the country meeting with our scientists. I'm trying to hit all 50 states before the end of 2015. Here is a nugget for you from the field. "From 1849 until almost now, this was the only bone ever found, and it was found across the river in New Jersey. And then a couple of years ago, a guy came to us and he said, “Hey, I found this really weird bone. What do you think it is?” And my boss, Dave Parris at the museum, he took one look at it and he said, “That’s the out... (2015-05-22T11:50:14Z)
- Today we will be announcing that we're sending our first experiment to the international space station. experiment.com/chicksinspace Chicks in Space is an all girls team launching a hydroponic garden to the international space station. Their campaign ends in 48 hours and they're going to be successful no matter what, but I wanted to let you know because... well... because awesome. Huffington Post wrote about them: How Young Women Are Driving The Future Of Space Entrepreneurship I really belie... (2015-03-27T15:32:15Z)
- Lab Notes are a big part of what makes Experiment special. We’ve invested in the visual design of each lab note, and today we’re proud to share with you the new lab notes. We added a ‘Fund this Project’ button. We noticed that a lot of traffic is directed to lab notes and it was unclear that the project was fundraising. Now, if a project is fundraising it is clear that the visitor can back the project. We added a Lab Notes timeline. Each individual lab note was stand alone. The timeline shows... (2015-03-25T23:34:40Z)
- We just can't keep this in any longer... we have a huge announcement coming on Wednesday. I can tell you this much... the future will never be the same. If you want to be one of the first to share this moment in history with us... tweet us @microryza the following code 'this is an #experiment' (2014-02-03T16:59:12Z)
- Woke up this morning, went to the front porch to pick up the daily paper and...discovered Microryza on the front page!http://bit.ly/1aSYir5 (2013-07-09T00:30:10Z)
- We got a short feature in Fast Co! Woot!'Fund Scientific Research From The Fringe With This New Crowdfunding Site'http://bit.ly/14nxIQD (2013-06-21T23:19:51Z)
- We were nominated for Geekwire's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. There's going to be a big award ceremony on May 8th--it seems like it might be a big deal, but we're not quite sure...There is tough competition this year and we're definitely the youngest on the list! If you believe in us, we would very much appreciate your vote: http://www.geekwire.com/2013/geekwire-awards-vote-young-entrepreneur-year/ If you're a Seattleite... buy a ticket and come hang out with us!Cindy (2013-04-17T14:54:44Z)
- Microryza is growing! If you classify yourself as a rocket scientist, extraterrestrial, or robot send a resume and short paragraph to jobs@microryza.com.More specifically, we're looking for one or two engineers to help us take research funding back to it's roots and transform the way the public consumes science online for the future.We're always open to individuals that want to create new positions at the company--those are some of our best candidates!You know you want to be a part of th... (2013-04-13T01:03:22Z)

## Q&A
- Q: what are the terms of the investment, type of security, cap table, Balance sheet, .... Thanks
- Q: Have you guys (founders) backed any of the projects on Microryza? If so which and why?
  - A: Here are all the projects I've backed: https://www.microryza.com/users/cindy There's a story behind every project I've supported. :)
- Q: I own https://crowdsource.capital. Interested?
- Q: Can we please get a Wefunder update?
- Q: Can we get a status update on the status of our investment?
- Q: This company is deceased correct?
- Q: 2023 Update
- Q: Hi Cindy! I hope you are doing well. I really like what you are doing with science, research and projects. I just invested in Navisyo and Immersable Subs (both on WeFunder). I would love your opinion & if interested, your support as well. I do believe we need to support our oceans, all the marine life and its multiple ecosystems as well. Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn too. All the best! Sean
- Q: Hello, My name is miss laura, i saw your profile and it drew my attention to write to you. I would like you to communicate me through my e-mail address (sgt.lauraralph2@gmail.com) laura
- Q: Hi Experiment team, please reply directly if you can't post publicly... thank you for the investor update.... 1) Will there be a followup funding round? If so, when? Have you considered Angellist? 2) Given the current revenue, growth and runway, what is the current forecast for breakeven or profit status? I kind of invested in a "giving back" mindset, but I am interested in the long term stability of this project/company. Have you considered government grants or funding as a supplemental revenue source? NSF? NIH? Thank you for all your hard work, James
  - A: James, thanks for your questions. 1/ There may be another funding round in 2017. We don't know if or when. When we know, we will let you know. We have used Angellist in the past and have had a great experience with their syndicates. Our did a triple syndicate led by Jude Gomila, Dave Morin, and Joshua Schachter. We would also love to use Wefunder again! 2/ We plan to focus on revenue in Q1. Our forecast for a break even point is in May 2017, but that may change. As long as Denny and I are alive Experiment will never fail because we will never stop working on it. Experiment was built to be a institution that lasts forever, so you shouldn't be worried about the long term stability. At this point the revenue we make is enough to support the founders. 3/ We have considered government grants, but haven't prioritized this. We have a grant challenge program at experiment.com/grants. We would like to test a model next year where government grants or private foundations can sponsor our grants giving us another supplemental revenue source. Thanks for asking these questions and believing in our vision!
- Q: What criteria do you use to select projects ? You mentioned a goal is to allow anyone "with the right question, background, and audience" to raise funds but how do you decide what is the right question and background? Do candidates have a proven track record of success in conducting research? What about a scientist that has an excellent question but is just starting out in his/her field... would they be considered?
- Q: Is this an equity investment option and what is the price of each shaere.
- Q: Are any animals used in these tests/project that you fund?
- Q: How many profit I can get from your project? I want a detail information about profit structure
- Q: I want to know how this project you profit