Targets Growth, both Domestic and International, for 2104.
December was a good month for equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Boosted by their own, incredibly successful, self-crowdfunding round, the UK based company raised over £3 million via their site during the last month of the year. The Seedrs offering raised £2.58 Million from 909 investors for the venture while 5 other campaigns pushed the total to become the biggest month in both money raised and number of startups successfully hitting their funding goal.
Some of the high points for the month of December include:
The new Musical “Happy Days” raised £250,000 from 336 investors in another “first ever” event for Seedrs. The major theater production raised equity allowing investors to participate in any future profits. The show kicks of a national tour in January 2014.- Peer-to-Peer crowdlending platform Landbay over-funded raising £71,000 from 185 investors – in less than one week.
- Dinnr, a healthy food delivery service, completed another round of funding on Seedrs raising £20,000.
- Craft Beer and alcohol online marketplace EeBria raised £65,0000 from 130 investors.
- Bike HUD (Heads Up Display) announced new partnerships and completed their goal of raising £90,000.
The funds raised from Seedrs self-crowdfunding round are expected to be used to expand their platform across all of Europe. Seedrs is targeting the European Economic Area (EEA) plus Switzerland representing a combined population of over 500 million. The expansion was announced just last month and already over 1800 new members from outside the United Kingdom have signed up to join the Seedrs platform. The company is currently reviewing new, non-UK campaigns, which may list on the site in the first quarter of 2014. Seedrs will begin an international outreach program in January to promote their platform to companies outside of the UK.
Seedrs began to offer equity crowdfunding to any UK resident 18 or older in 2012. The average age of a Seedrs investor is around 40 years old today but investments start as low as £10. Since their launch the company has experienced dramatic growth which was recently estimated at 600% for the year.
Founded by CEO Jeff Lynn and COO Carlos Silva the idea was formed as part of an MBA project while the pair were attending business school in Oxford. The company was launched with £1.3 million in seed funding and has become one of the leading equity crowdfunding platforms in the United Kingdom. The UK has been a leading country in the effort to innovate the financial industry and to create new vehicles for capital formation for small companies and startups.
