Skip to content

Fuel.Ventures hits target for world’s first crowdfunded investment fund

Fuel.Ventures has hit its target of £500,000 for what it claims to be the world’s first crowdfunded investment fund.

The fund, launched by technology entrepreneur Mark Pearson has raised the funds through crowdfunding platform Seedrs and aims to give everyday investors access to a pipeline of high growth European e-commerce startups.

To date, 274 investors have helped the world-first fund push past its half a million pound target.

So far investors have contributed a total of £539,300 in the six weeks since the page went live and the funds will be used by Fuel.Ventures to invest in its pipeline of businesses.

The fund will focus on high-growth technology-based transactional businesses from incubation and inception (super-early seed), to seed and post launch (late seed), as well as Series A businesses showing exceptional signs of growth.

Pearson said: “It’s fantastic to have received such support and to have gone past the initial £500,000 target, especially with this being the first time that everyday members of the public have had the opportunity to invest in this way.

“It’s unheard of for investors to share their pipelines with everyday investors, but together we believe that we can provide early-stage technology businesses with the investment that they need to grow.

“I’ve built and invested in a number of successful e-commerce businesses so I know well what it takes to succeed. Fuel Ventures will use this experience to invest in and accelerate the growth of the next generation of entrepreneurs in the sector. By providing capital, experience and expertise to the companies we invest in we aim to achieve both significant and rapid growth”.

Jeff Lynn, CEO of Seedrs, added: “The Fuel.Ventures equity crowdfunding campaign marks a unique milestone in the evolution of venture capital.

“For a highly successful entrepreneur and angel investor to build a highly curated fund with crowd participation is an interesting opportunity for investors large and small.”

Although the target was £500,000 the fund is open-ended and investors are still able to invest through Seedrs.

Topics

Register for Free

Get daily updates and enjoy an ad-reduced experience.

Already have an account? Log in