Seedrs has just passed £1m worth of funding raised by startups using the online equity crowdfunding platform
Seedrs, which launched in July last year, is an online equity crowdfunding platform that allows startup entrepreneurs to raise seed capital for their businesses from friends, family and independent investors.
Today, Seedrs celebrates raising more than £1m for startups through the platform. Some £700,000 was raised on the site in just the last three months which, says the site, reflects a rapid acceleration in growth of users.
The Seedrs model is simple: entrepreneurs can join the platform and create a video pitch, which is then proposed to investors. When the seed round is successful, Seedrs takes a 7.5 per cent cut of the raised amount. If a startup does not succeed in raising the money it is looking for, the no fees are paid.
Following completion of an investment, Seedrs holds and manages the shares on the investors’ behalf, to help protect investors’ interests and minimise the administrative burden for the startups. When the startup decides to pay dividends or sell the company, the proceeds are passed to the underlying investors, with another 7.5 per cent levied by Seedrs on any returns that investors receive above their original investment.
21 startups
Twenty-one startups have raised funding on Seedrs to date, mostly digital businesses. The business that took Seedrs past the £1m mark was, however, an artisanal cheese maker from Northern Ireland, “Mikes Fancy Cheese”, which raised £80,000 for a 40 per cent share of the business.
“We are very excited about what a strong start we have had, and especially the extent to which the rate of investment in these promising young businesses has accelerated in recent months,” says Seedrs CEO Jeff Lynn.
“As this concept grows further, we are excited about both the potentially significant returns our investors are set to participate in and also the much-needed economic growth that the businesses we are funding are going to stimulate. This is a classic win-win phenomenon and it’s great to see how the UK is genuinely leading the world in unleashing the power of equity crowdfunding.”