Crowdcube
 |
|
|
Type of site
|
Crowdfunding Corporate finance Equity (finance) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Exeter, Great Britain |
| Industry | Finance |
| Website | www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | February 2011 |
Crowdcube was established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang in 2011 and is the world’s leading investment crowdfunding platform. Crowdcube enables anyone to invest alongside professional investors in start-up, early stage and growth businesses through equity and debt investment options. The platform has a 300,000-strong crowd looking for more interesting investments. Investing in businesses on Crowdcube is free, quick and has no obligations.
To date, Crowdcube has raised over £180m for more than 400 raises and built a dominant UK market share of almost 50% of the £245m UK equity crowdfunding market.
Crowdfunding is an alternative method of financing a business, which allows everyday investors, professionals and venture capitalists to invest as little or as much as they like, typically through an online platform. It is where a community of likeminded people pool their money and knowledge together to back startup, early and growth stage businesses. Crowdcube gives everyone the opportunity to become ‘armchair Dragons’, building upon their own investment portfolio and supporting British businesses. Developed as an alternative to banks, business angel, or venture capital funding, start-ups can use the Crowdcube platform to obtain finance from the public.
Darren Westlake, co-founder and CEO has been named by Debrett’s as one of the UK’s Most Influential 500 People.
Luke Lang is the co-founder and CMO responsible for branding, media coverage and marketing communications.
Equity based crowdfunding is a new fundraising model for entrepreneurs. Individuals' investments are pooled allowing entrepreneurs to secure funding directly from the general public, bypassing business angels and banks.
The key principles of this model are that anyone can invest money in return for equity in a business. Entrepreneurs, with a UK registered company, can showcase their business, and its investment potential, to thousands of potential micro-investors by uploading a Dragons' Den style video pitch, images, and supporting documents. The minimum investment can be as little as £10.
Crowdcube operates on the "all or nothing" model. When a pitch reaches its investment target, the business receives the funding raised; if it does not, no funds are taken from investors. A commission is charged on successful funding campaigns.
The platform utilises social media to a large extent to alert potential investors about an offering. In March 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority released new guidance on the use of social media to promote financial products to ensure that all communications are clear, fair and not misleading.
Crowdfunding as a model for fundraising has become more popular over the past few years with the rise of the US-based Kickstarter and Indiegogo. These platforms differ from Crowdcube as they work on a donation and reward-based model where the donor receives a tangible object such as a DVD or piece of artwork in return for their donation.
...
Wikipedia