30.07.2015, 17:46
Crowdcube announced that it has raised £6m of investment to further accelerate its growth
OREANDA-NEWS. Crowdcube, the pioneering investment crowdfunding platform, today announced that it has raised £6m of investment to further accelerate its growth. The investment is led by Numis, a leading UK stockbroker and corporate advisor. Tim Draper and London-based Draper Esprit have also joined this new funding round alongside existing backers Balderton Capital, one of Europe's largest venture firms.
The investment will enable Crowdcube to accelerate growth, continue the expansion of its team, ramp up new product development including the creation of a new solution for companies going public, and invest further in its acclaimed marketing activities.
"We're on a mission to help more businesses raise the finance they need to grow, create jobs and deliver returns to investors. We've dominated the democratisation of seed-stage equity investment since we launched in 2011 and we're determined to do the same for larger businesses. We want to put the Public back into IPO." commented Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder of Crowdcube.
Numis, which has raised £10bn for businesses since 2009 through more than 46 IPOs, will work with Crowdcube and the regulators to enable large high growth businesses who are 'going public' by listing shares on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market or AIM, to access individual investors.
Darren added "Our goal is to solve the funding continuum for ambitious, high growth businesses; delivering seed-capital right through to IPO. We have a proven track record of disrupting the status quo. With high calibre new investors joining the team who share our vision of widening companies' access to capital, this new round of funding puts us in a very exciting position."
Oliver Hemsley, CEO and founder of Numis said, "Crowdcube has created an impressive business model and technology platform that makes it possible for people to join together to finance pioneering businesses. Numis has a long track record of helping companies access funding for growth and this investment in Crowdcube will put Numis at the centre of the entire investment chain, from initial start-up capital all the way to IPO. We are very excited to be part of an innovative fintech solution to help the public markets evolve and connect retail investors directly with fast growing businesses."
Tim Draper, Managing Partner of Draper Associates added: "I'm incredibly excited to finally become part of the Crowdcube story. I've followed Crowdcube's success for many years and have always been impressed with how they've managed to create and dominate the UK market, which is way ahead of anything in the US. We love to invest in market leaders with ambitious entrepreneurial teams so Crowdcube was an obvious choice for us."
Simon Cook, CEO of Draper Esprit added: "Crowdcube is breaking out as the leading financial tech platform for connecting communities of investors with fast growing companies in the world's most developed crowdfunding market. Crowdcube is rapidly expanding interesting products from small VC rounds to larger bonds, funds and now IPOs; using the power of the crowd to reduce costs, time and increase transparency for businesses and investors, within the UK's leading regulatory regime." Simon Cook will represent Draper Esprit at Crowdcube.
Crowdcube celebrated its first company exit in July 2015 when E-Car Club, which raised investment in 2013, was acquired by Europcar and delivered a multiple return to its investors. Crowdcube has amassed an investor community of nearly 200,000 and attracts seasoned entrepreneurs of well-known and established, often VC-backed, businesses like Eden Project, JustPark, River Cottage and Camden Town Brewery, as well as start-up companies. Almost £100m has been successfully invested through the site since its launch in 2011. Crowdcube has also secured more investment for businesses in 2015 than the rest of the market combined, according to data from Crowdsurfer, an independent crowdfunding market data researcher.
Balderton Capital, which has also invested in disruptive financial tech companies such as Zopa, Nutmeg, Revolut and GoCardless, has a long history of backing disruptive and innovative businesses. Partner Tim Bunting, who also sits on Crowdcube's board of directors said: "Crowdcube enables growth-phase companies to appeal to a broad and diverse community of investors. E-Car Club's recent exit demonstrates the wisdom and effectiveness of the crowd, and the positive effect they have on ambitious businesses. Crowdcube is exceeding its growth expectations, and continuing to disrupt and democratise business finance, and we are delighted to continue working with the team."
With over 70 employees in London, Barcelona and Exeter the company surpassed the amount successfully invested through the site during 2014 in the first six months of 2015.
About Crowdcube:
As the world's first and most successful investment crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube enables entrepreneurs to bypass the traditional business angel, venture capital or bank finance routes, giving them more control and access to more investors. For investors, Crowdcube provides them with a way to cherry-pick a stake in an innovative business that traditionally would have been restricted to corporate investors. In addition, they can now benefit from a fixed return per annum by lending money to more established companies offering a mini-bond on Crowdcube.
Since 2011, almost 200,000 savvy investors have registered with Crowdcube, helping to raise over £95 million of finance for over 270 business pitches including JustPark (raised £3.7m), Sugru (£3.5m), Camden Town Brewery (£2.8m), easyProperty (raised £1.4 million), River Cottage (raised £1 million) and Eden Project (raised £1.5 million in just 20 hours). Crowdcube is authorised and regulated for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
About Numis:
Numis is a leading independent investment banking and stockbroking group offering a full range of research, execution, corporate broking and corporate finance services to companies quoted in the UK and their investors.
About Draper Esprit:
Draper Esprit is one of Europe's most experienced venture capital investors, helping entrepreneurs build ground-breaking technology companies. In recent years, Draper Esprit's exits have generated more than \\$4 billion in enterprise value. Portfolio companies include Trust Pilot, Lyst, Movidius, Conversocial, Sportpursuit, Graze, Greenpeak, Horizon Discovery (IPO on AIM), Icera (sold to Nvidia), LOVEFiLM (sold to Amazon), Oxford Immunotec (IPO on NASDAQ),The Cloud (sold to BSkyB), and Zeus (sold to Riverbed).
Draper Esprit is the exclusive Western European member of the Silicon Valley-based Draper Venture Network with historic investments including Baidu, Skype, Tesla, and other leading innovators. Draper Esprit operates a multi-fund strategy with numerous funding sources for primary, angel and secondary deals, creating unique venture and growth capital options for the fastest growing companies in Europe.
About Draper Associates:
The Draper family represents 4 generations of VCs in Silicon Valley. The Draper brand is premier in the world of venture capital. Tim Draper founded Draper Associates in 1985, which led to funds branded Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and led the development of a network of US affiliate funds in the 90s, and the expansion globally in 2000 finding companies such as Baidu and Skype. In 2013, Tim Draper expanded his venture capital reach with Draper Associates, and also started Draper University, a school for entrepreneurs, and focused on expanding and helping drive the global venture network. Draper Associates is based in Silicon Valley and manages family money as well as various funds that are managed under the Draper Associates brand.
About Balderton:
Balderton Capital is one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. Based in London, the firm manages \\$2.2 billion.
Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 100 companies, principally across Europe. Notable realised investments include NaturalMotion (the mobile gaming developer, sold to Zynga in 2014), Betfair (the online betting exchange, 2010 IPO), LOVEFiLM (the home entertainment subscription service, sold to Amazon in 2011), MySQL (the open-source database software, sold to Sun Microsystems in 2008) and YOOX Group (the online retailer of leading fashion brands, IPO in 2009). The current portfolio includes innovative companies such as 3D Hubs, Crowdcube, Globoforce, Kobalt, Nutmeg, Openet, Scytl, Talend, The Hut Group, Tictail, Wooga and WorldStores.
The investment will enable Crowdcube to accelerate growth, continue the expansion of its team, ramp up new product development including the creation of a new solution for companies going public, and invest further in its acclaimed marketing activities.
"We're on a mission to help more businesses raise the finance they need to grow, create jobs and deliver returns to investors. We've dominated the democratisation of seed-stage equity investment since we launched in 2011 and we're determined to do the same for larger businesses. We want to put the Public back into IPO." commented Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder of Crowdcube.
Numis, which has raised £10bn for businesses since 2009 through more than 46 IPOs, will work with Crowdcube and the regulators to enable large high growth businesses who are 'going public' by listing shares on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market or AIM, to access individual investors.
Darren added "Our goal is to solve the funding continuum for ambitious, high growth businesses; delivering seed-capital right through to IPO. We have a proven track record of disrupting the status quo. With high calibre new investors joining the team who share our vision of widening companies' access to capital, this new round of funding puts us in a very exciting position."
Oliver Hemsley, CEO and founder of Numis said, "Crowdcube has created an impressive business model and technology platform that makes it possible for people to join together to finance pioneering businesses. Numis has a long track record of helping companies access funding for growth and this investment in Crowdcube will put Numis at the centre of the entire investment chain, from initial start-up capital all the way to IPO. We are very excited to be part of an innovative fintech solution to help the public markets evolve and connect retail investors directly with fast growing businesses."
Tim Draper, Managing Partner of Draper Associates added: "I'm incredibly excited to finally become part of the Crowdcube story. I've followed Crowdcube's success for many years and have always been impressed with how they've managed to create and dominate the UK market, which is way ahead of anything in the US. We love to invest in market leaders with ambitious entrepreneurial teams so Crowdcube was an obvious choice for us."
Simon Cook, CEO of Draper Esprit added: "Crowdcube is breaking out as the leading financial tech platform for connecting communities of investors with fast growing companies in the world's most developed crowdfunding market. Crowdcube is rapidly expanding interesting products from small VC rounds to larger bonds, funds and now IPOs; using the power of the crowd to reduce costs, time and increase transparency for businesses and investors, within the UK's leading regulatory regime." Simon Cook will represent Draper Esprit at Crowdcube.
Crowdcube celebrated its first company exit in July 2015 when E-Car Club, which raised investment in 2013, was acquired by Europcar and delivered a multiple return to its investors. Crowdcube has amassed an investor community of nearly 200,000 and attracts seasoned entrepreneurs of well-known and established, often VC-backed, businesses like Eden Project, JustPark, River Cottage and Camden Town Brewery, as well as start-up companies. Almost £100m has been successfully invested through the site since its launch in 2011. Crowdcube has also secured more investment for businesses in 2015 than the rest of the market combined, according to data from Crowdsurfer, an independent crowdfunding market data researcher.
Balderton Capital, which has also invested in disruptive financial tech companies such as Zopa, Nutmeg, Revolut and GoCardless, has a long history of backing disruptive and innovative businesses. Partner Tim Bunting, who also sits on Crowdcube's board of directors said: "Crowdcube enables growth-phase companies to appeal to a broad and diverse community of investors. E-Car Club's recent exit demonstrates the wisdom and effectiveness of the crowd, and the positive effect they have on ambitious businesses. Crowdcube is exceeding its growth expectations, and continuing to disrupt and democratise business finance, and we are delighted to continue working with the team."
With over 70 employees in London, Barcelona and Exeter the company surpassed the amount successfully invested through the site during 2014 in the first six months of 2015.
About Crowdcube:
As the world's first and most successful investment crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube enables entrepreneurs to bypass the traditional business angel, venture capital or bank finance routes, giving them more control and access to more investors. For investors, Crowdcube provides them with a way to cherry-pick a stake in an innovative business that traditionally would have been restricted to corporate investors. In addition, they can now benefit from a fixed return per annum by lending money to more established companies offering a mini-bond on Crowdcube.
Since 2011, almost 200,000 savvy investors have registered with Crowdcube, helping to raise over £95 million of finance for over 270 business pitches including JustPark (raised £3.7m), Sugru (£3.5m), Camden Town Brewery (£2.8m), easyProperty (raised £1.4 million), River Cottage (raised £1 million) and Eden Project (raised £1.5 million in just 20 hours). Crowdcube is authorised and regulated for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
About Numis:
Numis is a leading independent investment banking and stockbroking group offering a full range of research, execution, corporate broking and corporate finance services to companies quoted in the UK and their investors.
About Draper Esprit:
Draper Esprit is one of Europe's most experienced venture capital investors, helping entrepreneurs build ground-breaking technology companies. In recent years, Draper Esprit's exits have generated more than \\$4 billion in enterprise value. Portfolio companies include Trust Pilot, Lyst, Movidius, Conversocial, Sportpursuit, Graze, Greenpeak, Horizon Discovery (IPO on AIM), Icera (sold to Nvidia), LOVEFiLM (sold to Amazon), Oxford Immunotec (IPO on NASDAQ),The Cloud (sold to BSkyB), and Zeus (sold to Riverbed).
Draper Esprit is the exclusive Western European member of the Silicon Valley-based Draper Venture Network with historic investments including Baidu, Skype, Tesla, and other leading innovators. Draper Esprit operates a multi-fund strategy with numerous funding sources for primary, angel and secondary deals, creating unique venture and growth capital options for the fastest growing companies in Europe.
About Draper Associates:
The Draper family represents 4 generations of VCs in Silicon Valley. The Draper brand is premier in the world of venture capital. Tim Draper founded Draper Associates in 1985, which led to funds branded Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and led the development of a network of US affiliate funds in the 90s, and the expansion globally in 2000 finding companies such as Baidu and Skype. In 2013, Tim Draper expanded his venture capital reach with Draper Associates, and also started Draper University, a school for entrepreneurs, and focused on expanding and helping drive the global venture network. Draper Associates is based in Silicon Valley and manages family money as well as various funds that are managed under the Draper Associates brand.
About Balderton:
Balderton Capital is one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. Based in London, the firm manages \\$2.2 billion.
Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 100 companies, principally across Europe. Notable realised investments include NaturalMotion (the mobile gaming developer, sold to Zynga in 2014), Betfair (the online betting exchange, 2010 IPO), LOVEFiLM (the home entertainment subscription service, sold to Amazon in 2011), MySQL (the open-source database software, sold to Sun Microsystems in 2008) and YOOX Group (the online retailer of leading fashion brands, IPO in 2009). The current portfolio includes innovative companies such as 3D Hubs, Crowdcube, Globoforce, Kobalt, Nutmeg, Openet, Scytl, Talend, The Hut Group, Tictail, Wooga and WorldStores.
Комментарии