Harman Patil (Editor)

Seedrs

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Type of site
  
Investing online

Headquarters
  
London, United Kingdom

Commercial
  
Yes

Available in
  
English

Website
  
www.seedrs.com

Launched
  
6 July 2012

Seedrs is an equity crowdfunding platform for investing in startups and later-stage businesses throughout Europe. Seedrs allows users to invest as little as £10 or €10 into the businesses they choose and lets early-stage startups and more established businesses raise investment from friends, family, customers, angels and other independent investors in exchange for equity in the business. The platform offers three types of campaigns for investment - equity, funds and convertible campaigns.

Contents

Seedrs is an "all or nothing" platform where companies do not receive any funding unless they reach their declared investment target, but businesses have the chance to accept more than originally asked for in a process called "overfunding".

Seedrs allows a wider base of potential investors, among the mass affluent, access to startup investing - an asset class that was previously only available to high-net-worth or sophisticated angel investors.

Seedrs was the first equity crowdfunding platform to receive regulatory approval from a financial regulator – the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, formerly the FSA) in May 2012. The company is based in East London’s Tech City, with its design & development team operating from Lisbon, Portugal.

Equity Crowdfunding

Equity crowdfunding is the process of a business raising finance from a large and diverse range of investors in exchange for equity (shares) in that business. Through equity crowdfunding platforms businesses can receive investment from friends, family, customers, suppliers and other networks.

History

Seedrs was founded by Jeff Lynn (CEO) and Carlos Silva (COO) as part of an MBA project at Oxford’s Said Business School and officially launched in the UK on 6 July 2012. Seedrs raised £1.3 million in funding in May 2012 from backers, including: DFJ Esprit, AngelLabs, Digital Prophets and several angel investors. In December 2013, Seedrs raised the largest equity crowdfunding round ever, raising just over £2.5 million from 909 investors.

Seedrs's Board of Advisors includes: James Alexander (Zopa and The Foundation), Mike Butcher (TechCrunch and London Web Summit), Ralph, Lord Lucas (House of Lords), Dale Murray (Angel Investor of the Year and successful entrepreneur) and Todd Ruppert, former CEO of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services.

Seedrs was named one of "East London's 20 Hottest Startups" by The Guardian; in July 2012, was Wired's "Startup of the Week" in August 2012, and was named by Silicon Valley Comes to the UK as one of the top 100 UK Businesses in November 2013.

Noteworthy events

  • In December 2012, Seedrs was welcomed as the first equity crowdfunding platform to be accepted as member of the UK Business Angels Association.
  • In October 2013, Seedrs launched the first equity crowdfunding 'fund', allowing investors to spread a single investment across 10 startups selected to join the WebStart Bristol accelerator programme.
  • In November 2013, Seedrs successfully raised a £750,000 investment for the company in one morning, using its own platform, ultimately raising £2.58 million within 3 weeks. That same month, Seedrs expanded into Europe, allowing businesses to raise investment and people to invest both in EUR and GBP.
  • In December 2013, Happy Days - A New Musical became the first major theatre production to raise equity crowdfunding, raising £250,000 through Seedrs.
  • In May 2014, Belgium-based Maily became the first business to receive venture capital investment alongside crowd investment, raising a total of almost £300,000 on Seedrs.
  • In July 2014, Seedrs launched the world's first convertible equity crowdfunding campaign, featuring Future Ad Labs.
  • In September 2014, Seedrs launched the world's first equity crowdfunding campaign for a publicly traded company - Chapel Down.
  • In October 2014, Seedrs announced that it has acquired Junction Investments, a California-based company that operates in a similar market space. With the acquisition of Junction Investments, Seedrs will expand into the U.S.

    • Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)

    On 6 April 2012, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) was launched by the UK Government, with the goal to "stimulate entrepreneurship and kick start the economy." The scheme offers up to 50% individual income tax relief, up to 28% capital gains tax relief and capital gains tax re-investment relief to investors who invest in eligible startup companies. Seedrs has a high concentration of SEIS eligible startups listed for investment and makes it very simple for UK tax payers to take advantage of the reliefs online.

    Fees

    Seedrs takes a one-off fee of up to 7.5% from successfully funded businesses which covers all legal and administrative costs from raising funds.

    Seedrs also takes a success fee from investors of 7.5% of the profits investors make as a result of their investment, covering day-to-day management of shares and on-going investor protections.

    References

    Seedrs Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA