INSIGHTS / News

Exeter SETsquared member, Crowdcube, has announced that 2017 was its most successful year to date.  £130m was invested into pitches on the Crowdcube platform last year – which represents the highest ever investment on any UK platform and a 48% increase on the previous year.

Other headline figures in the company’s recent shareholder update, which confirms their position as a market leader in equity crowdfunding, include:

• In 2017, a total of 120,000 investments were made.
• A record 325 companies chose to fund on Crowdcube last year, a year-on-year rise of 23%.
• £9m has now been invested via the Crowdcube iOS app.
• Crowdcube has now hosted 32 funding rounds that raised over £1m, which is in the bracket commonly offered by VCs.
• Beyond the UK, €8.3m was invested in European companies in 2017, a 56% increase, and $225k raised for a US company.

Darren Westlake, co-founder of Crowdcube says: “Our team are thrilled by our numbers for 2017, which confirm that crowdfunding is now an established, fast-growing and much-valued element of the funding ecosystem for growth companies. As demand from both entrepreneurs and investors increases, we’re working hard to further improve our platform, and make it even easier for entrepreneurs and investors to connect with each other effectively. Crowdcube’s transparency and connectivity are ideally suited to our vibrant community of investors and entrepreneurs, as they make use of an open funding system connecting exciting growth businesses with the capital they need.”

Read Crowdcube’s full blog post