Peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital has raised GBP3,179,750 from 731 investors through the Seedrs platform – the second largest campaign hosted by Seedrs to date.
This raise has cemented Seedrs’s position as “crowdfunder to the professionals”, and follows a number of other successful Seedrs fundraising campaigns.
LandBay, the P2P lending platform for buy-to-let property, raised GBP569,044 across several fundraising rounds through Seedrs in late 2013 and 2014. LandBay has since gone on to raise a venture capital round from Omni Partners.
Trillion Fund, a leading environmental and social crowdfunding platform, raised GBP536,800 through Seedrs in December 2014.
CrowdLords, a property crowdfunding platform, raised GBP150,000 through Seedrs in November 2014
PledgeSports, an Irish sport crowdfunding platform, raised €100,000 (GBP72,000)_ through Seedrs in April 2015
CrowdCanDo, a events crowdfunding platform, raised GBP22,000 through Seedrs in September 2013.
Jeff Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of Seedrs, says: “All of these crowdfunding and peer-to-peer platforms focus on asset classes other than equity, so when raising capital for themselves, they wanted to work with the leader in the equity crowdfunding space. They chose Seedrs because they understand the importance to them and to their investors of our “equity crowdfunding done properly” approach.”
The Assetz Capital fundraising, which smashed its initial target of GBP2 million, was the second largest campaign hosted by Seedrs to date. The largest – which holds the record for the largest equity crowdfunding campaign ever in Europe – was Chapel Down Group’s GBP3.9 million fundraising through Seedrs in September 2014.
Lynn says: “We’re proud to have enabled equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer companies to raise money successfully. Our peers recognise that our approach, based on simplicity and transparency, consistently delivers results. It’s equity crowdfunding done properly.”
Stuart Law, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Assetz Capital, says: “We chose Seedrs for our crowdfunding round because we know it to be the most professional and respected platform in the equity space. Its size and reach were important factors, but so was its focus on helping investee companies grow while protecting investor rights. We were thrilled with the outcome of our campaign and fully understand why Seedrs is the equity platform that other crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms choose.”
The UK alternative finance market is predicted to grow to GBP4.4 billion in 20151 up from GBP1.7 billion in 2014 as businesses increasingly look to source more efficient ways to raise capital.
Between 2012 and 2014 the equity crowdfunding sector alone grew by 410%. Against this backdrop, in the past three years Seedrs has become the most successful equity crowdfunder in Europe, funding 110 deals in 2014.
