Nineyards Capital is to launch an electronic investment platform – Crowdstacker – in the fourth quarter.
Crowdstacker aims to help businesses take control of their funding requirements and to move away from traditional finance channels by delivering a range of investment products.
The news comes hot on the heels of Chancellor Osborne’s launch of Innovate Finance at Canary Wharf’s Level39 and his announcement of new measures to support the FinTech sector, including plans to allow peer to peer lending in ISAs and incentives to encourage investment start-ups.
Nineyards Capital co-founder and director, Mark Bristow, says: “We are seeing a middle ground emerge in the nascent crowdfunding space, Crowdcube’s mini-bond platform amongst the more recent initiatives to launch. Crowdstacker will come from the peer to peer (p2p) loan end of the spectrum, and will aim to deliver a collection of the best peer to peer and peer to business (p2b) loans; each will be underpinned by a compelling story and an equity style investment proposition, and will satisfy the investors’ need to be involved in something which is both engaging and exciting.”
Co-founder Karteek Patel says: “Our very first iteration was Energy Bonds, a very modern product, which we designed to offer investors maximum protection, with none of the ‘fish hooks’ usually associated with such bonds. One of the UK’s first ‘secured’ mini-bonds, it achieved its’ target raise within just two months.
“Energy Bonds apart, we have always viewed the finance industry as rather antiquated – from the perspective of both businesses as well as the private investor – and we have always wanted to create a platform which would allow businesses to raise capital cost-effectively, with the transparency and direct access that we believe the modern investor requires throughout the life cycle of a product.
“For this reason we are working to create an innovative and relevant product, which will give investors the power to go direct, and are launching Crowdstacker on the back of more than two decades of combined financial sector experience and our shared belief in the potential for all sorts of businesses to use crowdfunding techniques to meet their financing needs. Our new platform will be the culmination of everything we have learnt and set out to achieve, and will offer businesses a new and relevant alternative, embracing both peer to peer and equity finance.”
