Crowdcube becomes first crowdfunding platform to raise £200m
Crowdcube hasbecome the first in the industry to hit the £200 million mark in capital raised. The milestone was achieved after Bluebella, an award-winning lingerie and nightwear brand, raised over £1 million from more than 600 investors. This is the latest achievement in what has already been a standout year for the fintech pioneer, with a series of funding milestones that demonstrates that investment rounds are getting bigger and, in many cases, faster.
The 10 largest fundraises completed on Crowdcube in 2016:
- Crowdcube – £6.7 million
- goHenry – £4 million
- BrewDog – £3.5 million (currently live on Crowdcube)
- Pocket – £2.5 million
- Innis & Gunn – £2.4 million
- Witt Energy – £2.4 million
- GripIt Fixings – £2 million
- Zing Zing – £1.6 million
- HealthUnlocked – £1.5 million
- Powervault – £1.4 million
We predicted last year that investment rounds would get bigger in 2016, with the average amount raised going up. In our experience, this prediction definitely rang true with the largest crowdfunding rounds to date having been completed on Crowdcube this year. As 2016 draws to a close, 116 raises have been done on Crowdcube, raising a total £69m for ambitious businesses in the last 12 months alone.
We also predicted that crowdfunding would reach a critical turning point and cement its position as a mainstream route to funding, rather than an ‘alternative investment’ option. We also predicted that we would see an increase in the number of co-funded rounds, with crowdfunding forming part of larger investment rounds alongside other forms of funding such as venture capital investment and institutions. We’ve now seen other businesses like Revolut and Monzo follow in the footsteps of JustPark, which last year combined the best of both worlds in venture capital and crowdfunding – capturing the expertise of VCs and the wisdom and passion of the crowd.
We also highlighted the fact that the crowd is much more sophisticated and smarter than people give them credit for. This was borne out in a study by the London School of Economics in February, which showed that crowdfunding investors behave in an economically rational way, making decisions based on information that is shared between entrepreneur and investors. Crowdfunding’s greatest strength is the diversity of its investor community, which builds a collective wisdom that gives the crowd the ability to identify and back the best businesses.
Read more on Crowdcube’s predictions for 2017 here.
