Street Feast owner London Union backed by Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver crowdfunds millions for expansion December 3, 2015 London Union, the celeb-backed company behind Street Feast, Dinerama and Hawker House co-founded by the creator of Leon restaurants has raised millions of pounds to expand across the city. With the public appetite for street food only rising, it raised £2.5m on crowdfunding site Seedrs, with 160 individuals investing between £5,000 and £200,000. It has also raising a [...]
How to overcome the SME alt fi knowledge gap December 3, 2015 There has been much talk about the dearth of traditional bank loans to SMEs since the credit crunch, with the conventional narrative increasingly detached from reality as market confidence and conditions improve. But this jaded dialogue has disguised another issue: the rapid and seemingly unrelenting decline of the small business overdraft. In fact, a [...]
UK pensions: Self-employed people now less likely to be saving for their retirement December 3, 2015 Just nine per cent of self-employed people contribute to a personal pension, despite a record 4.6m people now being registered as self-employed. According to research released today by Prudential, 34 per cent of self-employed people paid into to a pension in the tax year 2001/02. The total amount saved into pensions by those who are [...]
Less than 10 per cent of savings providers are offering the Help to Buy Isa – with just 12 on board so far December 2, 2015 The Help to Buy Isa launched without much ceremony yesterday – so no wonder the number of savings providers offering the scheme, which provides a government bonus for first-time buyers, is being seen as a bit of a let-down. Research from Savings Champion suggests just 12 lenders have so far go on board with the government scheme, [...]
CornerDrop: Parcel delivery start-up launches £40,000 crowdfund on Seedrs December 2, 2015 Parcel delivery start-up CornerDrop has turned to crowdfunding site Seers to raise £40,001 investment. Cornerdrop is offering a three per cent stake in its one-year-old business, which it values at £1.3m. The company was valued £950,000 at its last fundraising, and it says the higher valuation takes into account a number of new partnerships. The company allows customers to nominate any UK [...]
Most employees expect to work past the retirement age of 65 December 2, 2015 The majority of Britons expect to work past retirement age, and some are doubtful that they'll ever be able to retire, according to new research released today. The study, by employee benefits consultancy Portus, found 66 per cent of respondents are preparing to work past the age of 65, while 11 per cent have said they’ll work past the age of [...]
Affective Logic closes £350,000 SyndicateRoom crowdfund having beaten funding target December 1, 2015 Marketing company Affective Logic has closed its investment fund on crowdfunding site SyndicateRoom, after securing £387,247, 111 per cent of its £350,000 target. The company, which helps large businesses plan and monitor marketing campaigns across multiple suppliers and markets, was created alongside leading advertising agencies, McCann and Martin. Affective Logic has already worked with General Motors, Aldi and Manpower Group. It said [...]
LendingCrowd launches a crowdfunding app in time for Giving Tuesday December 1, 2015 Just in time for Giving Tuesday, crowdfunding site LendingCrowd has launched a new app for people to access the platform and invest on the go. Stuart Lunn, chief executive of LendingCrowd, hopes the app will open up crowdfunding to a new audience. “The LendingCrowd app gives our investors instant access to their investment portfolio," he said. "Already the initial feedback has [...]
The UK has one of the lowest pensions in developed world according to the OECD December 1, 2015 The UK has some of the lowest pensions in the World, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report out this morning. Public pensions spending in the UK accounts for 5.6 per cent of GDP, less than the OECD average of 7.9 per cent of GDP, even though the UK has an older population. Across the [...]
UK pensions: A third of workers left red-faced at the thought of discussing their finances, and half feel financial advice is too expensive November 30, 2015 Saving our blushes might be costing us dearly, as just less than one in three (29 per cent) working Brits admits to being too embarrassed to discuss their financial details. In a study shown exclusively to City A.M. by online pension adviser, or robo‐adviser, Wealth Wizards, just less than half (43 per cent) of workers [...]