Crowdfunding website Indiegogo offers investors insurance in case projects fail December 3, 2014 Crowdfunding website Indiegogo will trial an insurance option for its users, in case the projects they invest money in fail to materialise. It's currently being tested on one project, a wearable band that helps manage stress called Olive. Potential investors can pay the $15 (£10) "optional insurance" fee in addition to the $129 required backing, as reported by TechCrunch. The [...]
Sir Clive Sinclair is crowdfunding a new ZX Spectrum computer December 2, 2014 If you were around in the 1980s, you will know how truly immense this news is. Sir Clive Sinclair is crowdfunding to create a new ZX Spectrum. For those who don't, Sinclair was behind the Spectrum range – one of the first mainstream home computers in the UK, which rivalled the likes of the [...]
Bermondsey-based DIY brewery launches crowdfunding campaign November 26, 2014 UBREW, a Bermondsey-based brewery that allows members to brew their own craft beer, has launched a crowdfunding campaign today. Set to open in the New Year on the Bermondsey Mile, Ubrew is looking to crowdsource £75,000 – in exchange for 10 per cent equity in the company – to purchase equipment, rented accommodation and a [...]
Gimme 3: Startups crowdfunding this month November 17, 2014 Oak and Iron Target: £55,000 for 30 per cent equity The furniture company uses environmentally friendly processes and locally sourced materials. Owner Terry Facey has made furniture for Harrods. Raised: £44,700 www.fundingtree.co.uk Grub Club Target: £250,000 for 15.6 per cent equity A team on a mission to change how we dine by creating pop [...]
Taylor St Brewing a £3m crowdfunding November 12, 2014 TAYLOR St Baristas, a trailblazer in the City’s speciality coffee scene, plans to raise up to £3m through the launch of the UK’s first crowdfunded Coffee Bond. The bond is live on Crowdcube and Taylor St plans to double the size of its business over the next two years, with funds gained being used to [...]
Caterham F1 raises £1.2m in crowdfunding project as possible buyers begin to surface November 11, 2014 Potential buyers have emerged for Caterham F1, with the cash-strapped Formula One team having raised over £1m in crowdfunding in just 48 hours. The team is looking to raise £2.35m to allow it to race in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 23 November. Finbarr O’Connell, a partner from Caterham’s administrator Smith & Williamson, launched the [...]
Gimme 5: Startups crowdfunding this month September 22, 2014 Rollasole Target: £150,000 for 7.5 per cent equity If you’ve seen a pair of bendy pumps someone’s shoved in their handbag, you’ll know how useful Rollasole shoes are. Raised: £130,210 via Crowdcube 42 days left Line-Up Target: £200,000 for 9.09 per cent equity Line-Up’s technology collects and collates “what’s on” information from newspapers, radio [...]
Crowdfunding: Beware the celebrities offering investors strange deals September 14, 2014 I am a great fan of crowdfunding – it really is a cheap way of using modern technology to enable investors, including very small ones, to invest in all manner of things. So what can go wrong? Well, the regulators can stop it as effectively as they have made share offers to the public so [...]
Chapel Down gets taste for crowdfunding September 8, 2014 Chapel Down has turned to crowdfunding to raise up to £4m for its next phase of growth as Britain’s biggest wine-maker more than doubles in size. The Kent-based group, which makes sparkling and still wines as well as craft beers, said yesterday it is seeking to raise between £1m and £3.9m through Seedrs, the UK [...]
Crowdfunding Hollywood: Why the UK will finance the blockbusters of the future August 31, 2014 Over the years, the nationality of baddies in Hollywood films has offered a pretty reliable barometer of American geopolitical preoccupations. During the Cold War, there was an abundance of Russian villains on the big screen, with snow on their boots, vodka on their breath and their fingers on the nuclear trigger. More recently, jihadi terrorists, [...]