Crowdfunding Scottish independence: Voters on Indiegogo seek to give their sides a push August 21, 2014 Crowdfunding hub Indiegogo has taken a turn for the political. With exactly four weeks to go until the Scottish referendum, voters from both sides of the argument have created crowdfunding campaigns to give their side a good auld push. In the Yes corner, a group is offering to present a festival and subsequent album of [...]
Gimme 5: Companies crowdfunding this month August 11, 2014 All Star Minerals 12 per cent; 540-day convertible loan A listed UK mining company focused on the Queensland area of Australia. Current focus is on two near-term production copper-gold mines. It’s seeking £50,000. Crowd for Angels Mughals, The Series 10 per cent equity A television drama series about the Mughals, in the style of [...]
In a field of his own: FarmDrop’s Ben Pugh talks crowdfunding and the future of our food July 27, 2014 In the time it’s taken FarmDrop founder Ben Pugh to discuss his company with me, it crowdfunded £13,000. After just eight days on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, FarmDrop raised more than its £400,000 investment target. A new way of doing food is, it seems, quite popular. The FarmDrop concept is simple: it streamlines the food [...]
Peer lending and crowdfunding an “increasing source of finance” for UK firms July 18, 2014 Peer lending and crowdfunding are becoming an "increasing source of finance" for firms, as non-bank alternatives are giving a growing number of UK firms a helping hand, according to the Bank of England. In its quarterly report on trends in lending, the central bank reports that credit conditions for businesses are improving, with net lending [...]
Grocery website Farmdrop uses crowdfunding to raise £400,000 July 14, 2014 A company that aims to link local food producers with consumers by tapping into the soaring popularity of click and collect is seeking to raise £400,000 using the crowdfunding site Crowdcube. Farmdrop is an online platform set up last year that allows shoppers to buy directly from producers, such as fishermen or bakers, and collect [...]
Convertible equity comes to crowdfunding July 7, 2014 Seedrs, the British equity crowdfunding platform, will begin offering convertible equity to investors becoming the first crowdfunding platform to do so. Advertising technology company Future Ad Labs, which previously gained investment using Seedrs, will be the first to offer new investors the convertible investment. The adtech company is seeking to raise £400,000 through the round [...]
New airline turns to crowdfunding to launch business class-only flights April 30, 2014 A new airline set up by a Goldman Sachs alumnus, which hopes to bring back business class-only flights to the States, is raising up to £5m through crowd-funding. Odyssey Airlines was founded by Adam Scott, a former banker who has assembled a team of start-up veterans including some of the founders of Silverjet, whose [...]
Our crowdfunding rules don’t limit innovation – they protect consumers April 6, 2014 ROHAN Silva’s piece on the FCA’s rules in City A.M. last week unfortunately confused our approach to peer-to-peer lending and securities-based crowdfunding. In the UK, market practice currently leads to lower risks for investors on most peer-to-peer lending platforms than on securities-based crowdfunding platforms, so we have drawn a distinction, adopting a disclosure-based approach for [...]
Another FCA blunder: Draconian crowdfunding rules threaten innovation April 3, 2014 HERE’S a question for all you clever City A.M. readers. What did the UK’s financial regulator do recently to provoke the following quote? “On a day like today, one has to wonder whether the Financial Conduct Authority is the worst regulator in the Western world.” You might well guess that it was the FCA’s cock-up [...]
City watchdog outlines new rules to govern crowdfunding firms March 6, 2014 THE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday confirmed new rules for crowdfunding which, it says, will help protect consumers. Its aim is to give people access to “fair, clear information” when using loan-based or securities-based crowd funding platforms. A total of £28m was raised through crowdfunding last year – a 600 per cent increase from 2012. [...]