Andy Murray hoping to serve an ace for Seedrs firms as tennis ace joins crowdfunding platform’s board June 7, 2015 Tennis ace Andy Murray may have suffered a defeat to Novak Djokovic at the French Open last week, but he is hoping to win off the court by getting involved in funding companies. Murray is announcing today that he is joining the advisory board of the online equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, as part of what [...]
Online farmers market Farmdrop receives funding from Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman June 7, 2015 Farmdrop, the online farmers’ market for Londoners, has received significant funding from Alex Chesterman, the man behind Zoopla, It is also preparing to launch another major crowdfunding campaign. This is expected to launch in the next two to three weeks. Chesterman, who also founded LoveFilm, invested £100,000 in the final quarter of 2014. Farmdrop founder, [...]
Crowdfunding regulation: What’s the ideal position? Sector must not run on due negligence June 3, 2015 The dynamic growth of the crowdfunding industry in the UK is both an exciting and structurally important development for our economy. It has attracted a lot of interest, as excess money searches for better returns in a decade of low interest rates, low growth, low inflation and therefore, for many, low returns. While many [...]
Kitstarter: All aboard Hornby’s new Airfix crowdfunding project May 29, 2015 Who said model planes were old fashioned? Hornby, the company behind Airfix, has launched its own crowdfunding project – called, naturally, "Kitstarter". The idea behind the scheme is that if an Airfix model no longer in production gets enough backing, it will bring it back. Model fans will be able to pre-order it via Hornby's [...]
City A.M. crowdfunding event a crowd pleaser May 28, 2015 It's a new sector that has recently seen fundraising for everything from the Veronica Mars movie to whisky. No wonder there was an enthusiastic crowd at City A.M.’s first crowdfunding conference, held in association with Another Crowd at the RAC yesterday. The calibre of the speakers – who included veteran fund manager Nicola [...]
Crowdcube’s Luke Lang on what sort of people invest on crowdfunding platforms May 20, 2015 1. Smart money invests over lunch The most popular time to invest is at lunchtime and straight after work, between 5-6pm The online investment model is perfect for professional people who can find, review and invest in a variety of businesses, at a pace that suits their busy lifestyle. The majority of our investors [...]
Whisky investment platform WhiskyInvestDirect raises £1m through crowfunding May 18, 2015 An online start-up that allows whisky-lovers to invest in premium bottles of the tipple said yesterday it has raised over its initial target of £1m on Angels Den, an angel-led crowdfunder. WhiskyInvestDirect was set up by Paul Tustain, the founder of online gold trading platform BullionVault, and former Diageo commercial director Rupert Patrick to allow [...]
Retail app Octer quickly raising major second round of crowdfunding May 17, 2015 Mobile shopping app Octer has returned to the equity-based crowdfunding platform Seedrs, to raise a second round of funding. It is aiming to bring in a total of £700,000, in exchange for 7.48 per cent equity, giving a total valuation of £8.6m. The valuation has been agreed by key investors, and Octer’s principal investors have [...]
The right trousers: Aardman’s David Sproxton talks risk-averse TV and crowdfunding Morph May 17, 2015 You may have seen several giant Shaun the Sheeps around central London recently. Fifty of the woolly critters are gracing the capital’s public spaces, raising money for children’s hospitals across the country. “Shaun in the City” forms an arts trail for fans, and also coincides with the launch of Shaun’s first movie. For David [...]
A crowdfunding campaign is trying to save us from life-threatening asteroids May 14, 2015 If a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth with crushing force tomorrow, it could swiftly bring an end to all humankind. Luckily, that's not going to happen – our asteroid analysis and predictive techniques are advanced enough to tell when a devastating impact might happen in the near future. But that's not to say [...]