UK Crowdfunding Site Crowdcube Announces 2012 Awards

CrowdCube

In recognition of the growth and success of 2012, UK Crowdfunding site Crowdcube has announced a group of Award Winners for the year.  Listed below, in no particular order, are the award winners for 2012:

Pitch of the Year: Escape the City

Escape the City, a website that helps professionals to make career Escape the Citytransitions, turned down two offers from well-known VC firms to raise £600,000 in just 14 days using Crowdcube.

The Judges commented:

“Escape the City showed the world what is possible with equity crowdfunding in 2012. Everyone at Crowdcube is proud to be part of the Escape the City story.”

Entrepreneur of the Year: Jon Allen, Front Up Rugby

Jon Allen, the founder of Front Up Rugby, saw a gap in the market for a

Frontup Rugbyyouthful, fashionable, rugby-inspired clothing brand. Jon created the ‘Front Up’ in the glamorous surroundings of his spare bedroom and has turned it into one of the UK’s leading and most respected rugby-inspired, fashion-labels.

The judges remarked:

“Jon has inspired everyone at Crowdcube. He has taken the ‘Front Up’ brand from his spare bedroom to Debenhams and looks certain to continue his success into 2013.”

Coolest Brand of the Year: Kamm & Sons

Kamm & Sons, a unique ginseng-based spirit, successfully completed Kamm & Sons Ginseng Spiritstheir second round of funding on Crowdcube when they successfully raised £325,000 in December 2012 following on from the £180,000 they raised in October 2011.

The judges said:

“With its ‘medicinal’ bottle design, exotic natural ingredients and eye-catching brand Kamm & Sons is sold in some of the UK’s trendiest nightspots including The Savoy and The Connaught. The regular TV appearances of the uber-cool Alex Kammerling made this an easy choice.”

Fastest Funded of the Year: 7billionideas

When 7billionideas had the idea to using Crowdcube they didn’t expect 7 billion Ideasto hit their £30,000 target in just four days!

The judges said:

“7billionideas stormed it. The pitch was published on Friday afternoon and was funded by Monday morning. The power of crowdfunding at its best.”

Best Video of the Year: The Thoughtful Bread Company

Bread lovers bread lovers backed award-winning artisan bakery –The Thoughtful Bread Company – by investing £55,000 in 11 days.Sourdough Bread - Thoughtful Bread Company UK

The judges said:

“Food hero Duncan Glendinning founded The Thoughtful Bread Company just over 3 years ago and its pitch video brought the passion and story behind the company to life. The delicious shots of bread and bread-making inspired us to don our aprons and get dirty with flour and water.”

Best Investor Relations of the Year: Brupond Brewery

Brupond Brewery, based in London, successfully raised £35,000 from 45 investors in May 2012 to finance the launch of a new beer.Brupond Brewery

The Judges commented:

“Regular updates, beer and pizza nights, and a thirst for investor involvement as well as beer set Brupond apart from the rest in this category.”

Hottest Sector of the Year: Internet & Tech

The Internet and Tech sector narrowly beat Food & Drink to be the most popular choice of investment from our members with eight businesses successfully reaching their funding target in 2012.

The judges commented:

“This demonstrates that the tech scene in the UK is thriving with some of the country’s hottest companies being digital.”

Most investors of the Year: Escape the City

Escape the City’s 65,000 members proved to be one of their biggest Escape the Cityassets as they raised funding from 396 investors.

The judges commented:

“The way that Escape the City effectively leveraged their existing customers and social media community was text book crowdfunding.”

Online Business of the Year: Escape the City

The judges commented:

“There was only ever going to be one winner in this category with Escape the City raising a staggering £600,000 from the crowd.”

Product of the Year: Righteous

This all natural salad dressing company is on a mission to make healthy living more enjoyable for everyone. The delicious dressing is All Natural Righteoussold in Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols and used the £75,000 raised on Crowdcube in February 2012 create a TV advertising campaign to build the Righteous brand further.

The judges commented:

“Salads just got sexy with this hot new brand that tastes fantastic.”

Service of the Year: Get Site Tracked

Get Site Tracked provide an affordable, professionally built, and search engine optimised website package for sole traders and small business owners in the UK.GetSiteTracked

The judges commented:

“Get Site Tracked got more than £100,000 investment in February 2012; and they also got a new non-executive director on their board of directors.”

Most Viewed Pitch of the Year: Darlington FC

Save DarloDarlington FC may not have reached their whopping funding target of
The judges commented:£750,000 (reaching just 60 per cent of their target) but they did generate a tremendous amount of buzz with 1,492,263 view of theirpitch.

“The fans of Darlo really got behind this pitch and showed tremendous passion to try and buy their club and save it from administration. Up the Quakers!”

Congratulations to all the companies who successfully raised finance on Crowdcube in 2012 – in our eyes you are all winners



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