CultureCrowd Predicts Boom for Creative Industries with Equity Crowdfunding

CultureCrowd, an organization that helps the arts and creative industries with equity crowdfunding by connecting their audiences and developing new revenue streams, has declared the future has arrived and that 2013 will be noted as a turning point for crowdfunding and the arts.

Back in August of last year Culture Crowd published a report on the potential, authored by Penny Nagle and Conor Roche, for this new, innovative source of funding for the arts.

The report declared;

The UK has stolen a march on the rest of the world by creating a legitimate environment where equity crowdfunding investors are protected by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This has created a unique opportunity to position the UK as an international hub for equity crowdfunding for the arts.

The research also predicted that;

Equity plus Rewards for the Arts: A hybrid crowdfunding model of equity plus rewards, or return on investment (ROI) plus ‘soft’ benefits, mitigates the fact that there may not be an immediate exit strategy or financial return. This model provides investors with the perks more typically associated with arts investment.

The challenge with these predictions at the time was the fact there were few empirical examples of successful equity crowdfunding campaigns for creative projects.

Well today that has changed.  Noting examples such as Water Babies, a stage musical that raised just under £1 million on Crowdcube.  Or Happy Days a new production open now in London that raised £245,000 in equity on Seedrs from 345 investors. CultureCrowd notes that in the past 6 months alone almost £1.5M has been raised using equity crowdfunding for commercial theatre projects.  And there a more.

CultureCrowd predicts that when we look back 2013 will be the turning point for a “revolution” of “sourcing investment across the whole of the UK creative industries”.  We must admit the current data supports their declaration.