Just three hours into its equity crowdfund campaign on Crowdcube, Crowdfunder announced with over 200 investors, it reached its goal of £500,000. The website launched its fundraiser on Wednesday morning and was blown away when £230,000 was pledged within 15 minutes.
Crowdfunder’s managing director Phil Geraghty stated, “It’s been an
awesome day – a massive endorsement of what we’ve been doing at Crowdfunder – and the sheer power of crowdfunding as a way to raise investment. I’d like to thank all of those who have backed our great idea – and our desire to turn more ideas into reality.”
He continued, “Crowdfunder makes a great investment because we are a digital high-growth business in a fast growing market, but also we are really proud of the social and economic impact that we are having across the whole of the U.K. We welcome the support we have received in helping us crowdfund the future.”
Innovation charity NESTA was the first to pledge towards the Crowdfunder campaign and provided £150,000 to support the tech start-up.
Crowdfunder is the number one rewards-based crowdfunding platform in the U.K. It has to date raised over £1.5 million for over 4,000 projects, ranging from businesses, charities, communities, and social enterprises and grown by a factor of 15 in the last 12 months. A report from The Crowdfunding Center this month revealed Crowdfunder has more projects than all of the U.K. platforms – including Crowdcube – and even challenges global giant platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo on U.K. soil.
Co-founder of Crowdcube Luke Lang noted, “It is a tribute to Crowdfunder and its team that it secured its £500,000 target in just over 3 hours, which sets a new rocrd for the fastest equity crowdfunding raise ever. With investments from NESTA and more than 200 investors, Crowdfunder is now well placed to take advantage of the growing crowdfunding market.”
Professor and Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University Wendy Purcell added, “This is an absolute triumph for Crowdfunder. The University would like to congratulate Crowdfunder on hitting its target in less than a day. This truly is enterprise in action, and as a founding partner, we’re thrilled to see [its] progress in becoming the U.K.’s leading crowdfunding platform. As a University with unparalleled involvement in the economic development, work that is taking place across the region through GAIN and City Deal, we recognize the value of the funding stream they provide to help turn ideas into start-ups.”
Crowdfunder.co.uk was seeking to raise the funds for 10% equity in the company.
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