Compare & Share, a website that aggregates the sharing economy, has returned to the pages of Crowdcube for a second round of funding. The young company first raised capital on Crowdcube back in October of 2013. The first crowdfunding round sought a raise of £50,000 but closed over 3 times that goal – claiming a first in the early days of crowdfunding. For this funding round the stakes are higher as the founders hope to raise £100,000 for 4.76% equity in the company. Having launched on January 28th the raise stands at almost 70% funded today.
And we’re at 60%! Thanks to everyone backing our @Crowdcube pitch! https://t.co/nrRts8skYP #sharingeconomy #crowdfunding
— Compare and Share (@compareandshare) February 3, 2015
Chief Sharer, and co-founder, Benita Matofska, recently shared some data with Crowdfund Insider regarding how crowdfunding is fueling growth in the “sharing economy”.
According to Compare and Share, 80% of sharing economy startups now see crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending as the best ways to grow their business, according to their internal research. Benita notes that in 2014 alone, the UK alternative finance market provided £840 million worth of business finance for start–ups and SMEs.
“Crowdfunding has become the Sharing Economy poster child of the finance sector, with 8 out of 10 startups in the space seeing this as the prime way to grow their business. Crowdfunding not only offers Sharing Economy startups access to finance but embodies the sharing values building a network of brand champions (the crowd) who contribute to the longer term growth and success of the company.” Says Matofska.
Launched in 2013, Compare and Share consider itself the world’s one-stop comparison marketplace of the Sharing Economy. Users save time and money by making goods and resources available to each other.The group also provides a sharing economy consultancy, support and technology to sharing economy startups.
Compare and share consistently points out the £3.5 trillion worth of spare goods that they want to organize and then monetize. Their vision is to be the eBay of sharing.
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