On Monday, Innovation Birmingham announced it formed a strategic partnership with equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube as a way to encourage successful fundraising efforts for startups and early stage businesses. This announcement comes just after the completion of Innovation Birmingham’s iCentrum building and the launch of Serendip Smart City Incubator, which is described as a program that co-locates promising startups with commercial partners in one of the court quarters (Digital Health, Intelligent Mobility, Internet of Things and Eagle Labs).
While discussing the new partnership, Cliff Dennett, head of business Development at Innovation Birmingham, stated:
“This deal with Crowdcube is a significant benefit to the region’s entrepreneurs who sometimes struggle to raise investment and will be a vital next step in growing investment capacity in the region. We are delighted to be working with the Crowdcube and to be adding an important additional service to our already extensive start-up support activities. This partnership will also be of great benefit to Innovation Birmingham’s Serendip Smart City Incubator programme, which enables start-ups to work directly with large brands to accelerate their routes to market. As well as helping start-ups bring their products to market faster, we can now help them secure investment funding more cheaply, which will hopefully increase the volume of investment deals done in the region.”
Jonathan Keeling, head of partnerships at Crowdcube, commented:
“As the second largest city in the country and one of the youngest populations in Europe, Birmingham represents a fantastic opportunity. Crowdcube’s partnership with Innovation Birmingham is a fantastic opportunity for us support the growth of the city’s next generation of entrepreneurs. With over £10 million having already been raised for businesses in the North and a growing number of businesses seeking to raise between £60,000 – £3 million in the pipeline, we are excited to build on that success through our partnership with Innovation Birmingham.”
Innovation Birmingham added startups in the Serendip Smart City Incubator program will benefit from reduced rates when raising funds through Crowdcube’s platform.
