Coconut, an accounting and business finance app, has topped its offering target on Crowdcube. Coconut originally sought £700,000 at a pre-money valuation of £12 million. In the end, Coconut closed the securities offer at £2,456,286
backed by 3037 individual investors. Coconut has raised growth capital on Crowdcube in the past.
Sam O’Connor, co-founder and CEO, Coconut, said they have seen first-hand just how limited the financial services offering is for the UK’s 5.3 million self-employed and micro-SMEs in the UK. O’Connor said that despite the growth of challenger banks, only 3% of businesses switch accounts each year and branch closures are reducing the relationship between banks and business owners.
“What’s more, 73% of small business owners say they only use their bank for transactions. In my view that has to shift.”
O’Connor added that being owned by their customers keeps them connected to the community.
“We’ve not diluted our proposition by trying to cater to the larger end of businesses. We’re entirely focussed on the 93% of businesses that banks and accounting packages are actively rejecting.”
Coconut says it is using Open Banking to “unshackle micro-SMEs” from their bank and provide intelligent financial management on top. Coconut’s vision is to deliver time-saving accounting services that are designed for micro-businesses. But the company also wants to enable the smallest businesses to make their cash and assets work harder, with intelligent treasury management in their pocket.
Coconuts notes that there are 5 million self-employed people in the UK and 100s of millions around the world – thus tipping their hat to their ambitions beyond the UK.
In the last 12 months, Coconut claims it has grown to 25,000 registrations.
In 2018 Coconut raised £1.8 million on Crowdcube from 2,000 customers and community members.
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