Seedrs, a top UK – EU investment crowdfunding platform owned by Republic, has distributed the “Seedrs Sector Report 2024.” In the report, Seedrs highlights platform activity.
Newly appointed Managing Director John Lake opens the report stating:
“… 2023 also saw us launch our long-awaited European regulated entity when, in October, we became licensed under new EU regulation for equity crowdfunding providers [ECSPR]. This unified approach levels the playing field for the industry and lays the foundations for a thriving sector that is best able to support bustling European startup hubs as well as ambitious investors across the continent. Last year, we were able to service (businesses) from 13 European countries in just 12 months.”
To bullet out platform activity during 2023, Seedrs reports:
- 266 funded companies in 2023
- £353 million (≈$443.5 million) in funding
- A funding success rate of 88%
- 88 securities offerings raised over £1 million
- The largest securities offerings were Skybound at £13.8 million and Yonder at £13.1 million
- Issuers were based in 13 different countries, and investors came from 66 different countries
- The Seedrs Secondary Marketplace averaged £271,000 in monthly share volume during 2023
- For Seedrs’ new ECSPR-approved operations, European issuers raised £35 million for 28 EU businesses from 12 different EU countries
The document also includes some information on specific business sectors and issuer activity, including Sports Technology, ClimateTech, Artificial Intelligence, and Fintech.
Lake expects that 2024 will also endure some “economic uncertainty” as well as “market turbulence.” Elections in the US as well as the UK may impact the investment environment.
At the same time, Lake believes there will be a rebound in venture capital funding when compared to 2023 – not quite back to the heady days of 2021, but better than a year prior.
As Seedrs is now firmly aligned with Republic, hopefully, we will see more cross-border securities offerings, allowing issuers to tap into a wider investing population while providing investors with a more diverse portfolio of securities offerings. Hopefully, Seedrs will provide additional insight into investor returns over the years on a portfolio basis as well.
