Crowdcube Hires New CFO

Crowdcube have hired Bill Simmons – previously an executive at Ask.com and MySpace – to be their new Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Simmons will be responsible for assisting the platform in managing its growth as it continues to ride the booming alternative finance market wave. Simmons quietly started at the platform at the end of 2014. Crowdcube has indicated that this is the first of a number of senior appointments planned for the coming year.

Bill Simmons commented:

“Crowdcube is an incredibly dynamic environment, which has doubled in size in recent months. Having worked at a number of start-ups and high growth businesses, I know that managing such rapid growth is one of the most challenging but exciting parts of the job.  But mostly I enjoy working for companies that look to challenge the status quo and shake up established ideas.”

Luke Lang, Crowdcube co-founder, explained:

“Bill is a real asset to have on board and is one of a number of senior and very talented individuals to join us recently and help grow the executive team.  He’s passionate about start-ups and his experience working with similar fast growth companies and helping manage that growth effectively will be particularly important as we continue to expand our operations here in Exeter, London, Scotland and overseas.”

Crowdcube reported year on year growth of 246% at the end of 2014, after raising £35.9 million for 105 businesses. The largest single fundraise was a £6m round for Bitreserve. It is worth noting that this is one of the first cross-broder equity crowdfunding campaigns to be completed in the UK. Bitreserve is an American company that allows customers to hold bitcoin in the form of real world currencies. It also had an equity crowdfunding campaign on the US site Venovate. One of the much lauded benefits of alternative finance is that it will allow investors access to markets that would ordinarily be obscured to them. This fundraise demonstrates the potential popularity of cross-border offerings - a field in which Crowdcube has given itself a head start.