Crowdcube’s co-founder Darren Westlake steps down as CEO

Crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has appointed two of its senior executives as co-CEOs, in the wake of co-founder Darren Westlake’s departure today.

Westlake founded the business with Luke Lang in 2012 and across 13 years facilitated over 1,800 successful crowdfunds, with over 1 million investors and €1.5bn of capital raised.

In Westlake’s place, Crowdcube’s chief operating officer Bill Simmons and chief commercial officer Matt Cooper have been appointed as co-CEOs, having both worked at the company since 2014.

“We set out to disrupt the investment world, creating a new source of capital for entrepreneurs and opening up investment to more than just the privileged few. I’m so proud that we’ve done that and so much more and the numbers speak for themselves,” Westlake wrote on LinkedIn.

“However all good things must come to an end and I’m ready to take on a new challenge.”

As for his next steps, Westlake wrote that he’d be taking “a bit of a break to recharge my batteries” and in the meantime would be “looking out for/thinking up new projects to work on in 2023 and beyond”.

Westlake’s departure comes after what Crowdcube says was a record-breaking year for the company, with new investors up 25 per cent to over 100,000, invested capital in EU-headquartered companies up 117 per cent and a 68 per cent rise in investor registrations across the EU.

He also leaves less than a year after his fellow co-founder Luke Lang, formerly Crowdcube’s chief marketing officer, also departed.

Lang has gone on to become chair of ethical consumer lender Plend and an entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Exeter.