The two platforms will now blend the power of their two communities in a coordinated effort to quicken the pace of sourcing startup funding. The partnership stands out in that it opens up the UK equity crowdfunding asset class to a global audience of investors. Gust is the official platform of some of the world’s leading national and international angel investor federations. Over 300,000 startups have to date made use of the platform to connect and collaborate with over 80,000 registered investment professionals. Perhaps more excitingly, there are clear synergies between Gust’s mountains of angel investors and SyndicateRoom’s “investor-led” approach.
The collaboration appears to flow in both directions. David S. Rose, CEO of Gust, explained how investors on both SyndicateRoom and on Gust “now have access to highly vetted angel deals, and Gust and SyndicateRoom founders can close deals faster by syndicating across both platforms”. In other words, investors that are registered on one of the two sites may peruse the wares of the other, and entrepreneurs will be able to tap up both communities for equity.
The facilitation of trans-Atlantic equity investments is a tricky beast. The regulatory framework stateside is a great deal more stringent than the FCA’s regime, even after the passing of Titles IV and III. Crowdcube, for example, does not and cannot advertise investment opportunities to people in the US, Canada, Japan or in any other country where it would be “unlawful” to do so.
SyndicateRoom’s partnership with Gust will be entirely subject to those same strictures. In other words, the platform will not be open to investment from the US, Canada, and any other jurisdictions where SyndicateRoom projects would be in breach of local regulation.
SyndicateRoom, however, clearly views the tie-up as a landmark coup, and rightly so. The partnership opens up access to global pools of liquidity, and should stand to substantially accelerate the growth of the SyndicateRoom platform – if origination volumes can keep pace. But the partnership also stands to provide an origination boost. Goncalo de Vasconcelos, CEO and Co-Founder of SyndicateRoom, explained:
“Our partnership with Gust is based around a shared mission, which is to unite investors with entrepreneurs, to close an ever-growing number of investment rounds and to democratise access to investment in exciting growth businesses. Our unique investor-led model is given a boost with access to new opportunities from the world’s leading angel groups, while our investors will be excited by this unprecedented deal flow.”
