Investor fintech demand drives record six months for Crowdcube

The crowdfunding platform says over £100m has been pledged on the platform in 2019 so far.

Crowdcube saw revenues soar 39 per cent to £3.72m in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, with £103.4m pledged to companies through the platform. 

Larger rounds of growth-stage fundraising was a notable trend in the period with 15 businesses having raised over £1m or more. Increasing fintech demand from investors too was a significant driver of the uptick in demand with big raises from Nutmeg (£4.4m), Freetrade (£1.9m) & Money Dashboard (£3.7m) all banked in the first six months of the year.

Despite ongoing volatility in the market around Brexit and global economic uncertainty, crowdfunding appears to be gaining popularity among retail investors. 

Crowdcube was founded in 2011, Nearly 900 companies have successfully raised funds, with a total of £690m having been invested on the platform to date by a crowd of over 750,000 registered investors.

In total 96 businesses successfully raised in the first falf of 2019. Over half were early-stage rounds. However, growth-stage businesses accounted for 42 per cent of total investment during the period. 

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: “We’ve had a strong first half of the year and are continuing to see the sector evolve with an increasing number of growth-stage businesses using crowdfunding to strengthen and enhance their relationship with their customers. Purpose-driven businesses are generating the greatest impact on the platform who are challenging the status quo with new thinking and big ideas.”