By John Reynolds on Wednesday 18 December 2019
Overseas businesses raised £22.2m in 2019.
Overseas businesses raised €26.6m (£22.6m) through Crowdcube last year doubling investment compared to the year previous on the crowdfunding platform, despite Brexit uncertainty, the company has revealed.
The equity crowdfunding platform said the leap in investment into businesses based outside the UK showed how equity investments are shifting from the local to global.
The leading overseas investment came from Spanish-based fintech ID Finance, which pulled in €5.2m (£4.4m) through 1,127 investors.
Another big fundraiser through Crowdcube was Bnext, the Spanish challenger bank, which raised €2.6m (£2.2m) through over 4,500 investors.
Crowdcube also pointed to e-bike maker Cowboy, backed by Index Ventures, which raised €3.5m (£3m) just five days into its campaign, with currently 1,900 investors.
Also in the top five international investors in Crowdcube was Spanish footwear brand Muroexe, which raised €2.8m (£2.4m) through 1,165 investors and Life Length, the Spanish biotech company, which raised €2.5m (£2.1m) through 1,085 investors.
Pepe Borrell, Head of International Fundraises, Crowdcube, said: “The sensational year-on-year growth of our international operation shows how equity investments are shifting from the local to the global."
"We welcome the move by European regulators to bring in ground-breaking legislation in 2021, aimed at growing capital markets and which is sure to feed financing for entrepreneurs.”
Luke Lang, Co-founder and CMO, Crowdcube, added: “Our international expansion stepped up a gear in 2019, a milestone year for Crowdcube. Our record-breaking figures show that people are motivated to back businesses which have a compelling mission and vision."
"ID Finance, Cowboy and Muroexe lead the charge, proving that trail-blazing businesses can raise significant levels of investment with Crowdcube, while fostering powerful relationships with their communities.”
Adrien Roose, CEO, Cowboy said: “The phenomenal response from our community to Cowboy’s raise shows how people are fired up about e-bikes and their potential."
“With the support of Crowdcube, we know we’re onto great things. Transforming urban mobility is our mission, and we look forward to 2020 and to cities with better air, safer roads and finely designed transport.”
Boris Batin, co-founder and CEO, ID Finance, commented: "It was a pleasure working with such a professional Crowdcube team on this exciting transaction. Our Crowdcube campaign exceeded our expectations, as we closed the raise ahead of schedule with sizable overfunding.”
“The success of the campaign was a result of our strong track record, the enormous opportunity in the regions we operate and a clear strategy by ID Finance to become the number one digital lending platform across Latin America and Spain."
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