Darren Westlake/Crowdcube
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Crowdcube raises £10m to power European expansion
The new cash will help accelerate Crowdcube's expansion across Europe and marks the largest strategic investment from Circle into Europe.
Crowdcube has raised £10m ($13.5m) in a new round led by Circle, seeing its valuation increase by 57 per cent to £140m since its last funding round in 2018.
The equity crowdfunding platform was planning a merger with rival Seedrs until earlier this year when the CMA, the UK's anti-trust body blocked the deal.
The new cash, which brings Crowdcube's total funding haul to £30m, comes at an opportune time for crowdfunding platforms following the recent regulation that provides new uniform rules across Europe for capital raising and retail investment services.
The regulation means Crowdcube is bringing forward its plans to launch into Europe.
Molten Ventures & Balderton Capital, both existing investors also took part in the round.
Crowdcube, which claims it now has 1.2 million users and has seen £1bn invested through its platform, says the deal will “pave the way to a global marketplace at every level of private fundraising, from seed stage to public offering”.
“Combining Circle’s strategic investment with our decade of knowledge and experience of capital raising in Europe, Crowdcube is extremely well positioned to capitalise on our first-mover advantage into Europe’s high growth investment market,” said Darren Westlake (pictured), CEO and Co-Founder of Crowdcube.
Circle is also the owner and operator of SeedInvest, a leading startup fundraising platform in the US.
“Private capital online fundraising is at a pivotal moment of maturation. We are thrilled to work with Crowdcube to roll out online fundraising across Europe and are confident this will be a significant milestone towards the inevitable global future of the industry,” said Ryan Feit, Director of Circle and CEO and Co-Founder of SeedInvest.
“Expanding online fundraising to new markets creates a massive opportunity for internet native capital formation where individuals and businesses can connect and transact digitally from anywhere.”
As part of the deal Feit will join Crowdcube’s Board and Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Co-Founder of Circle, will be an observer.
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