The UK’s first equity-based crowdfunding platform is seeking to raise growth capital through its own website, Growing Business can reveal.
Crowdcube, which was a Growing Business One to Watch in August, launched its investment pitch at 2.30 this afternoon and raised over £20,000 in the first two hours alone.
The start-up, which launched in February with £100,000 seed capital from friends and family, is seeking £300,000 to finance the business’s growth – which is fast outstripping its business plan.
Co-founders Luke Lang and Darren Westlake are offering 9% equity in return for the full investment. If successful, they will use the money to fund further PR and marketing, develop the website, and take on their first employee.
Speaking exclusively to Growing Business, Lang said: “We’re looking to take Crowdcube to the next level so our first choice was always going to be to turn to the crowd.
“We’ve got a really passionate community that love what we’re doing and we genuinely want to invite them to come on this journey with us.”
Reflecting on the business’s rapid growth, he added: “In our original business plan, we only intended to fund one deal in the first year, and in fact we’ve done six deals in nine months.
“We need to bring people in to help Darren and I take care of things at Crowdcube Towers, so we can focus on delivering a really good service.
“We’re at the early stages of our vision but we really do believe that this [Crowdcube] is going to be the future of seed and growth capital in the UK.”