Seedrs CEO hails 'standout year' as total investment on crowdfunding platform passes £300 million

Investments made over crowdfunding platform Seedrs pass £300 million.
Thin trade on the secondary market opened in May but Seedrs touts returns of up to 19X.

LONDON — The total investments made over crowdfunding platform Seedrs since launch passed £300 million in 2017.

Notable funding rounds over the platform include digital banking app Revolut raising £3.8 million and Dutch trading app Bux raising €1.4 million. Seedrs itself raised £6 million over its platform in October as part of a £10 million funding round.

CEO Jeff Kelisky, who took the role in August, said in a statement: "2017 has been a standout year for both Seedrs and the wider space, but we have long been looking ahead to 2018 and planning how we can continue to lead the equity crowdfunding space with innovative technology, game-changing products and many more portfolio success stories."

Seedrs investors saw two exits in 2017, with beauty business blow LTD acquired by Debenhams and investing platform Wealthify snapped up by Aviva. Seedrs said crowdfunding investors reaped "strong returns" but didn't specify the amount.

The crowdfunding platform, one of the two biggest in the UK, also launched a secondary market in May to offer investors the option to trade shares in the private businesses. Stats shares by Seedrs show thin trade in the market, with just 682 trades involving 126 companies. Seedrs said early investors into Welsh e-commerce company Veeqo booked returns of up to 19x on a tax-adjusted basis in trade on the secondary market.

Recent research by the University of Cambridge found that equity crowdfunding remains a small part of the UK's "alternative finance" sector, with £272 million invested in crowdfunding this year compared to £1.23 billion invested in peer-to-peer business loans.

Seedrs, which is backed by tennis star Andy Murray, lost £3.8 million on revenues of £1 million last year.

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