£1.2 million funded by the crowd completes £5 million funding round

Crowdcube opened and closed its own bid to raise £1.2 million after taking just 16 minutes to hit its target. This was 12 times faster than the previous record for the fastest crowdfunded pitch and set a world record for the fastest equity crowdfunding raise. The crowdfund, hosted on Crowdcube’s own website, followed the announcement last week of £3.8 million of investment from venture capital firm Balderton Capital.

141 investors backed Crowdcube’s Series B round of crowdfunding. The average amount invested was more than £8,500.

Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder comments, “We’re delighted to have given everyday investors the opportunity to invest in our fast growing business. This record-breaking fundraise from our crowd of registered investors at the same time as backing by an established VC firm is a huge thumbs up for our business, team and the growth path that we outlined.

“This is the first time that any sizeable fundraise has meshed traditional and alternative finance methods and we expect to see more of this in the future. Crowdcube is in a fantastic position to pursue our growth plans and continue to support both investors and small and growing businesses in their investment and finance requirements.”

As announced last week, Crowdcube will use the £5 million total investment to further expand its operations in the UK and internationally. The firm is planning to double its team to 50 staff, expanding its head office in Exeter and opening new offices in London and Scotland. It is also expanding internationally beyond the seven joint ventures that it has already established.

Named the UK’s Most Active Seed Investor 2013 by Beauhurst’s Annual Equity Investment Review, Crowdcube has raised over £32 million for more than 130 start-up, early stage and growth businesses, creating an estimated 3,000 new jobs over the next three years.

Other facts about Crowdcube:

• Crowdcube has successfully crowdfunded two previous rounds on its own website raising £320,000 in 2011 and £1.5 million in 2013.
• In September 2013 Kevin McCloud’s Hab Housing broke the world record for equity crowdfunding investment with 649 people putting in £1.95 million.
• The previous record for the fastest equity crowdfund was Crowdfunder, the UK’s number one rewards-based crowdfunding platform, raising £0.5 million in three hours.
• Crowdcube was the first crowdfunding company to sign up an international partner and now has a presence in seven countries: Brazil, Sweden, Dubai, Poland, Italy, Spain and New Zealand.
• The latest firm to raise finance is a start-up founded by the team behind Fitness First and Jatomi Fitness, James Balfour and Giles Dean. 1Rebel will launch a chain of contract-free ‘high intensity’ boutique gyms in London, which allow members to book classes online and via an app on a pay-as-you-go basis.