Equity crowdfunding platform
Seedrs Limited
Company type
Subsidiary Industry
Crowdfunding Founded 16 March 2009; 15 years ago (2009-03-16 ) Founders Jeff Lynn, Carlos Silva Headquarters London
, United Kingdom
Area served
UK, Europe Key people
Jeff Kelisky (CEO)
Parent
Republic Website
Official website
Seedrs is an online
equity crowdfunding company, headquartered in
East London's Tech City , founded in 2009
[1] and launched by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva in 2012.
[2]
[3] Since 2022 it has been a subsidiary of American
crowdfunding company
Republic .
In 2020, Seedrs announced that 250
startups had raised funding through its
crowdfunding platform during 2019.
[4]
[5] By 2022, Seedrs reported that over £1.9 billion had been invested through the company.
[6]
History
The company was founded in 2012 by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva as part of an
MBA project at the
Saïd Business School at the
University of Oxford .
[7]
In March 2012, Seedrs raised $1 million in
seed funding from private investors including
venture capital firm
Draper Esprit .
[8]
In May 2012, Seedrs became the first equity crowdfunding platform to receive regulatory approval from the
Financial Conduct Authority .
[9]
In July 2012, Seedrs launched its platform to the public.
[8]
[10]
In November 2013, Seedrs raised £750,000 in funding through its own platform.
[11]
In June 2015, professional tennis player
Andy Murray joined Seedrs in an advisory role, having previously used the platform as an investor.
[12]
[13]
[14]
In June 2017, Seedrs launched a
secondary market , becoming the first equity crowdfunding platform to allow investors to buy and sell shares in unlisted companies.
[15]
[16]
[17]
In August 2017, Jeff Lynn stepped down as
CEO to take up a position as Executive Chairman. Former COO Jeff Kelisky was promoted to CEO.
[18]
[19]
In August 2017, Seedrs raised £4 million investment for
challenger bank
Revolut .
[20]
[21]
In October 2017, Seedrs announced it had raised £10 million in funding.
[22]
[23]
In December 2018, Seedrs launched a venture capital fund aimed at passive startup investors.
[24]
In August 2019, Seedrs raised £4.5 million in funding.
[25]
In 2020, Seedrs and
Crowdcube agreed to a merger.
[26] This was abandoned on 25 March 2021 after the
Competition and Markets Authority raised concerns about the deal.
[27]
In December 2021, Seedrs announced that it had agreed to be acquired by
Republic , a US-based equity crowdfunding platform, for $100 million.
[28] The acquisition was criticised by some of Seedrs' small investors over preferential treatment given to large shareholders.
[29]
References
^
"Seedrs Limited" . Companies House . Retrieved 27 August 2022 .
^ Silver, James (7 July 2012).
"East London's 20 hottest tech startups" . The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Just some of the investors you'll run into at #TheEuropas, June 13, London" . TechCrunch . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Seedrs says amount invested on its platform jumped 49 per cent in 2019" . CityAM . 6 January 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Fintechs help deals on Seedrs jump nearly 50 percent" . AltFi . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Republic – Seedrs Ramp Up Cross-Listed Securities Offerings" . Crowdfund Insider . 16 June 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022 .
^
"New Oxford Saïd research to study the economics of equity crowdfunding" . Saïd Business School . Retrieved 2 August 2018 .
^
a
b Russell, Jon (6 July 2012).
"Seedrs Launches in the UK, Allowing Anyone to Invest in a Startup" . The Next Web . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"FSA warning over crowdfunding sites" . The Independent . 18 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012 .
^
"Eating Its Own Caviar, UK Equity Crowdfunding Platform Seedrs To Crowd-Raise £500K As It Expands To Europe" . TechCrunch . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Sparkes, Matthew (25 November 2013).
"Crowdfunding start-up Seedrs raises £750,000 through its own website" .
ISSN
0307-1235 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Dann, Kitty (8 June 2015).
"Andy Murray joins crowdfunding firm Seedrs" . The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Sweney, Mark (19 August 2015).
"Andy Murray uses crowdfunding firm to invest in UK startups" . The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"No1 Seedr? Andy Murray backs more UK startups" . The Guardian . Press Association. 15 May 2017.
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Start-ups might be about to receive a boost after Seedrs announces launch of secondary market" . The Independent . 8 May 2017. Archived from
the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Seedrs lifts cap on size of share lots in shakeup of its secondary market" . AltFi . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ CNBC.com, Neil Ainger; Writer at (8 May 2017).
"Seedrs to launch secondary market for crowdfund investors" . CNBC . Retrieved 4 June 2020 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link )
^
"CEO switch for equity crowdfunder Seedrs" . AltFi . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Jeff Lynn steps down as CEO of Seedrs to become executive chairman" . Startups.co.uk . 31 August 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ O'Halloran, Barry.
"Andy Murray among Revolut investors on Seedrs" . The Irish Times . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Revolut's $5.3 million crowdfunding campaign is oversubscribed" . TechCrunch . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Bounds, Andy (17 December 2017).
"Crowdfunding a mission to save capitalism from itself" . FT.com .
Archived from the original on 4 March 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^
"Seedrs valued at £50m after crowdfunding raise" . BusinessCloud.co.uk . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Evans, Peter.
"Seedrs serves start-up fund" .
ISSN
0140-0460 . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Alois, J. D. (30 August 2019).
"Seedrs Confirms £4.5 Million Funding Round, Larger Raise to Follow. Seedrs Users May Gain Access to Round" . Crowdfund Insider . Retrieved 4 June 2020 .
^ Butcher, Mike (5 October 2020).
"Crowdcube and Seedrs agree to merge, creating a significant private equity marketplace" .
TechCrunch . Retrieved 8 March 2021 .
^ Lynn, Jeff (25 March 2021).
"Seedrs Terminates Merger with Crowdcube, Announces New Funding Round" . Seedrs . Retrieved 28 March 2021 .
^ Butcher, Mike (1 December 2021).
"Republic acquires the UK's Seedrs in $100M deal to push into Europe" . TechCrunch . Retrieved 18 April 2022 .
^ Hurley, James (8 December 2021).
"Seedrs sale to Republic a betrayal, say small backers" . The Times.
Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2022 .
External links
Africa & West Asia Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Defunct