REMIX Day 2-Crowd Funding- Alysia Wanczyk, Marketing Director, Seedrs

1. Harnessing the
Power of the Crowd
Alysia Wanczyk
Marketing Director

2. Intro to Crowdfunding
• Raising finance from peers through crowdfunding is on
the rise. Worth $8 billion in 2011 and estimated to be
worth upwards of £300 billion!
• Involves mass participation and new pools of capital.
• Harnesses social media and Web 2.0 in general.
Three basic forms:
1. Peer-to-peer lending such as Kiva or Funding Circle
2. Rewards-based crowdfunding like Kickstarter
3. Crowdfund investing (equity-based crowdfunding)
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

3. Problem #1
Entrepreneurs lack access to idea-stage capital.
So, many great businesses don’t get off the ground.
1
2
3
Too small an amount
for most institutional
investors
Too early (risky) for
most angels
Too much for nonwealthy friends and
family
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

4. Problem #2
Investing in new businesses appeals to many
people. But most lack the opportunity to do so.
1
Often limited to highnet-worth individuals
as minimum
investments tend to
be £10K or more
www.seedrs.com
2
3
And, it can take months So, investing in startups
of work for legal
is limited to the handful
paperwork to be
(top 1%) of us who have
processed
access to this kind of
capital and free time
@seedrs

5. The Solution
Seedrs is an online platform for discovering and
investing in great startups.
Only platform authorised to allow anyone to invest from £10
and up into the campaigns they choose.
Startups and other new businesses can raise early-stage
investment from friends, family and independent investors.
And, we’re the first pan-European platform open throughout
Europe (all 32 countries in the EU, EEA and Switzerland)
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

6. How Seedrs Works
Entrepreneur
Creates Campaign
1
Info about business
(which we review)
www.seedrs.com
2
1
3
1
Amount of money
Percentage of equity
sought (all-or-nothing) (take-it-or-leave-it)
@seedrs

7. How Seedrs Works
Investors
Review and Invest
1
1
2
1
3
1
All payments and
documentation
are online
Can participate in
Q&A or reach out
to entrepreneur
offline
Invest in
campaigns you
choose
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

8. How Seedrs Works
Seedrs
Manages Transaction
1
1
2
1
3
1
Legal due-diligence
and subscription
agreement
Investment made
and held by us as
nominee manager
We charge a 7.5%
success fee (sole
entrepreneur fee)
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

9. How Seedrs Works
Entrepreneur
Grows The Businesses
1
1
1
2
3
1
Accesses support of
wide base of
investors via the
platform
Can develop deeper
relationships with
individual investors
Only has to work
with one legal
shareholder
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

10. How Seedrs Works
Investors Get
Information, Involvement and Returns
1
1
1
2
3
1
We monitor the
shares, but investors
can get involved and
vote
We pass on
proceeds from sale
or dividend
We charge 7.5% of
any upside (sole
investor fee)
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

11. Some Stats So Far
>£4.7 million raised
(£2.25 million just this month!)
Eighteen thousand investors
and growing fast
600% annualised
www.seedrs.com
growth rate
51
deals
16
Months
since
launch
@seedrs

12. Recent Creative Success
EVOCHA
30 April – 9 May 2013
£30,000 from 82 investors
• Evocha is an online-only clothing brand selling a
limited, curated range of luxury fashion essentials
manufactured using the highest quality materials
in the best factories.
• Evocha fell between fashion angels and tech
angels, so they found it hard to take their first
steps. They’ve now launched several lines
including shirts, dresses and scarves.
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

13. Recent Creative Success
HAPPY DAYS
10 October – 2 December 2013
£250,000 from 345 investors
• Commercial UK theatre tour from January 2014
• Invest for as little as £10 on industry standard
terms
• Also offered reward to investors of £1K and up
• Had a lead angel who was able to speak both
languages
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs

14. Learnings from Creative Campaigns
1. It helps to have someone speak/articulate both languages
2. Creativity in campaign and marketing is a massive asset
when raising investment – for any business
3. Investors like portfolio diversity
4. A great way to validate concept and engage with existing
audience
5. Post-funding management can be a lot of hard work without
proper setup in place - takes away from being creative!
6. Platform flexibility is really important to evolution of space
www.seedrs.com
@seedrs