Seedrs is an online

equity crowdfunding Equity crowdfunding is the online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets. Because equity crowdfunding involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it is ...

company, headquartered in East London's Tech City, founded in 2009 and launched by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva in 2012. Since 2022 it has been a subsidiary of American crowdfunding company Republic. In 2020, Seedrs announced that 250

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

had raised funding through its

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance. In 2015, over was rais ...

platform during 2019. By 2022, Seedrs reported that over £1.9billion had been invested through the company.

History

The company was founded in 2012 by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva as part of an MBA project at the

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools. Oxford School of Management ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. In March 2012, Seedrs raised $1 million in

seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' ...

from private investors including

venture capital firm Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

Draper Esprit. In May 2012, Seedrs became the first equity crowdfunding platform to receive regulatory approval from the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financ ...

. In July 2012, Seedrs launched its platform to the public. In November 2013, Seedrs raised £750,000 in funding through its own platform. In June 2015, professional tennis player

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...

joined Seedrs in an advisory role, having previously used the platform as an investor. In June 2017, Seedrs launched a

secondary market The secondary market, also called the aftermarket and follow on public offering, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the ...

, becoming the first equity crowdfunding platform to allow investors to buy and sell shares in unlisted companies. In August 2017, Jeff Lynn stepped down as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

to take up a position as Executive Chairman. Former COO Jeff Kelisky was promoted to CEO. In August 2017, Seedrs raised £4 million investment for

challenger bank Challenger banks are small, recently created retail banks that compete directly with the longer-established banks in the UK, sometimes by specialising in areas underserved by the "big four" banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWe ...

Revolut. In October 2017, Seedrs announced it had raised £10 million in funding. In December 2018, Seedrs launched a venture capital fund aimed at passive startup investors. In August 2019, Seedrs raised £4.5 million in funding. In 2020, Seedrs and Crowdcube agreed to a merger. This was abandoned on 25 March 2021 after the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

raised concerns about the deal. In December 2021, Seedrs announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Republic, a US-based equity crowdfunding platform, for $100 million. The acquisition was criticised by some of Seedrs' small investors over preferential treatment given to large shareholders.

References

External links

* {{Crowdfunding platforms Equity crowdfunding platforms Crowdfunding platforms of the United Kingdom British companies established in 2012 2012 establishments in England Internet properties established in 2012