As we enter 2019 it’s time to reflect on another hugely successful twelve months and all the achievements that have led to Seedrs’ best year yet.
Key highlights
- £195M was invested on the platform and 186 successful pitches
- Nearly a 60% increase in investment from 2017
- Named “Most Trusted” Global Equity Platform 2018
- There were funded businesses from 12 countries across 17 different sectors
- Investors from 60 countries made over 72,500 investments
- Seedrs launched an investment automation industry-first with AutoInvest
- The Seedrs Secondary Market continued to see tremendous growth, now having delivered more than 5,800 exits to investors in over 300 different companies
- Seedrs Anchor Investor Service secured over £17M in investment offers for 15 businesses
- The release of the latest Portfolio Update, which aims to bring transparency and data to the asset class.
In 2018 there were 186 successful pitches with 28 fundraises of over £1 million, including:
- Fast-growing international money transfer platform TransferGo which raised €11.3M from 1,047 investors
- German Seedrs Alumnus, Sono Motors, one of Seedrs’ biggest European success stories, returned to raise €6.1M
- Mobile-first credit card Jaja raised nearly £5M from over 1,000 investors and through the Seedrs Anchor Investor Service received £1.5M of investment
- Plastic roads pioneer and Seedrs Alumnus, MacRebur, raised £3.2M from over 2,100 investors
- Wellness platform Urban Massage raised £3.5M alongside co-investment from Felix Capital
- 71 Seedrs Alumni returned to raise further funding on Seedrs
- Seedrs Alumnus, Revolut, became a unicorn after being valued at $1.7B
We saw our biggest year ever in investment activity, with £195M invested on the platform.
- Over 72,500 investments were made, with an average of over £2,675 per investment
- Investment came from 60 countries
- 7 investments is the average number in a Seedrs portfolio
- There were over 10,000 investor conversations with entrepreneurs
We had another year of industry-first launches and continued traction on existing products.
- We launched an investment automation industry-first with AutoInvest
- The Seedrs Secondary Market continued to see tremendous growth, now having delivered more than 5,800 exits to investors in over 300 different companies
We achieved some great milestones, kicked-off more exclusive partnerships and received some great accolades in 2018, such as;
- Seedrs reached £500M invested into pitches on the platform since launch
- We had two highly-accomplished non-executive directors join the board; Ian McCaig and Mark Brooker
- Growth Investor Awards; Industry Game Changer
- National Technology Awards; Finance Technology of the Year
- CorporateINTL Global Awards; Equity Crowdfunding Platform of the Year in Europe
- UK Excellence Awards; Most Trusted Global Equity Crowdfunding Platform
Seedrs CEO, Jeff Kelisky commented: “The past twelve months have been sensational for Seedrs; we’ve seen record levels of investment on the platform, while increasing our momentum in delivering real product and service innovation to the market. We launched another industry first in 2018 with AutoInvest, which alongside the ongoing success of our Secondary Market, delivered two entirely new financial products in this asset class, both of which demonstrated strong adoption from launch. These efforts continue to solidify our leadership in early-stage private equity at a pan-European level. We have big plans for 2019, starting with the launch of the Seedrs EIS100 Fund in the first quarter, with more to come as the year unfolds.”
Tim Levene, CEO at Augmentum Fintech plc, a significant shareholder in Seedrs, adds: “In 2018 Seedrs once again proved itself to be the market leader in this exciting and growing industry. From record-breaking numbers to sector-changing initiatives, we are delighted with their performance over the past twelve months, and looking forward to further growth and innovation throughout 2019.”
View our full 2018 Year in Review at stats2018.seedrs.com