With the launch of our new Private Deal Room, we’re introducing a few new types of deals to the Seedrs platform, encompassing more of the startup lifecycle from ideation to IPO.
Built to serve a wider range of investor preferences, these new deal types are available to self-certified High Net Worth and Sophisticated investors and institutions directly on the Seedrs platform. You can read more about self certification and the different investor profiles in this explainer article.
Whether investors want to invest in late stage, pre-IPO companies towards the end of their private journey, angel invest in an early-stage startup, right at the beginning of theirs, or even to become LPs in some of the top VC funds in the UK and Europe, the Seedrs Private Deal Room is opening up private equity and venture capital in an unparalleled way.
So, a little more on each new deal type…
Introducer Campaigns
Introducer Campaigns are a new type of pitch allowing Angel investors seeking to invest a minimum of £10,000 to connect directly with companies raising early funding rounds, typically at pre-seed to seed stage. Introducer Campaigns can also be used to help a company anchor a funding round before offering to the wider Seedrs investor base, or to generate the traction needed to begin tapping into Seedrs’ network of VC and Institutional partners.
Whilst Introducer Campaigns are available to view on the platform if an investor has opted-in, the investment takes place offline. The funding round’s terms are not set, and it is up to the investor and entrepreneur to negotiate directly. This allows investors to take a far more meaningful and collaborative role in the growth of a startup than might happen during a typical Seedrs equity crowdfunding investment.
Introducer Campaigns provide investors with the company’s pitch deck and supporting documents, as well as a brief company summary. Investors can request an introduction to the company, conduct their own due diligence, and invest in the company directly, outside of the Seedrs nominee.
Ticket sizes start at £10,000 for Introducer Campaign investments.
Private Offerings
These opportunities provide investors access to share sale allocations in later stage, pre-IPO companies, typically from Series B and above. With large companies trending towards staying private for longer, these Private Offerings allow eligible investors to access allocations in pre-IPO companies, regardless of whether they’ve used equity crowdfunding in the past.
The pitch is not visible to the general public, and will also likely include less detail than one would expect from a typical Seedrs crowdfunding campaign. All information provided will still be verified by Seedrs, unless stated otherwise within the campaign, however investors will need to conduct their own due diligence, prior to making an investment decision.
Venture Fund LP Opportunities
Industry leading venture capital funds such as Seedcamp and Passion Capital, which are structured as limited partnerships, typically target institutional investors. Previously most individual investors have been excluded from accessing these funds, as ticket sizes are prohibitively large.
Private Deal Room now allows eligible investors the opportunity to invest in these funds, giving investors exposure to an actively managed portfolio of companies, vetted and supported by some of the best minds in venture capital.
Previously available funds on the platform have included Passion Capital III. Passion Capital is one of Europe’s leading VC funds, established in 2011 to bring founder-friendly venture investing to the UK and Europe.
Passion Capital III planned to use the proceeds of the fundraise to make a further 15 or more investments, seeking out exceptional founders building category- and world- leading digital propositions in B2C and B2B markets. The Passion team focuses on finding compelling founders and entrepreneurs from all sectors.
Over the last ten years the team has invested in some of the strongest European founders including those of GoCardless, Ravelin, Tide, Monzo, Lendable, Adzuna, Digital Shadows, Smarkets, Tray.io, Butternut Box, Marshmallow, and more.
Pre-emption Allocations
Pre-emption rights are usually included as standard in Seedrs equity crowdfunding campaigns to ensure our investors don’t see their shareholdings diluted, and can participate in follow-on funding rounds (See explainer article here). In many cases not all the pre-emption allocation rights are exercised by investors leaving limited allocations available. These limited allocations in Seedrs portfolio companies will now be available to eligible investors on Private Deal Room.
An example of a limited allocation pre-emption round is Oddbox. After two successful equity crowdfunding raises on Seedrs, in August 2021 Oddbox raised a £16m Series B round, at a valuation of over £100 million, a significant uplift from their last equity crowdfunding round.
As not all previous investors exercised their pre-emption rights, High Net Worth and Sophisticated investors on the Private Deal Room were able to participate in Oddbox’s Series B fundraise, an opportunity that wasn’t accessible anywhere else.
