We’re excited to announce that we have surpassed £1 billion in total investments recorded on the platform, made by investors of all ticket sizes into high-growth startups.
Here’s what Jeff Kelisky, our CEO, had to say about this impressive achievement:
”We passed many milestones in 2020; from having hit 17 company exits to delivering over 27,000 investor exits on our secondary market. However, on Christmas Day we passed the £1 billion mark in platform investments. This is such a great milestone to us for three reasons.
First, we started Seedrs to democratise investment into private growth businesses and this milestone is a clear measure of value put to work for our customers.
Second, is that this is also a measure of earned trust by both entrepreneurs and investors.
And third, is that in a year which has proved to be so challenging, personally and professionally for so many, the fact that we can and have succeeded in continuing to grow and serve our customers during this time is immensely rewarding for all of us here.
I’d conclude in personally thanking our community of investors and founders who have helped us achieve this important milestone, and the brilliant Seedrs team, whose hard-work and dedication has led us to this point and will continue to do so into the future”
In celebration of a huge milestone both for our team and our community, we wanted to take a look at some of our team-picked highlights over the years that have helped us get to where we are today.
? The unstoppable growth of the Secondary Market
The market now offers over 400 businesses to invest in 1 week every month with many thousands of individual share lots offered up to investors. The market has transacted £8.86M since its inception, Revolut tops the list with £2.8m sold, closely followed by Seedrs at £1m and Assetz Capital at a quarter of a million pounds – with fintech investors evidently most comfortable in adopting the functionality early.
The market is now averaging £500,000 of trades per month, with that number seemingly only set to increase as the Seedrs portfolio grows and this one-of-a-kind secondary market for private equity is adopted by more and more investors.
“We experienced a step change in transactions in 2020, we hit our first £1m+ trading month and from Jan to Dec our investor profits taken home market to market increased 2.7x – incredible achievements.
The market started as a way to provide liquidity for crowdfunding investors but with the release of our Secondaries proposition we’ve started to see interest from private businesses and their investors that haven’t crowdfunded. The future is bright. These opportunities open the market even further with growth available from new businesses, new investors, and additional features combining to further unlock its potential.”
Joel Ipolotti – Chief Product Officer
? Funding A Football Club
17 years ago, Wimbledon’s football club, which had represented its community since 1889, was forced to move to Milton Keynes. Refusing to surrender, their fans came together to form an entirely new, fan-owned club. In 13 seasons, Wimbledon were promoted six times in an incredible comeback, but their ultimate goal was to return home to Plough Lane where they first started.
In 2019, AFC Wimbledon raised £2.3 million from over 5,000 investors to build a new stadium just 230 metres from the club’s original ground. In November of this year, the Dons’ dream came true as the first ball was kicked at New Plough Lane.
AFC Wimbledon’s raise became the Seedrs record-holder for most community investors in a single campaign, and a firm fan favourite for the Seedrs team. Come on you Dons!
“I was born in Wimbledon and followed the Dons around the UK on many an away day, so I know first-hand just how important returning home to Plough Lane was for everyone connected with the club.
Getting to work with the club to help them achieve this historic moment was a personal highlight for me, and seeing the Blue and Yellow Army pull together to make sure AFC Wimbledon’s Seedrs campaign became the campaign with the most investors ever reminded me just how important community-driven investment is.
I’m incredibly proud to have been able to play a small part in making the return home happen, and I can’t wait for my first trip to New Plough Lane to support the team in action!”
– Alex Dunning, Venture Lead
? Delivering Returns For Investors
We recently celebrated Mindful Chef’s acquisition by Nestlé, marking our 7th exit for investors in 2020 alone alongside Orbital Witness, ANNA Money, Courier Magazine, and PodPoint.
We’ve facilitated 17 company exits in total, delivering over £4m in returns to Seedrs investors, not including profits realised by investors on the Seedrs Secondary Market.
“It’s very rewarding to see the Seedrs portfolio start to reach maturity and deliver returns for our investors and to see the hard work and dedication of our entrepreneurs pay off.
In addition to providing Seedrs investors with exit opportunities through the Seedrs Secondary Market, we’re seeing a growing number of portfolio company exits each year through trade sales, IPOs, and secondary offers from strategic investors.
Exits via trade sale or incoming strategic investor have been the most profitable, in some cases delivering over 80% return on investment over a holding period of 2-3 years, which is remarkable value growth that our portfolio companies should be proud of.”
– Kirsty Grant, Chief Investment Officer
? Launching Our Secondaries Solution
Last year, we launched a powerful new product that allows founders, employees and early investors to realise secondary liquidity without having to wait for an IPO or exit event. We successfully executed our first Secondary Campaign integrated with Capdesk end to end, with safetytech SafeToNet.
We’re very excited about the impact that opening our secondary market offering to businesses of all kinds – whether they’ve raised with us or not – and providing liquidity options for all types of shareholders.
“Having joined Seedrs nearly 5 years ago, I feel privileged to be able to have played a small part as we gradually changed the way early-stage funding operates in Europe, bringing returns to investors and providing growth capital to some truly innovative companies.
Now, I’m excited by the launch of our liquidity solutions for later-stage companies, which will further open up access to investing in pre-IPO companies for retail investors, while providing financial liquidity to some of the founders and employees that have built some of the startups that have come to define how we live in the 21st century.
Watch this space for some exciting developments in this area in 2021, as Seedrs continues to lead the charge on the full democratisation of investing in private companies!”
– Josh Davey, Manager
? Welcoming Back Alumni For Repeat Rounds
Many of our alumni businesses have come back to raise further rounds, but peer-to-peer lending company Landbay takes the crown with 13 total rounds on Seedrs (9 of which were non-preemption) – quickly followed by Brickowner with 10 total rounds (9 non-preemption). Landbay has raised over £13.7 million in total from more than 900 investors on Seedrs.
“I had the pleasure of working on most of Landbay’s raises and each time they came back to raise again felt like a new success for our team. It’s been exciting to support them in their growth over the years.”
– Tom Mills, Product Analyst
? Connecting Investors and Entrepreneurs
To date, Seedrs investors have asked over 45,000 questions in discussion forums, helping them learn more about the businesses raising on the platform, and make informed decisions for their portfolios – whether it’s their first investment, or their hundredth.
While the Seedrs Institutional Investor team has also been established to support the >400 top tier institutions that we share a cap table with, and to foster meaningful relationships with the wider investment community, working closely with VC’s, Angels and other institutions to generate over £30m in term sheets.
“Our team works at the exciting intersection of crowdfunding and the traditionally opaque world of venture capital; helping to facilitate introductions and therefore further democratise the early-stage investment landscape by opening doors for entrepreneurs and leveling the playing field. Simultaneously we are helping these investors to expand their portfolios by giving access to some of the most exciting startups in the industry.”
– Louise Harvey, Senior Associate
We’d like to thank both our investor and entrepreneur communities for helping us achieve this milestone. We’re proud to support the kinds of businesses that will change their industries for the better, and deliver returns to the investors who believed in them from the beginning.
Here’s to the next £1 billion and beyond!
*The performance of the investments set out in this blog refers to the past, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. As such, this is not an indication of the performance of any other investment opportunity on Seedrs. Returns were calculated using unaudited accounts and are not inclusive of fees. When investing, your capital is at risk.
