Seedrs Launches EIS100 Fund, Provides Additional Details on Hugely Successful 2018

Seedrs, a leading UK based investment crowdfunding platform, has launched a new fund for investors in early-stage firms. The EIS100 Fund enables passive investors to gain exposure to 100 or so individual companies over a 12 month period. Of course, investors benefit from the wonders of diversification and the intrinsic risk mitigation. Just like big name VCs, investors should seek to invest in a broad group of companies with many expected to fail, or simply not perform, and a few will gain significant traction driving top-line investment gains.

As its name implies, the EIS100 Fund also benefits from the Enterprise Investment Scheme – a tax program that is really a subsidy for innovation and job creation. You, as the investor, get to mitigate your risk up front with certain tax write-offs and exemptions. It is a really great program that other countries should seek to emulate.

The Fund is looking to raise £1 million – and it is nearly there. As of this writing, 236 investors have participated in funding £722,000.

CI has already reported on Seedrs gangbusters year. In 2018, Seedrs performed above expectations topping £500 million in aggregate investment while delivering on some big anecdotal crowdfunding rounds like Fintech unicorn Revolut.

Seedrs has posted their year in review page here. Below are some of the highlights of the page.

• During 2018, £195 million was invested in 186 successful crowdfunding offerings.
• Pitch success rate was 74%
• Largest funding round during 2018 was €11.2 million for TransferGo
• 12 different EU countries raised capital on Seedrs
• Over 72,500 investments were made via Seedrs, an average investment of £2,765
• Investors came from 60 different countries
• Overall, investments grew 60% versus 2017
• Seedrs institutional vehicle or “Anchor Service” is playing a growing role. £17 million was invested by pros – alongside retail money
• The Seedrs Secondary Market is gaining traction. Over 300 companies have traded on the market and 5,800 investors have been able to exit.

Seedrs appears to be hitting on all cylinders. The crowdfunding platform provides a good example of what can be accomplished if operations are well structured and regulations are appropriate. It will be interesting to see what is in store for 2019.