Luke Lang
Co founder
Silicon South West 2011
The Importance of being small
“History teaches us that it is small companies that produce the majority of
radical technical innovations. Their size is their strength.”
Prof Stephen Hawking
"Since the second world war 95% of all the radical new innovations have
come from businesses employing less than 5 people. The formation of those
businesses is critical to our economic success"
David Irwin DTI 2001
"We've got to back the big businesses of tomorrow, not just the big
businesses of today"
Prime Minister, David Cameron
The Status Quo
A wealth of entrepreneurial talent
Access to finance is key to success
The Status Quo
The Status Quo
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Venture capital difficult to find for smaller businesses
Debt finance hard to come by
Grants have been cut by the coalition government
Business angels – maybe more risk adverse?!
What if there was a way to have say 2000 angels
each investing £50?
• What if anyone could become a business angel?
Crowdcube and Crowdfunding
What is Crowdcube?
• Crowdcube provides a web-based central hub for entrepreneurs to meet
micro-investors
• It uses the power of Crowdfunding to provide a unique service to two
types of people:
• for entrepreneurs to source funding more accessibly than
conventional routes
• for smaller investors to have the opportunity to invest in exciting
Limited businesses
“$100 invested in Microsoft at their IPO would now be
worth approximately $35k.”
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding
• Crowdfunding is an approach to raising the capital required for a new
project or enterprise by appealing to large numbers of ordinary people for
small donations
• Why now? Broadband penetration, Social Media, online micro-payments
• Crowdfunding examples:
• Kiva.org – $212m funding raised, >800,000 lenders, ~500,000
entrepreneurs
• Kickstarter.com – 7,496 projects funded, $27m pledged in 2010,
$7m/mth
How it works
How it works
How it works
Benefits
Benefits
Summary
Summary
• Provides entrepreneurs with a much-needed new
route to finance
• No up-front fees – no risk for the entrepreneur
• ANYONE can invest as little as £10
• Investors get real equity
This is the future of seed and early stage investment
Thank you
www.crowdcube.com