The response from Crowdcube says, âIn the event of a sale or return being made to youâ
I interpret that as, Crowdcube thinks if Freetrade is bought buy a company and they want Crowdcube to distribute the funds back to investors, or if an individual wants to sell their share through Cubex. So, If it passes through Crowdcube they will take 5%.
But if Freetrade IPOâs and shares go to a public exchange, or Freetrade adds our shares to its app to be traded, nothing to do with Crowdcube, and no involvement from them, so they cant claim anything.
Iâve made my investment based on the 5% charged so Adam will only make my day if he confirms itâs not.
But to be honest, we all getting focused on 5%. Donât forget the tax man is going to take 20-45% (for anything above the CG limit) without EIS protection. At least the 5% fee is tax deductible
I know a lot who commented here were already invested so not sure what process they went through but as someone who made a 1st time purchase through CC I have to be honest and it seemed perfectly clear to me that I would be charged 5% at some exit stage on my investment from the prompts I was given by CC.
I would be delighted if I donât have to pay it but I was informed of this by CC before I invested similar to standard warnings about confirming payment on normal investments. It was so clear that when I was explaining to someone I had convinced to also invest that I read out the claim and double checked they were aware of this.
That said, reading lots from above I am very confused and donât have a clue what the deal is now.
Guys, letâs take a step back. CC have to this in order to build a sustainable business model. They built a platform that has enabled many of us to invest and get introduced to interesting business and also have provided vital funding to many startups.
It is not a charity and they will eventually run out of funding if they donât attempt to be profitable.
I donât understand people who are saying they wonât invest dues to 5% carry. Thatâs like saying you donât want ÂŁ100 because you have to give ÂŁ5 of it back
I agree and hence my comment that I 100% expected to pay 1.5% in and 5% out, no problems to me for the reasons you mentioned.
What is not good is when there seems to be very conflicting information from either side of the official sources. Forum gossip is one thing but it seems the companies are posting opposite views and that is confusing.
Its not that Im resentful of paying fees. I understand that CC need to be a sustainable business but they are taking fees direct from the business being listed, then direct from the investors at investment time and then again on exit. Seems a little excessive but ive not really looked at CC profitability or margins.
I really donât understand why we are here talking about âCrowdcube marginsâ, âCrowdcube have to to this in order to build a sustainable business modelâ, âit is not a charityâ, etc. We are here to invest on Freetrade, so it is not the point to discuss CC business model.
As a former investor, I invested on Freetrade since 2018 and when CC introduced their new 5% fee, I asked several times to clear this out because, as @GMCay said, their wording wasnât clear at all and they never explained if the fee applied for Freetrade new rounds or not (because their business opened to investment before that date) and how matching previous shares with X conditions and new ones with Y conditions would be done if the fee applied.
Reading â5% carry will be charged on shares bought after April 2021 and only applies to profits made on investments in businesses that opened to investment on or after the 1st of April 2021â, my point of view was clear: Freetrade opened to investment BEFORE that date, so 5% carry fee didnât apply.
And that point of view about no 5% carry fee applied to Freetrade was confirmed by @adam on his tweet (âWeâre still using the structure from 2016, so everyone is a direct shareholder. There shouldnât be any carryâ) and on his answer on this thread:
âI suspect the customer service person wasnât aware that we arenât using the nominee structure, which is standard at Crowdcube now (it didnât exist when we first raised in 2016). He implied that Crowdcube would receive the proceeds of any share sale, which is not correct for direct shareholders.â
I am an investor on Freetrade (not on Crowdcube) and Freetrade is telling me that 5% carry fee model doesnât apply, so why I have to pay a 5% success fee when conditions indicate it is not the case?
I am also not a charity for Crowdcube and as a former investor, on my calculations about investing again on Freetrade or not, that 5% fee is relevant for my decision. That is why this situation needs an urgent clarification.
Not sure on timescales. My guess is couple of months (R6 updates took a lot longer). Email / details cross checked with your freetrade app details then updated could take some time (for everyone).