Chunky Update: Seedrs edition
Sorry this oneās taken a while, iāve been tied up with a related project. Itās been great to see the community uncover some raises well before iāve finished my write up though, and even one that I wasnāt aware of! This community is ace!
So here goes: I met up with Joel Ippoliti (Chief Product Officer) and Nick Lawson (Marketing) at Seedrs recently.
As a result of this meeting, I got the inside scoop on some upcoming features and was immediately excited to relay this info to you guys and gals, here it is:
Secondary market:
- āMarket 365ā - the secondary market will be open everyday of the year (Trades will execute once a week or so, but the order can be made anytime)
- Shares will follow an auctioning price mechanism, meaning more mutable prices, and potentially greater liquidity
- Seedrs are building in the capacity to buy/sell shares from off-platform companies. This has game-changing potential: One could buy/sell shares from option pools and/or VC secondaries
- Rather than buying the entire share lot someone has put up for sale, you will be able to buy part of it. Not unlike fractionals.
Pre emption club: Certain members of Seedrs will eventually gain access to all of Seedrsā pre-emption campaigns, through a monthly newsletter. Work is ongoing.
Auto invest : This feature currently invests pre-determined amounts for you automatically, and is set to develop further to include selling capabilities.
CityFalcon partnership: CityFalcon is a financial news platform, currently displaying news related to crowdfunded business on Seedrsā website. This partnership is set to evolve, with Cityfalcon looking to integrate Companies House filings into the feature.
Portfolio Update: a comprehensive document containing statsitics on their funded companies. Their last update revealed that 577 deals had been completed, and their aggregate IRR was ~12%. The next portfolio update is slated for H1 2020.
Seedrs App
The Seedrs app is in the prototype phase, here is a screenshot:
Having used the app prototype, I think itās great, very slick - even for a prototype. It looks set to have the functionality of the site, with the simplicity and convenience you get in a mobile app. The depth of user research going into it only makes me more excited to see where the final product ends up.
Seedrs will also be launching a great new feature:
Here's some other sneak peeks
Direct investment feature, released recently:
More āsectorā pages will soon be added to Seedrs - there already is a sector page for fintech, and one for food & beverage. The new design looks ace imo:
Discourse forum:
Seedrs will also eventually be launching a discourse forum, much like this one; there is a wealth of wisdom scattered around the Seedrs forum in private shareholder threads, so a unified, public forum on the site could end up a valuable resource!
For the Seedrs shareholders out there: Seedrs will be announcing a Ā£15-20m institutional round later this year. Whilst this is old news, it was reassuring to hear things were still very much full steam ahead on this front.
News
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Gohenry, the Gen Z neobanking startup, is in the final stages of closing a major VC round that will accelerate their US expansion.
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Sono motors, a German seedrs-funded Electric car startup, raised an incredible 50m eur in around two months. The funds were raised to get the business to their next milestone from profit share instruments, car deposits and donations following a collapsed institutional investment round,
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Bux, the 2nd best neobroker in the netherlands, acquired social crypto platform Blockport
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CityFalcon loses major contract (rumoured to be from Revolut), after the partnering fintechās legal team was weary of CityFalconās financials.
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Bnext already has around 100k Mexican customers, having soft-launched only weeks ago, forecasting 1m users globally by year end. Itās competitors (Nubank, Uala, etc) are also doing well however.
Private live
Tropicfeel - Spanish startup making All-terrain trainers, built for travellers. Invest here
Hoptroff - A startup whose mission is to improve server clock accuracy in the finance and media sector to microsecond precision. Invest here
TheVegankind - UKās largest vegan supermaket. Invest here
Cashmere - Clothing rental startup. Think early stage Vinted or Fatllama. Invest here
Upcoming
Newcomers
Rnwl - An insurtech startup from the founder of Syndicateroom. pre-register here Thinkihng about reeling him in to do an AMA with us pre-crowdfund, stay tuned!
Axiafunder - Crowdcube meets Burford capital (litigation finance crowdfunding) basically. Their cases are returning over 40%, but very high risk (potential loss > capital)
Monva, a price comparison fintech app. pre-register here.
Flex-hex (sustainable alternative to bubble wrap) will be crowdfunding soon. pre-register here
Audoo - Think Shazam meets Alexa! Music recognition hardware to tackle piracy/copyright infringement. pre-register here
As some of you already know: Allplants (Vegan meal delivery), Moo (web to print company) and Fronted (Rental Deposit fintech) are all slated to be crowdfunding soon also!
Returning
Coconut, accountancy automation fintech, will be crowdfunding by April. If youāre a lucky shareholder, youāll get access to a pre-emption round at a 20% discount beforehand.
Crua - A tent startup that has funded on Seedrs in the past.
GeoDB crypto platform that allows you to earn money from your data. pre-register here.
Saavy navvy - Citymapper for the sea. pre-register here
Borrow a boat - Airbnb for boats (boat rental marketplace, VC backed). Grown revenue by 300% in the past year, secured Ā£1m via Crowdcube around 1 year ago. pre-register here.
Others: Big Drop brewing (craft beer), Cityfalcon (financial news platform) and Adlaunch (automated video content) will be crowdfunding soon also.
Thatās all for now everyone! Iāll be returning with a write up on an upcoming landmark raise and possibly a write up on my Crowdcube visit (Many thanks to Shaun Sharkey for having me!)
I hope to return with an update/announcement on the project iāve been working on too!
Ofcourse many thanks to Joel Ippoliti and Nick Lawson of Seedrs !
These guys are really on top of their game; If you have any feedback on this post, seedrs etc - please feel free to talk it out here - they strike me as determined to understand their usersā wants and needs so iām confident yours/our voices will be heard
Seedrs Merch game on fleek
Thanks to all of you for your contributions, but special shoutout to @Alderms @Lee @TickTock @JCFronted @hrpnk @tinku333 @Biyka for their gnarly posts. If I havenāt mentioned you itās just because iām awfully forgetful. 'ppreciate you all.
Disclaimers
Beyond being a shareholder of Seedrs, I have no affiliation beyond profound enthusiasm for equity crowdfunding. Please do not regard this as financial and/or investment advice. Remember, Capital at risk.