Freetrade are positioned nicely enough to take institutional funding by ~July 2020 at latest. VCs care alot about growth - Freetrade have done well on user growth, if Active user growth and revenues have done the same, VCs will certainly be interested, though theyll be more aggresive with valuation (expect dilution) and terms (liquidation preference, etc) than the crowd was. Post from CEO Adam Dodds in the last crowdfunding round below:
If we assume the intended VC is an EIS fund (as the crowdfund update/email screenshot below suggests) and sole investor, the investment will be a maximum of £6m (knowledge intensive early stage companies can raise £10m yearly, £4m of which was allocated in the crowdfund).
The value of having a VC is capital, of course, and a well networked, experienced institution that can help with growth, key hires, etc. My hope is that freetrade can leverage this for help in talent acquisition especially. The best EIS funds imo are calculus capital and Mercia, both of whom have invested in financial services/Software before.
Also worth mentioning is that if freetrade can only raise ~£7m a year through crowdfunding without having to create a prospectus (a complex financial document that can cost hundreds of thousands of £s to make…) for those wondering about the likelihood/mechanics of a crowd round in the next year.