Over £130,000 invested, one company already fully funded, more companies signing up
Following a successful beta phase, ShareIn, the only equity based crowdfunding platform designed exclusively for British technology and health focussed companies has officially launched.
ShareIn’s crowdfunding platform entered its initial beta phase in December, with five companies seeking investment. Yesterday, the first company, Holoxica, a developer of holographic 3D display technology, achieved its fundraising goal with more than a month of its campaign still to run.
“It’s been an incredible ride since we went live on ShareIn, and the journey has proven that equity crowdfunding is a compelling way to raise capital,” said Javid Khan, founder of Holoxica. “Having broken through our £60,000 target, our goal is to look after the interests of our new private investors and expand Holoxica to the point where they achieve a healthy return on their investment.”
One of the original companies listed on the site, S.C.P. Marine Innovation, has received widespread international attention in the technology and water sports media for its radical underwater jet pack.
“Since starting our campaign on ShareIn, we have seen a huge amount of interest in our company and products,” said Simon Parke, co-inventor and co-founder, S.C.P. Marine Innovation. “We will soon be seen on several national TV programmes in the UK and USA and are looking forward to converting this broadcast coverage into early sales and international expansion.”
Beyond Holoxica, the other companies listed on the site have so far generated between 11% and 32% of their funding targets, resulting in more than £130,000 being invested through the ShareIn platform to date. The excitement around the existing investment opportunities has seen several other companies make approaches to ShareIn, with Visorcat and Flexpansion the latest ventures about to start campaigns on the site this month.
“We’re looking forward to making connections with the investment community through this great channel and will be launching our campaign on ShareIn during February.” said Jill Boulton, Managing Director and co-founder Visorcat.
The ShareIn platform
Billed as “TED with an invest button”, in a reference to the hugely successful thought-leadership and innovation conference series, ShareIn is designed specifically to provide equity investment from £40,000 to £1m for inspirational UK companies looking to change the world through innovation, engineering and science.
With ShareIn, equity investors get a share in the future success of a technology company they believe in.
ShareIn provides a platform for individual investors keen to invest in technology companies, from as little as £10 upwards. In addition to the potential future reward that can be gained by owning shares in a start-up company, UK Government tax breaks can reduce investment risk by more than 70%.
For the right investor, initiatives such as the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) can actually eliminate the financial risk of their investment altogether. Read more about SEIS and EIS on the ShareIn blog: http://blog.sharein.com/how-seis-and-eis-tax-relief-can-help/
“We have been blown away by the interest in the investment opportunities on ShareIn,” said Jude Cook, CEO, ShareIn. “We built this platform because we are passionate about innovation and want to give amazing ideas a chance to flourish, and we are delighted to see that other people feel the same. It’s great to be out of beta-testing and now fully live.”
Unlike other equity crowdfunding platforms, ShareIn offers investors a best-of-breed share structure, where every share carries voting rights and establishes professional, fair legal arrangements between the shareholder and the investee company, without forcing the use of a middle-man/nominee structure and the associated fees.
ShareIn also sets itself apart by focussing closely on company valuations, asking companies to justify their valuation to potential investors in an extensive section containing data on actual money spent to date and the estimated costs to replicate the company to its current state. In addition, ShareIn provides investors with a secondary market for their shares, via a bulletin board to enable investors to sell their shares.
“We wanted to make ShareIn the fairest and most beneficial site to both investors and companies,” said Andrew Pickett, Co-Founder, ShareIn. “We know that the valuations on some crowdfunding platforms are absolutely crazy, which is obviously bad for investors and can also have a negative impact on companies looking to raise money in the future.”
