Darren Westlake, Co-founder & CEO of Crowdcube

Crowdcube, the pioneering investment crowdfunding platform, today announced that it has raised £6m of investment.

A number of high-profile investors such as Numis, a leading UK stockbroker and corporate advisor, and iconic Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper, have joined this new funding round. Crowdcube’s existing backers Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s largest venture firms, remain part of the funding process alongside these new-comers.

This investment is particularly significant as it will be used to develop a new solution offered by Crowdcube for companies going public. In addition to this, capital will also be used to continue marketing activities and accelerate growth.

Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder of Crowdcube commented that:

“We’re on a mission to help more businesses raise the finance they need to grow, create jobs and deliver returns to investors. We’ve dominated the democratisation of seed-stage equity investment since we launched in 2011 and we’re determined to do the same for larger businesses. We want to put the Public back into IPO.”

Leading the investment is Numis, which since 2009 has raised £10bn for businesses through more than 46 IPOs. Numis will help Crowdcube offer this new ‘going public’ solution by enabling large high growth businesses to list shares on the London Stock Exchange. According to CEO Darren Westlake, this new solution is part of Crowdcube’s goal to:

“solve the funding continuum for high growth businesses; delivering seed-capital right through to IPO.”

Oliver Hemsley, CEO and founder of Numis said:

“ Crowdcube has created an impressive business model and technology platform that makes it possible for people to join together to finance pioneering businesses. Numis has a long track record of helping companies access funding for growth and this investment in Crowdcube will put Numis at the centre of the entire investment chain, from initial start-up capital all the way to IPO. We are very excited to be part of an innovative fintech solution to help the public markets evolve and connect retail investors directly with fast growing businesses.”

Since its launch in 2011, almost £100m has been successfully invested through Crowdcube. With an investor community of nearly 200,000, Crowdcube is a platform used by both established entrepreneurs and startup companies. According to Crowdsurfer, an independent crowdfunding market data researcher, Crowdcube secured more investment in 2015 than the rest of the market combined.