2017 a record year for Seedrs, with £125m invested across 168 completed deals

Seedrs, the Startups-1oo ranked equity crowdfunding platform, has recorded its biggest year for investments since launch.

A total of £125m was invested into campaigns on the platform in 2017, with 168 deals funded over the 12 month period.

Recently surpassing the £300m investment mark, the platform has now be used in over 590 deals since its launch.

Founded in May 2009, and launched in July 2012, by Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva, Seedrs completed over 130% more £1m+ campaigns in 2017 than the previous year, breaking a number of records in the process.

Challenger bank Revolut raised its cap of £3.8m from over 4,200 investors in August 2017 as part of their £50m Series B round led by Index Ventures – awarding them the accolade of the largest number of investors in a campaign on Seedrs.

Tennis star Andy Murray backed more than 10 UK start-ups through the platform last year in a variety of sectors such as healthtech and fintech.

Jeff Kelisky, CEO at Seedrs, said:

“I am thrilled with the company’s growth and progress over the last 12 months.

“From record-breaking campaigns with over 4,000 investors and portfolio exits to launching pioneering new products, 2017 has been an outstanding year for Seedrs.

“This year we saw £125m invested into campaigns on the platform which is a 44% increase from 2016 and more than any other private equity platform.

“The results in 2017 have definitively established our leadership of the industry.

“The ongoing success of our portfolio with exit opportunities, such as Wealthify and blow LTD, alongside the number of impressive investor exits on our Secondary Market, demonstrate that sophisticated investors are actively looking at this asset class as a part of their broader portfolio.”

Alongside its findings, the Seedrs team presented a list of trends it feels will dominate the start-up sector this year.

Seedrs’ predictions for the start-up ecosystem in 2018

1. Continued interest and evolution in blockchain, specifically companies that allow trading of coins post ICO.
2. Further developments and focus in cybersecurity following on from the increased legislation around data protection, with GDPR taking effect in 2018.
3. Sustainable ventures will continue to see growth in its demand as the companies in this sector continue to innovate with new technologies amidst increased consumer awareness in the use of fossil fuels and green energy.
4. It’s not just about London: post-Brexit, the UK will see deepening interest and investment into building key hubs and entrepreneur skills in areas such as Manchester, Swansea, Edinburgh, Belfast and more.