Crowdfinders launches £100m funding drive to help UK scale-ups

Crowdfinders has announced the launch of an annual £100m scaling drive – Race to Scale -dedicated to helping UK businesses access finance to scale their business.

Using a combination of debt and equity finance sourced via IW Capital, Race to Scale will seek to plug the estimated £1bn funding gap faced by UK small and medium businesses every year.

Partnered with companies such as Seedrs, Crowdcube and SyndicateRoom, the funding drive is exclusively open to small and mid-sized enterprises from any sector with a proven concept that requires scale capital.

After submitting a proposal, successful businesses will be granted an investment or loan of between £100,000 and £5m.

Crowdfinder will hold four quarterly live events in 2016 giving entrants the opportunity to pitch to a room of more than 500 angel and private investors. The first of these will be held on 21 April at The Royal Institution, Mayfair.

Luke Davis, chairman and co-founder of Crowdfinders, said: “It’s really reassuring to see the appetite that investors have for British business and the confidence they place in small business progression, but the lack of available information is something that could significantly obstruct small and medium businesses from scaling up.

“The scale-up phase is notoriously difficult to get right but with greater access to funds and targeted mentorship, we could witness more business success stories – something I’m keen to see happen across the UK.”