Live fundraising for fintech start-ups at LendIt Europe
LIVE fundraising will be introduced at this year’s LendIt Europe conference, allowing fintech start-ups to raise money from attendees including venture capital (VC) firms and investors.
LendIt has partnered with crowdfunding network SeedInvest to create the live fundraising feature. The technology will allow all conference delegates, as well as SeedInvest’s existing 185,000 users, to invest in fintech start-ups from the conference floor.
“To have live fundraising at LendIt this year is an industry first within Europe, and we can’t wait to see the excitement and energy it will bring to the floor,” said Jason Jones, co-founder and chief executive of LendIt.
“The innovation and technology which SeedInvest has embedded into their offer means that start-ups can really hit the ground running at LendIt, not only building their profile and meeting VCs but also raising real money during the conference.”
The fundraising will be available to eight of the start-ups which have been shortlisted for ‘PitchIt’ – LendIt’s competition where firms are invited to deliver their business pitch to a panel of judges.
“We are excited to be partnering with LendIt Europe to empower start-ups participating in PitchIt to raise capital live at the event this year,” said Ryan Feit, chief executive of SeedInvest.
“Live fundraising is all about enabling the very best start-ups to spend less time fundraising and more time building their businesses. We look forward to working with LendIt to identify the top fintech start-ups in Europe and amplify their pitches across both sides of the pond.”
London-based peer-to-peer investments aggregator LendingWell won last year’s PitchIt round, while a number of P2P lenders made it onto the shortlist. These included UK-based Lenderwize, Germany’s Giromatch and Kenyan platform PesaZetu.
All shortlisted companies are invited to pitch to the international fintech community, and will meet with global VCs and investors to discuss funding opportunities. The winner will receive fast-track status to the finals of Startupbootcamp’s Fintech Accelerator, among other benefits.
PitchIt applications are open until the 4 September, and LendIt Europe takes place between the 9 and 10 October 2017 at the InterContinental Hotel in London. Peer2Peer Finance News is a media partner for the event – to save money on tickets click here.
Read more: Two UK P2P platforms make LendIt competition shortlist