Crowd2Fund to launch first EIS-eligible fundraising next week
CROWD2FUND customers will be able to take part in the peer-to-peer business lender’s equity fundraising campaign as soon as next week.
The platform said it will launch new funding rounds after being granted Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) approval from HMRC, and existing investors will next week be invited to take part in the first £1.2m raise.
The fundraise will be available through the Crowd2Fund website and the proceeds will go towards growing the platform’s investor base and improving technology.
Chris Hancock (pictured), founder of Crowd2Fund, said this would be followed up by a £10m institutional fundraise next year to support a longer-term vision to offer deposit accounts and banking services.
Hancock said a banking licence would not be required as they are already in discussions with a firm with the required regulations about a potential partnership.
Investors would effectively have an app that contains a deposit account, an investing account and a tool for selecting loans.
Read more: Crowd2Fund to launch ‘contingency fund’ for investors
“For the past 12 months we have been working on getting EIS approval so we could do an institutional raise,” Hancock told Peer2Peer Finance News.
“Nobody else is leveraging the benefits of having a community of private investors for entrepreneurs in the way we do.
“We are planning to go from lending £20m per year to £120m and believe our model can do that.”
Read more: Crowd2Fund founder unveils new blockchain-based payments solution