INVESTMENT
Private equity revolutionised Tom Britton, co-founder of
SyndicateRoom, created his firm entirely on this basis: to provide a way for the everyday investor to gain access to investment opportunities usually reserved for private equity firms, family offices or high net worth individuals. Britton says he stayed in Cambridge to launch SyndicateRoom with his fellow Cambridge Judge Business School alumnus, Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, because of the compelling entrepreneurial scene. “The start-up ecosystem in Cambridge is great and the concentration of companies and investors meant we could test the market in Cambridge better than anywhere else,” he explains. In SyndicateRoom’s early days, Britton and de Vasconcelos tapped into the city’s network of so-called ‘angel investors’, a term given to a group of usually wealthy investors willing to back riskier early-stage companies (think Dragon’s Den ), to help them launch and subsequently raise £1.2m via crowdfunding on their own website. Among some of their early backers was Peter Cowley, chair of Cambridge Angels, and Jonathan Milner, the co-founder of life science firm Abcam. In spite of SyndicateRoom’s success with investments such as Oval Medical
The start-up ecosystem in Cambridge is great and the concentration of companies and investors meant we could test the market in Cambridge better than anywhere else"
Current and recent Cambridgeshire crowdfunding campaigns:
ORGANISATION
CROWDFUNDING WEBSITE
RETURN
Milton Colts FC (Cambridgeshire junior football team)
GoFundMe
Donations – £600 target
A Melting Planet (book)
Kickstarter
Reward – £2,200 target
Up The Garden Bath (recycled bathtub planters) Zero Waste Shopping for Cambridge (social enterprise)
Crowdfunder
Donations – £3,000 target
Reward – raised £13,675 in April 2019
Crowdfunder
FLIT-16 (folding bike)
Kickstarter
Reward – £136,246 raised
Equity – raised £150,000 in June 2018
Cranes (beverage maker)
Seedrs
CambsCuisine (casual dining)
Equity – raised £750,000 in 2018
SyndicateRoom
ISSUE 03 30
cambridgecatalyst.co.uk
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