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London's five most exciting crowdfunding campaigns this summer (so far!)

Not a week goes by without the announcement of another business launching a high-profile crowdfunding campaign in London.

Turning to the crowd to fund your latest expansion plans or business venture is becoming an increasingly popular option for businesses of all shapes and sizes, reaching £245m in the UK alone in 2015.

This summer has been no different, with a thriving ecosystem of platforms including Crowdcube, Seedrs and SyndicateRoom, the UK, and London in particular, is leading the charge globally in alternative investment.

With this in mind, Bdaily London has collated some of the most interesting crowdfunding tales so far this year that have really stood out from the…erm…crowd.

Revolut

FinTech posterchild launched a crowdfunding campaign earlier this month to top up its oversubscribed £7m Series A funding round.

Capping the campaign on Crowdcube at £1m, the London-based firm experienced overwhelming demand with a record £12m pledged by interested parties within 10 hours of its launch.

The startup, which allows users to spend cash abroad on a fee-free Mastercard in conjunction with its app, hatched a unique plan to handle the anticipated demand by ranking those who pledged in an order of priority based upon how many contacts they have within the app.

Thus rewarding loyal users with first dibs on equity. Dead clever!

Mindful Chef

Not many crowdfunding campaigns are able to name drop both the Beckhams and the England Rugby Team as part of their pitch - but Mindful Chef certainly can.

The startup’s healthy ‘farm to fork’ healthy recipe boxes already have some high-profile advocates and are likely to recruit a whole legion more after smashing through its £400k target and drawing over £1m backing.

Only a year old, the firm was founded by school friends Robert Grieg-Gran, Giles Humphries and Myles Hopper, and provides a range of recipes devised by Head Chef and Leith Cookery School graduate Louise Mitchell.

Users choose from a rotating selection of weekly meals, which are customised based on dietary requirements, from the Mindful Chef website and the relevant ingredients are delivered direct to the customer’s door.

The on-demand startup is one of a legion of convenience-led startup’s targeting time-poor individuals, but this wildly successful crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs has placed it right at the top of the pack.

Crowdcube

In a case of practising what you preach, even crowdfunding Crowdcube has got in on the crowdfunding act this year after launching its own campaign on 18 July.

The equity crowdfunding platform, which is based out of Essex University along with its London office, targeted a £5m raise but is already overfunding by 134% at the time of writing.

It’s apt that the platform that has helped bring equity crowdfunding to the mainstream, it was the UK’s first equity crowdfunding platform after all, is now showing everyone how it’s done!

Hire Space

London startup Hire Space already had a long list of marquee clients using its innovative venue booking platform, including Facebook, Google and Red Bull, before launching its campaign.

It now looks set to grow even further after closing its £500k crowdfund on Crowdcube in just six weeks back in June, where it drew funding from over 200 venues, event professionals and private investors.

Co-founder Edward Poland has some ambitious plans for the firm following the investment drive, with plans to ‘revolutionise the events industry’ both in the UK and abroad as Hire Space entrenches its position at the forefront of the market.

Fitbug

Health and fitness app Fitbug has struggled in recent months after disappointing take-up of its digital wellness products by consumers led to mounting losses and declining revenues.

However, under the guidance of new Chief Executive Anna Gudmundson, the tech firm has pivoted to focus its attentions on the massive B2B corporate wellness market as it plots its revival.

To support its turnaround Fitbug have offered investors the chance to participate in a £1.76m campaign on Cambridge-based platform SyndicateRoom which, thanks to its intermediary status with the London Stock Exchange, is able to offer Enterprise Investment Scheme shares on the same terms as institutional investors.

We’re always up for hearing your crowdfunding stories, so if you’re launching a campaign drop me an email at billy.wood@bdaily.co.uk.

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