Ethical investment platform Abundance in £1.2m equity raise

Peer-to-peer ethical investment platform Abundance is taking steps to increase customer ownership of its business with a seven-figure equity raise.

The Brent-based company hopes to generate £1.2m through a share offer on crowdfunding site Seedrs to bring more positive impact investment opportunities to its platform.

Abundance launched six years ago and has since built a base of over 5,000 customers. To date, it has been funded by capital from 75 mostly angel investors.

The company has already raised £77m from customers to finance 34 green and socially impactful projects, ranging from farm-scale wind turbines and geothermal energy to tidal energy and social housing.

Through its latest campaign, Abundance wants to increase its small shareholder number 10 fold, which will allow the firm to scale its investing and customer base.

Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance, said: “The time is right to offer our customers who backed our projects the chance to now back the business that makes them happen.

“We’re proud to have coined the phrase ‘democratic finance’ – and we firmly believe that capitalism works better when people are directly involved; as shareholders, debenture investors or employees.”

He continued: “With six years of steady growth, we’ve proved our investment model is delivering the social infrastructure the UK needs and is scalable.

“Now we’re working with Seedrs to invite people to join us as shareholders. Together we can build a bigger community of investors, funding bigger investments in green and social projects that have a bigger impact. Helping create a world of better investing.”

At the time of writing, Abundance had raised over £733k on Seedrs – about 61% of its goal.

Co-founder Bruce added: “The early signs are that our customers are really enthusiastic about taking a stake in Abundance’s future, so we strongly advise people to invest now to ensure they don’t miss out on this opportunity.”

Angel investor Bridget Connell, who first backed Abundance in 2015, commented: “As well as giving me the chance to invest my money in a way that fits my own personal values, Abundance makes a real effort to make me feel part of the journey the business is making.

“You feel part of the team and genuinely valued and involved.”

Energy Minister Claire Perry MP said: “The UK has led the world in cutting emissions whilst growing our economy, with clean growth driving incredible innovation and creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs.

“Ten years on from the Climate Change Act, the first ever Green GB week built on our successes to explain the huge opportunities for business and young people of a cleaner economy.”

She added: “I’m delighted to see how many more businesses and organisations such as Abundance Investment are seizing this multi-billion-pound opportunity to energise their communities to tackle the very serious threat of climate change.”

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