As the NC JOBS Act of 2013 moves through the North Carolina legislature, it is helpful to look at the success of investment crowdfunding in the United Kingdom, where it has already been legal and in operation for over 2 years. In this very interesting post, one of the U.K. investment crowdfunding sites called Crowdcube celebrates the 50th successful business funding since the site went live in February of 2011.
Some impressive results on Crowdcube since then (financial amounts converted to US $):
- The first company to hit their target raised $114,000 from 82 investors
- 54 businesses have been funded to date
- $13.9M has been raised so far
- 36,000 investors have registered on Crowdcube
- The largest single raise was $1.5M by The Rushmore Group
And that is for just one of the crowdfunding platforms in the U.K., and there are several other very successful sites. More interesting facts and milestones are available on the Crowdcube post.
So what does this mean for North Carolina? It proves that investment crowdfunding works, that small businesses can get the financing they need, that investors are willing and able to invest with this method, and that it can be done safely and fairly.
It is time to pass H680, the NC JOBS Act of 2013 and enable this new and very successful method of financing small business in North Carolina.
- Find and contact your North Carolina State Legislators and express your support.
- Tweet, email, or post a link to www.jobsnc.blogspot.com using #jobsnc #crowdfunding
- Sign up for email updates on the blog
- Follow on twitter @jobsnc2013