seedrs stanford presentation - fuelling european startups

Fuelling Great European Startups

Jeff Lynn | CEO and Co-FounderSeedrs

About Me

• CEO and Co-Founder of Seedrs

• Non-Executive Director of Companies House

• Founding Chairman of The Coalition for a Digital Economy

• Former M&A/securities lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (New York and London)

The leading European platform for discovering and investing in great startups

Seedrs OverviewEntrepreneurs can raise seed and early-stage investment from friends, family, angels and their communities.

Investors can invest from £10 up into the startups they choose.

We act as nominee to ensure investors are protected and entrepreneurs aren’t burdened with a huge cap table.

Our fees are success-based: 7.5% commission on funding, 7.5% carry on profit.

Our Activity

• 65 deals to date

• £6.1M ($10M) raised though us

• £94K ($154K) avg. deal

• 24 avg. days to fund

• 115 avg. investors per deal

• £703 ($1,153) avg. investment

$0 $500,000

$1,000,000 $1,500,000 $2,000,000 $2,500,000 $3,000,000 $3,500,000 $4,000,000 $4,500,000 $5,000,000

H2 2012H1 2013H2 2013

Net Investments

Case Study:Future Ad Labs

Raised £60K ($98K) from 70 investors.

Pioneering a new age ofCAPTCHAs that are Engaging, Simple & Secure.

Has since raised top-tier VC round.

Case Study:Mikes Fancy Cheese

Raised £80K ($131K)from 98 investors.

Creating Northern Ireland’sfirst raw milk, artisanal,blue cheese for direct andwholesale distribution.

Case Study:Happy Days – A New Musical

Raised £250K ($400K) from 336 investors.

26-week UK theatre tour for original musical.

First major theatre production to raise online equity crowdfunding.

James Alexander - Co-founder of first major peer-to-peer lending platform, Zopa

Mike Butcher – Editor-at-Large of TechCrunch

Dale Murray CBE - Investor and entrepreneur , British Angel Investor of the Year (2011)

Todd Ruppert - Former CEO & President of T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services

Ralph, Lord Lucas - Member of the House of Lords

Our Advisory Board

Our Funding History• 2009-2011: £350K

($575K) in pre-seed capital (before FSA authorisation) from friends, family and small angels

• 2012: £1.1M ($1.8M) in seed capital for launch from finance and tech angels

• 2013: £2.6M ($4.3M) crowd round after 18 months from 909 customers, angels and funds

Equity Crowdfunding Will Thrive In Europe

• Growth in entrepreneurship

• Geographic dispersion (hubs)

• Global reach and mindset

• Characteristics of capital and investors

Timing Is Right For Entrepreneurship In Europe

• Technology: High online and mobile adoption.

• Economic: Financial crisis leading talented people to create their own value.

• Cultural: Successes being celebrated. Failure being embraced.

We Have Multiple Startup Hubs…

• Dozens of tech clusters are developing rapidly throughout the continent – each with their own unique fabric.

• Increased interconnectivity – “cluster of clusters”.

• Easy for entrepreneurs to travel and network with other hubs.

• More accelerators and support for entrepreneurs.

…and Each Has its Unique Value• London – Fintech and media

capital of the world, favourable tax regime.

• Stockholm – Thriving digital sector and large population of early-adopters.

• Berlin – Affordable talent and real estate; high concentration of accelerator programmes.

• Barcelona – Climate, culture and universities draw global tech talent.

Small Countries with a Global Reach And Mindset

“We didn’t think about one market — the world is our market.”

Niklas Zennström, Skype co-founder

A Different Approach to Capital• Less intensive

concentrations of angel investors and high-net-worth individuals

• Significant mass affluent base of capital

• Regulatory environment more open to innovative forms of investing

Europe Is Ablaze With Great Startups…and Seedrs is Fuelling Their Growth

jeff.lynn@seedrs.com@jeffseedrs@seedrsseedrs.comSeedrs is authorised and regulated by the FCA.