Equity crowdfunding

Equity crowdfunding is a type of equity finance whereby people (‘the crowd’) invest in an early-stage unlisted company, in exchange for shares (equity) in that company. Individual investors thus become shareholders and stand to profit if the business does well – they might also lose some or all of their investment. Equity crowdfunding usually takes place over an online platform.

With a good crowdfunding campaign you can access potentially millions of people via one of the many crowdfunding sites.

Individual investors who put money into your business can offset some of the risk involved with investing in early-stage companies via two government tax relief schemes.

You might also want to consider debt crowdfunding – more commonly known as peer-to-peer-lending (P2P) – or other types of equity finance such as angel investors (business angels).