FinTech Magazine February 2021 | Page 39

“ Awareness among business owners of these new funding options remains low ”

— Ian Duffy , CEO of Accelerated Payments
Crowdcube with a view to creating the world ’ s largest private equity marketplace . Jeff Kelisky , CEO of Seedrs , is bullish about the future of crowdsourced equity raises – and believes scale is necessary to push the sector forward . “ We believe that you need to be a player of greater scale to serve companies and the investors who support them ,” he said . “ As we look to the future , we ’ ll be well
TOP 5 BIGGEST MARKETS FOR CROWDFUNDING
China : $ 215.37bn United States : $ 61bn United Kingdom : $ 10.4bn The Netherlands : $ 1.8bn Indonesia : $ 1.45bn
Source : Global Alternative Finance Market Benchmarking Report positioned to build on our combined strengths and create a powerful global private equity marketplace that will transform the ecosystem of equity finance globally .”
Appetite , then , is high – and although rarely crowdfunders reach the heights of institutional funding rounds , the opportunity to raise immediate funds in a relatively short timeframe will place the sector at the centre of further innovations .
But not all will be plain sailing . Regulatory pressure threatens growth in this sector , which , for the time being , remains relatively free from oversight . In a 2019 report , PWC found financial services and telecommunications firms both feared increased regulation could stymie growth in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending . Of the 508 firms surveyed across both industries , 14 % of the TMTs and 10 % of financial service firms said this new business model was most likely to be affected by regulation in the coming years .
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