Talk by Jeff Lynn, CEO & Co-Founder of Seedrs, London, UK - at Stanford Engineering School, Feb 10 2014

1. Fuelling
Great
European
Startups
Jeff
Lynn
|
CEO
and
Co-­‐Founder
Seedrs
Stanford
Engineering
European
Entrepreneurship
&
Innovation
February
10
2014

2. 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)

3.
The
leading
European
platform
for
discovering
and
investing
in
great
startups

4. Seedrs
Overview
Entrepreneurs
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.

5. 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
Net
Investments
$5,000,000
$4,500,000
$4,000,000
$3,500,000
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
$0
H2
2012
H1
2013
H2
2013

6. Case
Study:
Future
Ad
Labs
Raised
£60K
($98K)
from
70
investors.
Pioneering
a
new
age
of
CAPTCHAs
that
are
Engaging,
Simple
&
Secure.
Has
since
raised
top-­‐tier
VC
round.

7. Case
Study:
Mikes
Fancy
Cheese
Raised
£80K
($131K)
from
98
investors.
Creating
Northern
Ireland’s
first
raw
milk,
artisanal,
blue
cheese
for
direct
and
wholesale
distribution.

8. 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.

9. Our
Advisory
Board
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

10. 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

11. Equity
Crowdfunding
Will
Thrive
In
Europe
• Growth
in
entrepreneurship
• Geographic
dispersion
(hubs)
• Global
reach
and
mindset
• Characteristics
of
capital
and
investors

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. …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.

15. 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

16. 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

17. Europe
Is
Ablaze
With
Great
Startups…and
Seedrs
is
Fuelling
Their
Growth
jeff.lynn@seedrs.com
@jeffseedrs
@seedrs
seedrs.com