UK's First Live Crowdfunding Summit - Crowdfinders Live - Today Announces £1.9m Funding Goal Reached After Four Hours of SME Pitches

LONDON, October 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

• Online dog community BorrowMyDoggy will reach its funding goal of £1.5m via committed investment as a result of Thursday's live crowdfunding event - hosted by Crowdfinders Live  
• The funding goal was reached in four hours via committed investment pledges from a collective of high net-worth, angel and institutional investors at the event, with funds facilitated by IW Capital 
• Seven businesses pitched to an audience of 400 investors receiving real-time investment pledges throughout the course of the day 
• BorrowMyDoggy is the first company to announce funding, total figures of finance secured for all pitchers are currently being calculated 
• Keynotes included Ben Sears, Investors Director at Seedrs; Simon Calver, former CEO of Lovefilm; Nicola Horlick, CEO of Money & Co; and Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, Co-Founder & CEO of SyndicateRoom 
• Held at the Millbank Tower, the summit gathered major players from the international crowdfunding community, including delegates from Israel, the US and the Nordic region  
• Sponsored by Seedrs, Crowdcube, The Business Growth Service, and several others, the unique summit took place 400ft above London's skyline

Crowdfinders, the UK's frontrunner in new-era social funding, yesterday launched the nation's first-ever live crowdfunding summit, successfully introducing the concept of live business pitches that receive real-time investment pledges. Titled Rise to the Top, seven entrepreneurs delivered a series of competitive pitches to an audience of 400 high net-worth, ultra high net-worth, angel and institutional investors. As a result, online dog community BorrowMyDoggy will receive £1.5m in committed investment, with full funding figures currently being tallied for the fellow companies who pitched on the day.

Sponsored by Seedrs and Crowdcube, and with Luke Davis (CEO of IW Capital), Alex Ricketts and Will Broome at the helm, the summit truly brought to life the concept of live crowd-funding, 400ft above London's skyline. Keynotes on the day included Ben Sears, Investors Director at Seedrs; Simon Calver, former CEO of Lovefilm; Nicola Horlick, CEO of Money & Co; and Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, Co-Founder & CEO of SyndicateRoom.

Luke Davis CEO of IW Capital and Crowdfinders said at the event: "Social funding as a concept is nothing new - however crowdfunding continues to evolve due to the technology that defines it. By bringing international enterprise talent, investors, pitches, insights and real-time investments into one day, entirely dedicated to deal-flow and dialogue, crowdfunding is propelled into it next phase of delivery. I am a firm believer in the beauty of a face-to-face pitch and Rikke's achievement is testament to this.

While online crowdfunding may be quicker, this often becomes purely transactional and misses the point that people buy people. However, events like today's aims to put the power back into a pitch and support many more businesses just like BorrowMyDoggy".

Tatiana Withanage, Mouth to Mouth Communications
E: Tatiana@mouthtomouth.co.uk
P: +44(0)20-7502-8239
http://www.mouthtomouth.co.uk