Ethical investment platform Abundance has surpassed its target in its biggest ever share offer with funding reaching almost £1,400,000.
Abundance had aimed to raise £1.2 million by offering shares in the company to its customers and other small investors. But just four weeks after the offer was launched on crowdfunding site Seedrs, 914 investors have already committed £1,384,026. This means it is now ‘overfunding’ at 115 per cent.
Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance, said: “This is our biggest raise to date. We surpassed our target last week and will continue to accept investments for a while yet. Our aim is to grow the business from millions of pounds to hundreds of millions of pounds.
“Investors aren’t just backing us because of our ethical mission, they are motivated by a great return on their money.”
Socially impactful projects
The company, which has around 5,000 customers, was launched six years ago and has so far been funded mostly by 75 angel investors. It has raised £79.3 million to finance 34 green and socially impactful projects, ranging from farm-scale wind turbines and geothermal energy to tidal energy and social housing. These projects have yielded £12.1 million in returns.
Abundance is offering investors the chance to take a direct stake in its business and bring more positive impact investment opportunities to the platform. Shares can be bought through crowdfunding site Seedrs with a minimum investment of £10.
Through its latest campaign, Abundance wants to increase its small shareholder number 10-fold, which will allow the firm to scale up its investing and customer base.
Mr Davis said: “The time is right to offer our customers who backed our projects the chance to now back the business that makes them happen.
“We’re proud to have coined the phrase ‘democratic finance’ – and we firmly believe that capitalism works better when people are directly involved; as shareholders, debenture investors or employees.”
He added: “With six years of steady growth, we’ve proved our investment model is delivering the social infrastructure the UK needs and is scalable.
“Now we’re working with Seedrs to invite people to join us as shareholders. Together we can build a bigger community of investors, funding bigger investments in green and social projects that have a bigger impact, helping create a world of better investing.”
Customer ownership
The investments made so far represents 7.71 per cent customer ownership, based on Abundance’s valuation (before the raise) of £16.6 million.
Angel investor Bridget Connell, who first backed Abundance in 2015, said: “As well as giving me the chance to invest my money in a way that fits my own personal values, Abundance makes a real effort to make me feel part of the journey the business is making.”
Energy Minister Claire Perry MP said: “The UK has led the world in cutting emissions whilst growing our economy, with clean growth driving incredible innovation and creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs.
“I’m delighted to see how many more businesses and organisations such as Abundance Investment are seizing this multi-billion-pound opportunity to energise their communities to tackle the very serious threat of climate change.”
