Oxford: Penningtons Manches advises crowdfunding pioneer Seedrs on its £10m Series A funding

Penningtons Manches’ corporate team in Oxford has advised leading equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs on its Series A funding round led by Woodford Patient Capital Trust and Augmentum Capital. The funding, which includes a campaign on Seedrs’ own platform, raised £10 million, valuing the company at approximately £30 million.

Seedrs is one of the pioneers of the equity crowdfunding market, being the first company to secure FCA authorisation in this field. It will use the funds to continue its expansion in the UK, Europe and US and to enhance its existing crowdfunding platform.

The Penningtons Manches team was led by corporate partner David Tighe with James Went and Nicola Sole. David Tighe said : “We have advised Seedrs since its very early days and we were delighted to help with this big next step in their growth. They’re a really interesting, smart bunch of people to work with and I think there are exciting times ahead.”

Jeff Lynn, chief executive of Seedrs, said: “David and James have been with us from the outset and we’ve really valued their support in this new and developing market. Their work on this latest funding was really outstanding.”

Woodford Patient Capital Trust is the £800m investment trust launched earlier this year by Woodford Investment Management and is managed by Neil Woodford, who is widely considered to be one of the UK’s leading fund managers over the past 25 years. The Augmentum fund is backed by RIT Capital Partners Plc, the FTSE listed investment trust in which Jacob Rothschild and family are substantial investors.