London has regained its crown as crowdfunding capital of the world
London has regained its crown as crowdfunding capital of the world, according to data from The State of the Crowdfunding Nation 2017, a report produced by The Crowd Data Center, which has tracked and analysed more than 450k crowdfunding campaigns over the past three years.
Figures for the last year show that more than 128k campaigns were launched in 2016. From those London outstrips other world cities, including nearest rival Los Angeles – just – to secure the top slot with the most successful campaigns.
America launched the most campaigns nationally, and raised the most money in the last year, but London had the most successfully completed campaigns of any city.
Previously, monthly snapshots showed London leading the way for several months in 2015, but in 2016 it cemented its place firmly ahead of America, the birthplace of crowdfunding.
This growth in “seed-crowdfunding” – creating new products, services and business – is heralded as a game-changer in business finance.
CEO of TCDC Barry James explained:
“Seed crowdfunding is maturing and as it does there are more entrepreneurs around producing better campaigns, getting more backing – especially in the major centres like London and Los Angeles – with London regaining its lead this last year.
“These super-hubs are hotbeds of early adopters, so there’s huge scope for growth as know-how moves beyond these and into more places like Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and smaller towns and cities across the UK – not to mention the world.”
Edinburgh came second to London, followed up by Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow. There is still a ways to go to catch up with London, and TCDC sister organisation The Crowdfunding Center, will be working with funding hubs, LEPs, business advisors and mentors to help move them forward over the next 12 months.
TCDC has also curated startling data on women entrepreneurs; the Women Unbound report, produced in conjunction with PWC, will reveal the scale of the impact of the democratization of finance on women owned businesses. This report will be published in Spring 2017.
