WOMEN are more successful at crowdfunding startup and growth capital than they are at securing traditional forms of financial support.
Statistics announced today (Friday) also reveal that women are better than men at raising the money they need from the crowd.
According to crowdfunding platform, Bloom VC (Venture Catalyst), 40 per cent of female-led projects are successful compared to 34 per cent of male generated projects.
Founder and CEO, Amanda Boyle, said: “It’s widely recognised that women are not as successful as men at securing financial support from traditional sources for their businesses. But crowdfunding has changed that for the better – and forever.
“Crowdfunding is democratising finance and making it possible for anyone, anywhere in the world, to start a business or fund a community or social project. Women, who are naturally better communicators – and supporters – are finding this new model suits them perfectly.
“These statistics from our community are exciting – and they bode well for the future of female entrepreneurs, whether business or social.”
Bloom has also discovered that women are more likely to back a project than a man, and that there are more “serial” female backers than male.
“This is particularly interesting when you consider that there is a dearth of female investors in the UK,” said Boyle.
“Only round five per cent of angel investors in the UK are female, but it’s clear to us that women do like to back businesses and community projects when given the chance to do so.”
Ends
Notes to editor:
As part of International Women’s Day, Bloom will be launching six new female-owned crowdfunding projects, including a music festival, a fitness studio, a new skin care range, a community garden, an animal project in Egypt and a project to train midwives in Malawi.
All of these projects will be commission free.
Successful female crowdfunding stories:
Polly Quigley – Polly crowdfunded £1,300 to create a packaging prototype that would allow her to distribute her cupcake bouquets nationally. She now has an effective box that will be available in approximately six weeks. This will allow her to send nationally via her website as well as supply to online retailers and roll out the service to 18,000 florists in the UK. She also has a distribution deal with Interflora.
http://bloomvc.com/project/Send-a-cupcake-bouquet-worldwide
Mhairi Mackenzie – Mhairi makes acrylic jewellery but needed £7,500 to buy her own laser cutter in order to increase production and grow her business. Since her successful crowdfund she has moved the manufacturing of the business back to her hometown on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. She now works full-time on the business, has employed two staff and has a team of five piece workers all based on the island. She’s receiving lots of exciting requests from magazines and celebrities (her custom pieces are worn by celebrities such as Llana del Rey and Olly Murs – Usain Bolt was photographed wearing her custom knuckledusters) and is now able to turn them around on time to meet next day deadlines. She has featured on BBC Breakfast and attracted a private investor.
http://bloomvc.com/project/Big-up-our-Bling
Elke Barber – Elke is a young mum whose husband died suddenly, leaving her to try to explain death to her three year-old son and one year-old daughter. Discovering a lack of resources available to help her, she decided to write a book based on her son’s questions. But having saved £8,000 to publish the book she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her savings were needed for day-to-day living expenses. ‘Is Daddy Coming Back in a Minute?’ was hugely successful on Bloom. Elke asked for £8,000 and raised more than £11,000 during the project with thousands more flooding in after the project closed.
http://bloomvc.com/project/Is-Daddy-Coming-Back-in-a-Minute
For more information about crowdfunding or to speak to Bloom founder Amanda Boyle or any of the female project owners, please contact Michelle Rodger – michelle@bloomvc.com 0780 3730207
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Contact: Michelle Rodger
Phone: 07803730207
Email: michelle@tartancat.com
Website: http://www.bloomvc.com
