SEEDRS records 5 portfolio exits since start of the year, taking total number of primary exits to 14

• Seedrs sees five primary exits of its portfolio companies in the first five months of 2020, following a 49% growth in investment in 2019 
• Each exit has generated positive investor returns across a range of sectors 
• 2020 is becoming a milestone year for Seedrs, hitting 1,000 deals funded on the platform and surpassing £1 million of shares traded in its May Secondary Market 

Leading online investment platform, Seedrs, today announces that it has seen five primary exits for its portfolio since the start of the year. Each exit has generated positive investor returns and takes Seedrs’ total number of primary exits to fourteen. 

The most recent exit was ANNA Money, a financial service assistant for small businesses, who raised £3.4M from 595 Seedrs investors at the end of 2019. ANNA has secured a £17.5M investment from ABH Holdings SA to take a majority stake in the company. This allows Seedrs investors a chance to exit the business at 40% profit, less than a year after investing. 

Courier magazine, funded on Seedrs in 2016, focused on shining a spotlight on entrepreneurs and creating interesting new startup content. The London-based magazine was acquired by American marketing company Mailchimp in March, generating a 3.4X return (4.9X with tax reliefs) for its Seedrs investors. 

Igloo Energy, smart-home clean energy provider, has gone from strength to strength since its funding round in January 2019. One year on, Seedrs investors were offered a 3.3X return on their investment from leading Japanese firm Osaka Gas. 

In addition, OfficeRnD, a platform for managing coworking and flex spaces, provided Seedrs investors a 7.8X return (24.6X with tax reliefs) via a partial share sale to one of their VC investors. 

The first exit of 2020 was Pod Point, which develops electric vehicle charging points. The business was acquired by industry giant EDF Energy and will continue on its mission to take the UK to mass adoption of EVs. Seedrs investors from the 2014 funding round have now realised a 2.7X return (3.9X with tax reliefs) on their investment.

Eduard Panteleev, CEO and Co-Founder at ANNA, said “Equity for Mugs, our campaign with Seedrs last Autumn was hugely successful, enabling us to invest in developing new services and customer support capabilities. The Seedrs platform connected us directly to like-minded entrepreneurs and investors who share our belief in ANNA’s purpose, offer and its potential for growth.”

Jeff Kelisky, CEO at Seedrs, added: “We’re delighted to have seen five primary exits in the first five months of the year. The growing rate of success stories continue to demonstrate that our portfolio of ambitious SMEs are starting to mature, and that industry giants and incumbents are looking at them to innovate their own services. We feel this is an important validation of our mission. It’s a challenging climate for entrepreneurs and we want to reiterate that we’re here to support however we can, especially in raising the necessary capital to get through this.”