Online children's fashion retailer and charity champion turns to the crowd to fuel growth

Big Blue Cuddle, a children's clothing online retailer which donates up to 50 per cent of each sale to charity, is throwing open its boardroom doors to the public, with the chance for individuals to own up to 13 per cent of the company.

Facilitated by CrowdMission, a crowdfunding platform for social businesses, London-based Big Blue Cuddle hopes to raise £65,000 to fuel expansion and increase charity donations.  

The for-profit company, which stocks independent clothing brands who share its sustainable ethos, is forecasting over £600k of revenue donated to children's charities by 2016.

Lara Soetekouw, founder of Big Blue Cuddle (www.bigbluecuddle.com), commented: "Social businesses can struggle to access funding from sources that share their ethos and ideals.  My business is for-profit, but is committed to donating up to 50 per cent of our revenues to the children's charity of the customers' choice.  Not what some might call a 'normal' proposition for traditional funding outlets."

Revolutionary solar panel firm raises £120K in less than 10 days on Crowdcube

Lightweight, low cost and stylish solar power tiles to go into production in 2014

This year a British firm is set to turn the solar panel industry on its head when it puts its revolutionary new photovoltaic (solar) panel tiles into production, after raising £120,000 on equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube in less than 10 days.  Solarmass, founded by a design engineer has now become one of the fastest fundings ever on Crowdcube.

The Solarmass pitch raised money from 96 investors with an equity of 11.96% and brings Crowdcube's total funding since launch to over £16 million for more than 80 businesses.

Launch of Crowd Racing opens up racehorse ownership on the world's first crowdfunding site for horse racing enthusiasts

Horse racing is enjoyed by many millions across the UK's 60 tracks and yet traditionally ownership of a Thoroughbred has been the preserve of the few.

That is set to change with the launch of Crowd Racing, the world's first crowdfunding platform to offer shares in racehorses to the general public. Now anyone can own a share in a single horse, or build up their own string across multiple trainers. The technology behind the website is provided by equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

Craig McKenna, founder of Crowd Racing says, "Crowdfunding is growing in popularity as a way for young businesses to raise finance from 'the crowd'. Now Crowd Racing is taking this model into the wonderful world of horse racing. Owning racehorses will no longer be reserved for the rich and famous; now anyone can genuinely own a share of a Thoroughbred for as little as a £75 one-off payment. It's an affordable way to get involved, and of course if you have more to invest, the range of owner benefits goes up, but all owners get their share of any prize money, or the proceeds of any sale of their horse."

Seedrs Closes Record-Breaking Crowdfunding Round At £2.5 Million

 Europe's leading equity crowdfunding platform has raised £2.58 million via its own platform to further drive its expansion throughout Europe.

The campaign set a new record for the amount of money raised through an equity crowdfunding platform.

Seedrs extended the opportunity for investment having met its original target of £750,000 by 10:30 am on the day it launched.quity crowdfunding platform Seedrs has closed its self-hosted crowdfunding round, securing a record-breaking £2.58 million to support its growth into Europe.

The London-based business, which provides a platform for ordinary people to invest in early-stage startup businesses in return for equity, received almost three-and-a-half times its original target from 909 investors, in return for 33.3 per cent equity.

The campaign, which launched in November 2013, has set a new world record for investment raised through an equity crowdfunding platform. It coincided with the company's new position as the first fully pan-European equity crowdfunding service.