Santa is coming!

 Equity markets started the week carrying on the positive mood they ended the last.

The latest Chinese inflation and import export data appeared to have little impact on equity market sentiment. Year on year inflation grew at 1.6%, in line with expectations and pretty much in line with many of the developed economies of the world.

There will be much hope amongst investors that we are starting the much-fabled run into Christmas, equity markets are supposed to enjoy. The "Santa Claus rally" as it is affectionately known, is according to Marketwatch research, a bit like St Christopher himself, something of a myth. In reality, again according to Marketwatch, stock market returns in the month of December have been no more than inline with the other months of the year. There does however seem to be evidence of a modest outperformance coming into the last few days of December?

Syndicate Room has raised over £15m in 15 months

Since launching 15 months ago SyndicateRoom has raised over £15m, a target they had planned to hit in 2015. This combined raise has contributed to 24 companies all of which are still successfully trading. SyndicateRoom is the only investor-led equity crowdfunding platform in the UK. Enabling members to invest alongside business angels including award winning Peter Cowley and Rajat Malhotra amongst other prolific investors. With an impressive list of highly curated investment opportunities from biotech, medtech and even property. Most recently, SyndicateRoom has closed rounds with Mill Residential REIT, the first UK mainstream residential REIT set to list on the stock exchange before Christmas (overfunded to £2.2m), along with Lightpoint Medical, ground breaking cancer surgery technology which overfunded to £1m. 

SyndicateRoom has created a model of pairing all listed offers with established investors. Subscribing investors receive the same share class and same share price as the professional investors. 

Crowdshed announces move into equity offering

 CrowdShed, the UK's newest crowdfunding platform, has announced its intention to offer equity crowdfunding in Q2 2015 at its ShedTalks presentations in its central London hub.

Henry Freeman, founder and CEO of CrowdShed, confirmed:

"We should be a fully regulated business in the first half of next year and it's always been our intention to offer equity-investable projects. We believe passionately that equity crowdfunded projects will offer a genuine alternative for both SMEs and startups."

According to the Nesta/Cambridge University UK Alternative Finance Industry report, released Monday 10 November, equity crowdfunding has grown by over 410% in 2014.

The ShedTalks presentations on crowdfunding also highlighted some key insights into the changing conditions of the industry and indicated some evolving trends.

Taylor St Baristas launches the UK's first crowdfunded "Coffee Bond" on Crowdcube

Taylor St Baristas - one of London's favourite coffee houses and a trailblazer in the city's speciality coffee scene - plans to raise up to £3 million through the launch of the UK's first crowdfunded "Coffee Bond".

The bond is live on  Crowdcube and is the fifth mini-bond to launch on the UK's leading crowdfunding platform.

Taylor St plans to double the size of its business over the next two years, with funds gained being used to open four shops in 2015, and a further six shops in 2016.  

According to market research firm Allegra Strategies, 32% of consumers now choose their coffee shop based on "quality" - up from 23% in 2009.  This is seen to be one of the most dominant consumer trends in an industry that is set to top £8bn in turnover by 2017.

"This is a great time for Taylor St to be growing its business," says Taylor St CEO Richard Shaer.  "Every day, we're seeing new people walk through our doors in search of better coffee, and the size of this "quality" segment is only getting bigger.  As one of London's leading speciality coffee houses, we're exceptionally placed to benefit from this consumer trend towards quality coffee."  

In a first for the coffee industry, bondholders can elect to have their coupon paid in the form of store credit at the rate of 12% per annum.

"Skype for grannies" opened a crowdfunding round

The best mobile service for the elderly in Finland resolves the largest problem in social and health care

Circly (known as Pieni piiri in Finnish), nominated on November as the best mobile service for the elderly in Finland, has now opened a crowdfunding round on FundedByMe.

The round is expected to close at least €50 000 equity from private investors. €18 726 has been raised already from Finland, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain.

"I started to worry about my granny's lack of peer contacts after my grandfather passed away in the summer 2010", explains company founder Mr. Matti Kari. "It's a widely known fact that the lonely ones sometimes talk to the TV due to lack of social contacts. Our service is just as easy to use - it's built in our DNA to react when someone talks to or smiles at us."

Real-time video connection enables social and health care service providers to effectively bring their services home. Circly customers include e.g. the hospital districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), social and health district of Southern Karelia (Eksote) and many other cities and municipalities providing services to hundreds of thousands of people.

The service is used for check-up visits by home care, various kinds of rehabilitation, peer support and doctor's consultation, just to name a few. The elderly users also benefit from increased communication with friends and family, who can use their existing Android and Apple mobile devices.

Successful funding on CrowdBnk – £1.5m for LumeJet

LumeJet has developed and brought to market a new concept in light-based, inkless digital printing which, according to experts (Professor Frank Romano and the London School of Photography), has the highest print quality available in the market. The business is also backed by Midven, The Angel Co-Fund, Wren Capital, Martlet Angels, ERA Foundation, London Business Angels and the Technology Strategy Board.

The company has recently reached their funding target and successfully raised £1.5m on CrowdBnk. The interest in LumeJet remains strong and the company has decided to meet this demand by going into overfunding. As a matter of course, the share price for the new investors will stay the same. LumeJet is EIS approved and the overfunding will continue until February. 

Successful funding – over £450k for Smart Surgical

Smart Surgical is a pioneering medical device company with patented technologies in the “key hole” surgery market. The technology is designed to reduce costs and improve both safety and outcomes in minimally invasive surgery (“MIS”). We would like to congratulate Smart Surgical for successfully funding on CrowdBnk.

The company has raised £450k and will use this fund to finalise an engineering prototype and complete in-vivo pre-clinical and in-human (MHRA) studies. Smart Surgical will extend their crowdfunding campaign and is going into overfunding. As a matter of course, the share price for the new investors will stay the same. We wish Smart Surgical every success for their overfunding.

Peer to Peer Finance

A record breaking year puts RateSetter in pole position for 2015

RateSetter has moved from 3^rd to 1^st to be at the forefront of the fintech revolution as it breaks  into 2015

RateSetter will be ending 2014 on a high, confirming its position as the UK's largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lender, turning a profit and having been recognised as one of the country's most promising high-growth technology companies in the Government-backed Future Fifty programme.

RateSetter transformed the industry with its Provision Fund on its arrival in 2010 and has continued to set milestones at a furious pace in 2014. RateSetter began to break away from the pack in the early part of the year, when it became the largest lender by monthly volume in March. Since then, it has stormed ahead of its competitors, having loaned £278m in the year to date - over £20 million ahead of its closest rival and just last week surpassed £10m in interest paid to lenders.

Chancellor George Osborne's public endorsement of P2P throughout 2014 has helped bring the sector into the mainstream. HM Treasury's Consultation on the inclusion of P2P within ISAs and the Autumn Statement announcement of tax relief on bad debt for P2P lenders reflect the government's warm embrace of the sector this year. According to Nesta this has helped drive industry growth of 107% (219% growth for RateSetter).

Lending Club's impressive debut on the New York Stock Exchange has also built even greater confidence in the sector, consolidating P2P's position as a genuine rival to financial institutions.

For RateSetter, the landmarks have not stopped there. In March 2014 they created the first partnership with a major mobile provider (giffgaff, part of O2) and in July the P2P platform became the first in the world to be risk-rated by the ratings and research agency FE, with a risk score of 1 - which is similar to cash accounts. The lender also ushered in its fourth birthday by becoming the first retail P2P platform in the world to do business in Australia. And lastly, just this month, RateSetter took on the loans of another P2P platform Gradurates - a first in an industry which will likely see further consolidation in the future.

Reflecting on the year gone by, RateSetter co-founder and CEO, Rhydian Lewis said: "This has been a breakthrough year for RateSetter, having become the UK #1 P2P lender thanks to the belief and support of our customers.

"While we have been notching up fiscal milestones throughout the year, our recognition within the Future Fifty has certainly been a great end to the year, acknowledging our role within the fintech revolution. 

"We owe a debt of gratitude to our customers, without whom we could not celebrate such a triumphant year. We know you don't achieve, let alone maintain, a # 1 position without continually enhancing the experience our customers receive. This is why we are wholeheartedly committed to continuing to deliver the great service and innovation that they have come to expect from RateSetter in 2015."