SourceTV broke through the £100k target with 6 days still to run on the campaign and reached her stretch target of £150k by the time it closed: 72 backers, including Business Matters owners’ Capital Business Media chairman Richard Alvin, took the final total to £151,225.
“The chance to fund a Dragon from our Angel base was always just too good an opportunity to miss,” said Bill Morrow, founder and CEO of Angels Den. “The mix of our experienced High Net Worths investing alongside the crowd was compelling for both sides and it was great fun for all.”
SourceTV is a video based marketing portal designed to enable Thought Leaders and Transformational Teachers to get their messages of empowerment and online products to a global audience. Launched by Elnaugh, one of the original Dragons and founder of Red Letter Days, the project reached 31 per cent of her £100,000 target on the day the platform launched.
Elnaugh said: “Angels Den Crowdfunding has been a brilliant mechanic for us to raise funding for SourceTV. We reached our target in just 21 days from a mix of friends, family, contacts plus of course the Angel’s Den network.”
“The beauty of the platform is that it allows a mix of equity from just £1k as well as functionality for loans and donations too. This has been so much quicker than going down a traditional equity fundraising route (which can take months) or getting funding from a bank (and they rarely say yes to start ups anyway – no matter who you are!)
“Added to that, all the legals and contracts are done for you – meaning there’s no expensive legal process to pay for.
“This really is the future of enterprise finance – using the power of the crowd to collaborate and back brilliant business ideas.”
Unlike most platforms, which focus on one crowdfunding model, this new venture will promote all three – crowdinvesting, crowdlending and real crowdfunding. According to Morrow, what makes this platform unique is the 6,000 strong angel community already actively funding businesses in the Den, combined with a new investment model.
Morrow added: “We’ve raised £16million over six years by successfully matching entrepreneurs and angel investors. And we’re now taking that to the next level by enabling entrepreneurs to pitch their business projects online with a choice of options for angels and ordinary individuals to back them.
“Angels can invest money for a share of the business, lenders can offer a fixed term loan and donors can simply make it happen, no strings attached, in return for a reward.”
