1. CrowdAhead
“The wisdom of the crowd”

2. CrowdAhead
I have a business idea and need funds,
where do I go?

3. CrowdAhead
Friends, Family & Fools?

4. CrowdAhead
Bank?

5. CrowdAhead
Venture Capital, Business Angels,
Government?

6. CrowdAhead
How many people find themselves in this
situation?

7. CrowdAhead
Benefits of asking the crowd for funding
• Lower costs of raising finance
• Global reach for investors
• Free Marketing costs for idea testing
• Transparency

8. CrowdAhead
Benefits of investing through crowdfunding
• Higher returns
• Better spread of risks
• Ability to participate in otherwise unknown ideas
• Feeling of involvement in the idea
• Better information than traditional ‘due diligence’
methods

9. CrowdAhead
“Crowdfunding Industry Report”1
• $1.5 billion was raised globally in 2011 through
crowdfunding
• $584 million was raised in Europe in 2011
• Reward-based crowdfunding is the largest category
• Equity-based crowdfunding is the fastest growing
• General crowdfunding annual growth rate 63%
• Equity-based crowdfunding annual growth rate 114%
1 crowdsourcing.org – May 2012

10. CrowdAhead
Crowdfunding flavours
Reward-based Loan-based
Return: not financial Return: principle + interest
Equity-based
Return: equity

11. CrowdAhead
CrowdAhead’s intentions
• Establish first in UK
• Initially focus on equity-based crowdfunding
• Raise £200,000 in 2 phases until platform is self-
funding
• Go live in January 2013
• Cash-flow positive by end of 2013
• Positive cash balances by end of 2014

12. CrowdAhead
CrowdAhead’s revenue streams
• Success fee only – set at 5%
• Possible future streams
• Listing fees
• Affiliates
• Advertising
• Added services

13. CrowdAhead
The crowdfunding market (July’12)
• $1.5 billion raised in 2011 of which $ 584 million in
Europe
• Growth rate: 63%
• Growth rate equity based crowdfunding: 114%
• Equity based crowdfunding only possible in Europe at
the moment – not in the US until 2013
• Expectations:
“crowdfunding market could reach $300 billion and will be largely
driven by families and individuals investing a small percentage of
their assets directly into ventures”2
2Fred Wilson, co-founder of the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures (which has invested in Twitter,
Tumblr, Foursquare, and Zynga)

14. CrowdAhead
In the United Kingdom:
204,000 new companies formed
in January - June 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11535932
4,500,000 Small Businesses
http://www.fsb.org.uk/stats

15. CrowdAhead

16. CrowdAhead
Why CrowdAhead?
• The concept
• The market
• The people
• The future
The wisdom of the crowd