Looking to enter the UK’s crowded space is Emerging Crowd, a company that claims to be “the first platform where ordinary investors can invest directly in equity and debt fundraising campaigns by unlisted growth-stage companies in select frontier and emerging markets.” The idea is that looking to the fast-growing developing worlds will provide the opportunity for investors to receive higher returns on their campaign contributions. It comes following Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s renewed push of his Internet.org scheme – the joint venture with partners including Samsung, Qualcomm, Nokia, and more, which looks to deliver connectivity to the world. During his 15 April speech, the social network boss said we should all consider “how many brilliant entrepreneurs there are, who have great ideas and the will to change the world. They just lack basic tools to do so. If you go by the population, almost two-thirds of these entrepreneurs don’t have internet access today.” The comments will surely sit well with Emerging Crowd’s founders Lucien Moolenaar and Will Tindall, who can only expect entrepreneurial activity in developing markets to grow as the internet does The pair highlighted the funding gap that SMEs suffer from, and with so much noise around Silicon Valley, Tech City and other highly publicised startup hubs, it’s easy to see why other markets can slip between the cracks. Describing its tech as “state of the art’, Emerging Crowd’s pioneering partners to use the platform as a source of alternative finance are media streaming channel Bozza and coffee chain Neo.
Of course, both businesses are in hot markets. You only need to look at the user base of Spotify – 60m users and 15m paying subscribers – and YouTube which has more than one billion users. Meanwhile, the Q1 2015 results from Netflix tell a similar story. The company topped 60m users over the period, though two-thirds are in its native US, which highlights significant room for growth in video streaming overseas. The letter to shareholders even said: “Starting in Q2 we intend to shift some of our US marketing budget to international to take advantage of the substantial available growth opportunities.” So for Bozza, which supports downloading and streaming of music and video content from African artisits across mobiles and tablets, things look promising. Its initial funding target is set at £500,000 and would be used to scale across the continent, before eventually rolling out globally. Emma Kaye, founder and CEO, said: “About 60 per cent of Africa’s population is under 25, and they’re eager media consumers willing to pay for quality online content.”
According to CEO Ngozi: “Nigeria’s consumers are only just discovering coffee shop culture — the growth potential is huge. To put this in context, South Africa, with a GDP of $350bn and a population of 50 million, has over 200 outlets owned by branded coffee chains. “Nigeria has a GDP of $520bn, three times the population and a middle class that has grown by 600 per cent over the past 15 years, and yet Neo, with just a handful of locations, is already the largest branded chain of coffee shops in Nigeria. “Well executed coffee shop chains are a proven business model that has been hugely successful in the world’s richer countries, and the trend is now taking off among the millions of aspirational middle-class Nigerians.” Neo is also hoping to raise £500,000 of equity investment through Emerging Crowd which would allow the business to continue its growth throughout the country. The two pioneering Emerging Crowd users were both screened ahead of admittance on the channel – a process that will continue for other interested parties to safeguard investors. The due diligence is carried out by the company’s team of investment analysts Tindall, said: “Our aim is to build an online community of investors who are passionate about the exceptional growth opportunities available in frontier and emerging markets. Until now the vast majority of investors have had no way to reach these types of companies, let alone consider buying a stake in them.” The company assures that the investment documents involved are governed by English law, despite the support of overseas businesses. Moolenaar added: “We combine best practices from private equity, capital markets and crowdfunding, including extensive background checks, thorough due diligence and unparalleled disclosure on every deal. We also require companies to provide quarterly and annual updates, allowing our members to monitor their investments and see the impact they are having in these rapidly growing markets.” By Zen Terrelonge
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
