UK based start-up accelerator Ignite has reached its crowdfunding goal on the peer-to-peer lending platform Seedrs, with a further 6 weeks to go in its campaign.
The campaign aimed to raise £288,000 for its 2017 London program, and has already reached £331,330 in investment.
Ignite supports UK start-up acceleration
Ignite names itself as “Europe’s number 1 network of angel-led accelerators”. It was founded in 2011 and has so far run 9 successful programs in the UK, with past programs raising more than £2 million in investment for over 80 start-ups.
The 2017 London program will commence next September and will give nine to ten early stage start-ups the opportunity to develop with the help of some of the “most experienced and active” UK angels. The selected companies will benefit from both mentoring and monetary investment.
In its crowdfunding campaign pitch on Seedrs, Ignite said:
“We are passionate believers in investing primarily in strong teams who have industry experience and who are looking to change the way that a market operates. Our experience over the last 5 years shows that we can help strong teams to deliver innovation that is potentially world changing by helping them refine their proposition and introducing them to the right mentors and investors.”
In addition to the London program, Ignite will also run accelerators in Manchester and Edinburgh next year.
The accelerator network regularly offers short programs to support new founders with the initial steps to turn their ideas into companies. These four-day evening programs are completely free of charge and run all around the UK under the ignite+ pre-accelerator scheme.
Seedrs leads companies to crowdfunding success
Ignite already ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs earlier this year, to support further growth of the accelerator network. Its newest campaign, specifically aimed at raising money for its next London program once again records major success, having already raised 115% its target amount.
Other companies have also done well through crowdfunding on equity crowdfunding page Seedrs. Currently under the most successful, alongside Ignite, are FilmDoo and Cranes.
The video-on-demand platform FilmDoo successfully ended its campaign, having raised 131% of its £95,001 target.
Cambridge based Cranberry cider producer, Cranes, concluded its campaign with £113,177 in investment, representing 119% of its target.