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Crowdcube started as an equity crowdfunding platform that allowed people the chance to buy equity in unlisted UK registered businesses in exchange for their investment. As of June 2014 〔("Crowdcube targets growing businesses with new mini-bond funding option" ) Real Business, June 2014.〕 Crowdcube offers investors two types of investment opportunities, equity (a stake in a company) and mini-bonds (lending money). Developed as an alternative to banks, business angel or venture capital funding, start-ups can use the Crowdcube platform to raise business finance from "The Crowd" to find investment. Crowdcube was cited by the policy maker at the Bank of England as a contributing factor to making the banks obsolete and that “the impact of these firms could be revolutionary. At present, these companies are tiny. But so, a decade and a half ago, was Google.” In February 2013, Crowdcube became authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Crowdcube was established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang and is based at the Innovation Centre at Exeter University. Westlake stated in an article that he was inspired by “seeing great ideas fall by the way side〔("How we came up with our big idea'" ) Virgin.com, February 2015.〕” on Dragons’ Den. == Model == Equity based crowd funding is a new model for raising funds for entrepreneurs. The ‘crowd’ pool small or large amounts of money and entrepreneurs are able to bypass business angels and banks, to secure funding directly from the general public. The key principles of this model are that anyone should be able to invest money in a business and get equity in that business. Entrepreneurs with a UK registered company can showcase their business and investment potential to thousands of micro-investors, ordinary people, by uploading a Dragons Den style video pitch, images and supporting documents. These micro investors can invest in any business of their choice for as little as £10. Crowdcube operates on the "all or nothing" model, when a pitch reaches its target, the business receives the funding raise, if it doesn't reach the target then no funds are taken from investors and no money is charged. A 5% commission is charged on a successful funding campaign. The platform utilises social media to a large extent to alert potential investors about the offering. In March 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority released new guidance on the use of social media to promote financial products and these have been described as "a minefield" 〔Norman, Tessa. ("FCA social media rules create retweets 'minefield'" ) Money Marketing, March 2015.〕 Crowdfunding as a model of fundraising has become more popular over the past few years with the rise of the US based Kickstarter and Indiegogo. These platforms differ from Crowdcube as they work on a "reward" based model where the funder receives a DVD or piece of artwork in return for their contribution. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「CrowdCube」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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