Crowdfunders stick to Sugru like glue with record £3.5m raised
HACKNEY-based inventor Jane ni Dhulchaointigh broke two crowdfunding records yesterday, after her start-up Mouldable “glue” company Sugru closed its Crowdcube campaign last night with a total of a £3.5m investment for just over four per cent equity.
The Irish-born entrepreneur saw her product attract over 2600 investors from a record-breaking 64 countries. Sugru’s campaign, which pitched the product as an adhesive that moulds like play dough, overfunded 350 per cent above the original target and received the largest ever single crowdfunding investment of £1m.
Dhulchaointigh said she was “incredibly proud of the team at Sugru” and emphasised that “future plans are already in the making thanks to 2648 fabulously wise investors.”
Crowdcube has nearly 190,000 registered users on its site and has raised £94m of equity finance for 270 successful company pitches such as JustPark and the Eden Project.
The established crowdfunding platform allows entrepreneurs to sidestep the traditional routes to investment and offers greater control on their company’s direction.
Crowdcube’s director, Matt Cooper, remarked that Sugru’s success “demonstrates how crowdfunding has come of age.”
Manufactured in East London, Sugru “will stick to almost anything and turns into a strong flexible rubber within 24 hours.” Five million mini-packs of Sugru glue have now been sold in over 160 countries worldwide.
The crowdfunded investment will be used to support further expansion into markets such as Europe and the US.