Posts about Insights

One of my good friends, a lawyer, has a saying “If you think getting good advice is expensive, you have never paid the price for bad advice“. That especially applies to keeping a clean and updated cap table.

As a millennial and digital native who has entered the world of registrars and equity management in unlisted UK companies, I have often been surprised by the lack of digitisation. Share certificates are on the top of my list.

This Founder Series post features Pyynikin, award-winning brewery, funding innovator and long-time Capdesk user. Based in the city of Tampere, Pyynikin is on a mission to bring Finnish craft beer to the World. To date, they have attracted more than 2000 investors to become part of the company. I spoke to co-founder Rauno Pere about their journey. Read and be inspired for alternative ways to finance your business.

Fintech (financial technology) is booming. In the startup community, everybody is talking about the new cool kid in town stealing business from the establishment. You can store money on a mobile-app-bank, invest or lend directly into promising business all over the world. Why not get your own cryptocurrency and buy drinks at your local hipster coffee place? You can even order pre paid cards for your children tracking their spending and allowance. Banks are going down and everything is changing! At least that is what I thought until a recent experience allowed me to have a sneak peak behind the curtain. Here is the story: Last year I invested in a private company through an investment platform and got lucky. 6 months after my investment, the company was acquired by an established player and I got my first startup exit. Hurray! I was super excited to follow the exit-process and what would happen after the company was sold! My excitement, however, was quickly put on hold in utter surprise of the process that followed.

For most startups, fundraising is a complicated and unpleasant task. The entrepreneur has to meet with investors, strangers, who are asking questions, criticizing and saying no all the way until a match is made with the right investor.

To me, equity crowdfunding is one of the most fascinating types of alternative finance to emerge. For those not yet familiar with the term, equity crowdfunding is when a company raise funds from many (“a crowd of”) small investors using an investment platform.

The concept of Fintech got a breakthrough in Denmark in 2015, reaching both the press and the political environment. However, the scene is not mainstream yet, and it can be difficult for outsiders to maintain an overview of the scene. In this short piece of writing, I have tried to map out the most relevant players within the Danish fintech industry. I am aware that some companies might be missing, but I have had to prioritize. Ping me if I have missed your company.

Crowdinvesting has contributed to the development of new organizational forms that in particular affects entrepreneur – investor relations. In this new reality, it is normal for startups to have an average of 125 investors. A potential burden for small founder teams, but also a potential opportunity that can help to leverage the growth of the company.

Crowdfunding is a new source of entrepreneurial finance allowing a wider audience to invest in startups for equity in the venture. While investment crowdfunding as a vehicle for financing early stage ventures is gaining momentum on a global basis it remains in its infancy. Our research on crowdfunding has been augmented by information gleaned from interviews of twenty different crowd investors from three different platforms including; Seedmatch, FundedByMe and Seedrs.