Crowdfunding Works For Moby Bike Sharing

The Covid-19 pandemic has been something of a boon for alternative lenders such as crowdfunding platforms. The presence of more early-stage startups seeking funds and an increased willingness by individual investors to try their luck is translating into increased activity for Spark Crowdfunding.

Established in Dublin in 2018, Spark Crowdfunding has raised c.€3m for 14 companies. Recent successes include Moby (pictured), an electric bike-sharing scheme, which launched a €300,000 Spark campaign and ended up raising c.€800,000 from c.280 investors.

The minimum investment on Spark Crowdfunding is €100 and the average investment is €2,300. The intermediary takes a 7% (plus VAT) cut of the amount raised, while third-party payment provider charges of between 0.5% and 2.8% of the transaction fee are also passed on.

Many of the companies using the site are Enterprise Ireland High Potential Startup companies looking to raise matched funding. Spark CEO Chris Burge says that his site’s filtering process for credible funding applications is good – around one third of funding applications will go on to run a campaign. Fundraising ventures span software to subscription box services, and campaigns are required to provide a video, slide deck and a detailed report to pitch to investors.

Crowdfunding is currently unregulated in Ireland, so startups and investors need to beware. Burge welcomes the planned harmonised regulatory framework for equity crowdfunding in Europe, which he believes will create more investment opportunities for investors.