It is embarrasing

Crowdcube's 'partnership' attempt with US platform Seedinvest is an embarrassment. Crowdcube are now degrading the UK in the international market place using Government, or rather our funds. 

Hailed as Crowdcube's breakthrough moment by the Crowdcube PR dispensing machine, the Keen Home pitch is a joke, accompanied by joke questions on the forum which only prove how sophisticated their punters are.

Ignoring whether the loss making home systems company is worth anything like its $15m price tag, the whole set up at Crowdcube confirms the platform's amateurism.

This is not a partnership; it's an attention seeking mess. Keen's real target is $8m in this raise (which is not made clear by CC) - of which they have only achieved $3.7m to date. So they state they need $8m but the min raise level for completion is set at $750k. How on earth can that work? That gap is too large - it means that if they only raised say a $4m they can only put in place half of their stated plans before running out of cash. Who would invest in that? The whole basis of ECF, as we run it in the UK, is that the company plan needs £X to make it work, so if the company doesnt get to £X, the transaction is cancelled. It's common sense. 

On the CC forum there is a Q which illustrates a total ignorance of the way these things work. Keen never wanted $570k for 19% of the company as this punter says - he is simply ill informed and confused. He goes on to suggest that the company is selling 80% of its equity!! It is alarming that such people have access. 

The whole thing has, anyway, been a total flop - for everyone. This of course may be a  blessing. UK investors have only put £60k out of the $3.7m current total and the pitch seems to have died in its second week on this side of the pond. But why did the management at Crowdcube ever think this was a good idea? Apparently the dispenser says that it gives UK investors a unique opportunity toown part of a great USA business. Enough said. From Desperation comes desperation.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, it makes the UK look bereft of any business sense.