Crowdcube have produced another of their famous infographics - for calendar year 2018. For the first time we can remember, the facts are plainly explained and seem accurate.
There is still the opening figure of money pledged - well over £200m. This figure is completely irrelevant and really should be banned by the FCA. But clearly someone has had a word, as at least now they tell people this not the 'invested' total but the pledged total. So some positive progress on the honesty front.
The invested total is an impressive £147m. But as this includes some whoppers including their own raise, the revenue is still disappointing and loss making at just £6m. It seesm they are still offering the larger companies special terms and having the smaller start ups pay for them. Costs are not mentioned - who wants to know that figure when it spoils the party - but from historic data it is north of £8m, so the losses will be substantial. And unfortunately the PR department got hold of the second section where they compare 2018 with 2017 by using apples and oranges.
Still, it is a long way from previous PRings and maybe signals a change in the ethos of the company? Maybe continued pressure and failures like the very recent Emoov, have eventually forced the management to take the truth more seriously.
This year is going to be tougher. We have already noticed companies delaying or cancelling pitches. It is impossible to work in quicksand. And in 2019, after 8 years, Crowdcube really do have to deliver a large success or two. Cant see them at the moment but you never know. There are good companies out there that have used Crowdcube and one may be popped. However the weight of the rubbish, now collecting around the Crowdcube keel, is huge and if these companies choose 2019 to close then all bets are off.
Unfortunately, the latest shareholder update is not as clear. Although it gives the "successfully invested" figure for last year at the beginning, from then on it reverts back to giving the pledged figure. So it says there's been £625m pledged since Crowdcube began but doesn't say how much of that was successful.Then it gives the number of pledged investments in Q4 2018, but not the number of successful investments and so on.
ReplyDeleteOh Well - we were trying to be positive!
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