Investment app Freetrade aims for £1 million crowd raise

In the past year, interest in Freetrade has skyrocketed with the app’s waiting list growing from 4,000 to 34,000 people.

The funding will be used by Freetrade to support its next phase of rapid expansion, including the growth of its customer service, product and engineering teams, expansion into EU markets, and to support the development of an Android app.

The London-based company is no stranger to crowdfunding campaigns, having previously launched two earlier funding rounds pre-product in which they overfunded and raised close to £1.3 million via the UK’s leading crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube. The last funding round had to be closed early after their goal of £300,000 was overfunded by £800,000.

Freetrade’s larger investors include managers of some of the world’s most successful funds, technology entrepreneurs with nine-figure exits under their belts, and City professionals from top tier law, consulting and accounting firms. Meanwhile, their smaller investors are ambitious up-and-comers who want to gain access to innovative, high growth companies.

Adam Dodds, CEO and Founder of Freetrade, said: “The best decision I’ve made as CEO was to crowdfund our initial capital on Crowdcube. It set the stage for everything that came after.

“But it was never just about raising capital to take our business to the next level. Each funding round provides an opportunity to bring in thousands more passionate shareholders who want to chage the rules of investing – just like we do.”

The first 24 hours of the campaign will be a closed funding phase for community members only, which includes everyone on the Freetrade waiting list. Members will be emailed a private link at 1pm today before it is opened up to all Crowdcube investors tomorrow at 1pm.

Dodds, who started Freetrade two years ago in his tiny London bedroom, continued: “The appetite for investing is intense, especially among millennials who, historically, have been restricted by artificial barriers like minimum account sizes, high commissions and overly complicated products.

“We want to be able to offer them an awesome user-facing app that is free and accessible to all. We are focused on helping our customers discover and understand new investment opportunities, but also on providing great tools so that they understand their portfolio and make better investment decisions.”