Crowdcube and Octopus Investments start partnership

Equity crowfunding platform Crowdcube and Octopus Investments are partnering up. Together, they have created a solution that lowers the minimum level of an investment into Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) to 500 euros. This means that more retail investors will have access to investing in these companies.

British equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube is making Venture Capital Trusts from Octopus Investments available on its platform. These funds include companies that are listed in the London Stock Exchange. Usually, the minimum investment into a VCT is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros. This means that these type of investments are not accessible to most retail investors.

Lower minimum investment

With the new solution created by this partnership, the platforms can lower the minimum investment level. The first VCT to become available is Octopus Investment’s flagship fund, called Apollo VCT. It comes with a 2 percent initial fee upon investment and an ongoing annual fee of 0.4 percent.

‘Crowdcube has raised more than 1.2 billion euros.’

According to the platform, Crowdcube has raised more than 1.2 billion euros from over 1 million retail investors for 1,300 businesses. “Over the last ten years, we have transformed the landscape for retail investing by creating more pathways for retail investors to invest in high-performing private companies than ever existed before. We took something that was the preserve of the few and made it accessible to the many”, said Matt Cooper, Co-CEO at Crowdcube.

‘Partnership is a natural continuation’

“This partnership is a natural continuation of that effort. Octopus has an excellent track record of delivering competitive returns for its VCT investors and is one of the biggest names in the business. We are excited that two leading UK financial technology companies can come together to engage with a new generation of UK retail investors for the very first time.”