Is Anybody Safe from AI in the Workplace?

Posted on by Clive Reffell

We’ve all seen the clickbait media headlines about AI’s impact on recruitment policies. Growing levels of graduates cannot find what they consider to be appropriate employment, at the same time as many companies are scaling down the places available on their graduate training schemes. How about the people already in what appears to be a successful career? In how many instances will AI force career changes.

Many parents may see their grown-up kids facing this situation after leaving uni, and saddled with debt. But before long, it could be impacting them directly as well.

A growing body of research suggests that AI isn’t simply automating the bottom of the labour pyramid. It’s climbing fast, and some of its steepest gains are happening precisely in the cognitive, analytical, and communicative tasks that define senior business roles. Younger workers are adapting. Retirees are out of the equation. In between, executives and managers aged 40 and over, who have built careers on expertise, judgement, and institutional knowledge, may be facing the most disorienting disruption of all.

You’re 47, 52, or 57 years old. You’ve spent two decades or more earning seniority the hard way: reading markets, managing teams, navigating boardrooms, and developing the kind of judgment that can’t be learned from a course.

You’re not naive about AI. You’ve read the headlines, sat through the strategy decks, maybe even signed off on a few AI pilots in your department. You assumed the disruption would happen below you, to people with the more routine roles involving repetitive work.

You thought you were safe from AI because you have built a value proposition based on three pillars:

  • depth of domain expertise,
  • a network of professional relationships,
  • judgment that comes from years of pattern recognition.

All three are real and hard-won. All three are also, to varying degrees, being replicated or replaced by AI tools available to anyone with an internet connection. This means many things are going to change, and many people will face the demands and turmoil of a drastic career change.

It seems an appropriate time for me to blow the dust off a set of 10 recommendations on how to manage a career change. I wrote and published this list over 10 years ago after attending an event covering the challenges facing former company directors who were changing career – not necessarily of their own choice – to ‘go it alone’. This could mean starting a new business, investing in other people’s new businesses, or taking interim roles to guide companies unable to afford their experience and knowledge on a full-time basis.

  1. It’s scary to be in a new place. Doing new things, outside of a comfort zone that may have previously been full of support, is very tough.
  2. Many of your previous contacts become useless after a career change because they were part of that former comfort zone, that former life.
  3. It’s difficult to achieve a target daily pay rate, so do what comes up that looks like it would be good to be involved with.
  4. Don’t forget that time is your most precious asset, particularly if you are starting a new enterprise later in life.
  5. Reconsider the people who you know. Build connections among a new group of people who are going to be able to help the new you.
  6. Think also about how to help them, not only how they could help you. Support is a two-way street.
  7. Remain curious and love learning, which is now easier than it ever was.
  8. Add practice to your knowledge, by simply getting out there to start providing others with the benefits of your knowledge and skills. Even do it free for a local charity or good cause rather than keep them to yourself. This will help teach you how to best present that knowledge in a way that builds confidence.
  9. Confidence is what your new customers or investors will recognise and buy in to.
  10. Work with people you like, who respect you and pay you on time. Life’s too short to do otherwise.

I would now add to this list, learn to use AI tools that will maximise your efficiency and multiply your effectiveness to prospective clients. AI by itself doesn’t take jobs away. People who use AI will replace people who don’t.

For some people it can represent liberation, freedom to pursue personal ambitions rather than play it safe. It worked that way for Nik Storonsky, the co-founder of Revolut. He was one of the former workers at Lehmann Brothers in Canary Wharf. One of the people carrying their personal items in a cardboard box as they left the building for the last time after it collapsed in the global financial crash in 2008.

He had experienced the delays and excessive fees for changing currency for his numerous business trips, and his family visits back to Moscow. He came up with Revolut, and ran some early stage crowdfudning to get the ball rolling. Today, Revolut has over 70 million customers, supports money transfers across more than 160 countries and regions, and it was valued at $75 billion in November 2025.

If you have ideas of what you want to do and achieve, and crowdfunding could be a source of finance for your startup, please drop me a line or give me a call. Let’s see how much I can help and support you. I am an independent crowdfunding advisor, without the restriction of ties to any specific crowdfunding platform.

Crowdfunding for Music Festivals

Posted on by Clive Reffell

Not much rivals the thrill of live performances. The raw energy of artists, booming sound systems, and dazzling visuals deliver an immersive sensory rush. From dancing to pulsating beats to discovering new bands, festivals offer a dynamic musical journey that streaming can’t replicate. Sometimes set in stunning locations, festivals offer a break from routine. Camping under stars or exploring vibrant festival grounds sparks adventure, while themed stages and interactive installations ignite imagination. Festivals also often showcase wider cultural experiences, such as food, art, and workshops. Despite these benefits and pleasures, the current economic climate means many smaller festivals are struggling to survive. Crowdfunding has long been part of the arts industry. Let’s look at some people and organisations that have used crowdfunding for music festivals as a way to secure their future.

Beyond securing money, a crowdfunding campaign also provides additional marketing and a more structured process through which to develop audiences, promote events, and share behind-the-scenes stories about how a project is shaping up.

The music festival marketplace

Festival performances are the main income stream for many artists and bands, since music download platforms greatly reduce their income potential from recorded music. For independent performers, they can be a gateway to greater recognition and more numerous followers. Festivals are therefore important for musicians and singers at all stages of their career.

By August, 40 festivals were cancelled or closed altogether in 2025. In 2024 it was 78, according to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). Like most parts of the hospitality and entertainment sectors, festivals have been hit hard by the dramatic rise in operating costs since Covid-19. Wages have risen sharply to compensate workers for the increased cost of living, and festivals have also been hit particularly hard as they tend to employ a larger share of lower paid or part-time staff. The minimum income level at which National Insurance is paid dropped from £9,100 to £5,000 in April 2025. Even when volunteers step forward to help, energy prices have accelerated rapidly.

Farmers increasingly require full payment in advance, rather than take a deposit and receive the balance after the festival is over. Just as the organisers know too well, farmers are also aware that a festival’s profits – and its capacity to pay all its bills – usually come from the last 20% of tickets sold. An undersold festival can easily run at a loss.

Big event promoters are also taking an increasingly higher share of total ticket sales, and use their financial clout to sign artists to perform exclusively at their events. This restricts the supply of talent available to the smaller and one-off events.

Festivals using crowdfunding

In most cases, though not exclusively, it appears to be smaller festivals using donations and reward-based crowdfunding. The crowdfunding appeals for support tap into the emotions and the positive memories of festivalgoers whose own experiences include building a rapport with strangers over discovering new bands, dancing freely, or embracing spontaneity in an inhibition and judgment-free zone, boosting confidence and creativity.

In 2021 the Marsden Jazz Festival in Yorkshire raised £13,760 from 256 backers, beating its £10,000 target.

In 2024 the not-for-profit annual High Tide Festival in Twickenham reached its target of £15,000 with only a few days to go before the event started, and went on to achieve £16,220.

The Long Division Festival in Wakefield raised almost £5,000 through pre-orders of a book that told the festival’s history from 2011 to 2023.

The Rock Oyster Festival in Cornwall, located on a bank of the River Camel estuary (main image), is a family-friendly food and music camping festival. In 2023 it offered festivalgoers (and anyone else) an opportunity to become a shareholder and invest in equity. It had already secured £250,000, and went on to raise over £315,000 from a total of 115 backers. The 2025 festival took place from July 24 to 27. Festivalgoers dived into over sixty activities – from paddleboarding and surfing lessons in nearby bays to yoga and mindfulness sessions overlooking the estuary.

Other music industry users of crowdfunding

Radio stations

Crowdfunding users range from community-based stations, such as the OFCOM-licensed youth-led radio station Reprezent Radio broadcasting from a shipping container in Brixton, to the national digital station Fix Radio with a playlist tailored for building and construction industry tradespeople.

Early in 2024, Reprezent Radio asked for donations to resolve a cashflow crisis while its registration as a charity was delayed. 375 backers contributed almost £65,000.

Fix Radio eventually raised £950,234 in 2022 from 347 new investors through a successful round of equity crowdfunding that was 26% over-subscribed. The station is going from strength to strength, with higher audience figures attracting the support of advertisers and programme sponsors including building material suppliers such as Wickes, and commercial vehicle makers such as Citroen.

Music industry mentoring

Helping young artists get a toehold in the industry can be invaluable support. In 2024, the MusicGurus.com platform, which aims to be a “Netflix for learning music,” closed its equity crowdfunding campaign after beating its £150,000 target. It is also backed by business angels including the founder of Caffè Nero, Gerry Ford.

Grounded Sounds is a South London-based music organisation and charity providing 15-to-26 year olds with free music workshops, mentoring and career pathways into the music industry. In August 2025 it began a round of donations crowdfunding, with a target to raise £25,000 to plug gaps created by cuts to other funding sources.

Music venues and their staff

The 2023 annual report from the grassroots charity Music Venue Trust showed London’s grassroots music venues were in crisis. Mounting post-Covid debts, whinging neighbours and speculative property developers are all part of the problem, the Evening Standard reported. 125 venues were forced to close down in 2023. Crowdfunding can be used in several ways to help ease financial pressures.

A new restaurant and music venue in Islington broke global fundraising records on Kickstarter in 2023. The campaign generated £248,000 in eight weeks from supporters, which at the time was the largest sum for any restaurant anywhere in the world on the crowdfunding platform. Soul Mama opened in the autumn that year, and continues to serve food from the Caribbean, Africa and South America accompanied by jazz, soul, reggae and gospel music.

Also in 2023, the trade union Unite Hospitality launched a crowdfunding appeal to help staff facing redundancy with just one week’s pay after the sudden closure of a Glasgow music venue bar, the 13th Note. The venue owner claimed it was union activity and staff walkouts over pay and safety concerns that had led to the insolvency.

In 2024, a crowdfunding appeal to raise £35,000 and pay off rent arrears for the grassroots community space Matchstick Piehouse in Deptford failed to reach its target. Money was returned to the donors, and a new £35,000 project began to convert the venue to a workers’ co-op.

Staff lost their jobs when grassroots music venue The Moon closed in Cardiff. With the approval of the musicians concerned, a resident recording engineer compiled a 10-track album from his gig tapes, and £8,766 from sales via reward-based crowdfunding in December 2024 went to the former employees.

Part of the vinyl revival

In 2024, the Scottish startup vinyl record pressing plant Rockvinyl was crowdfunding to buy and install three new presses. It also planned to launch a crowdfunding platform for artists to release new music without personal financial risk through “fan-funded-vinyl.” Its £1.75 million target was perhaps over ambitious, and its website is no longer available.

In January 2025, a 19 year-old former student in Brighton launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at people who want to support grassroots music. She hoped to raise £6,000 to release her debut three track Indie Pop E.P. 65 backers pledged £6,145 to make her Kickstarter project a reality.

Musical instrument retailers

In June 2025, Hobgoblin Music, the UK’s best-known family-run musical instrument chain, offered 9.5% equity for £190,000 through equity crowdfunding. Customers can get personal expert advice and help from the active musicians who work in their nine shops. The crowdfunding raised £50,881 from 115 backers. There were also investor perks of branded merchandise and discount vouchers that could be collected from stores.

Crowdfunding to block a festival happening

Some residents close to Brockwell Park in south London campaigned in 2025 against an annual music festival going ahead. Their main cause for complaint was the length of time required beyond the festival itself that made parts of the park inaccessible to the public. This included stage construction beforehand, and sewing new grass afterwards.

The anti-festival campaigners crowdfunded over £30,000 to meet legal costs of taking Lambeth Council to court for authorising the event without applying to itself for planning permission to restrict access to parts of the park for more than 28 days. However, the council’s subsequent appeal was upheld. Campaigners are already raising more funds to try and prevent the 2026 festival taking place.

Key takeaways

Some projects for crowdfunding festivals, and other aspects of the music industry fail, though many succeed. Some appear to start slowly without the benefit of any pre-selling so that the crowdfunding begins with a bang and not a whimper.

The wide range of music industry-related projects shows the flexibility of crowdfunding to help any type of organisation raise not only funds but also its profile while forging network of followers and supporters.

A Round-up of Crowdfunding Campaigns & News in February 2025

Posted on by Clive Reffell
Main image for a blog by Clive Reffell, independent crowdfunding adviser

This round-up shows the flexibility of crowdfunding for a wide range of users. They include organisations that were asking for donations, selling equity, and encouraging people to invest in community shares.

First, did you know women-led crowdfunding projects outperform men’s by success rate in achieving funding, with 20% shorter campaign completion times.

Equity Crowdfunding

Established in 2009, the made-to-order and sustainable fashion brand Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (WISC) closed its equity crowdfunding campaign after beating its £150,000 target by 7%. The money will be used for marketing costs and new machinery.

The Smart Container Company is offering equity through crowdfunding to raise funds and accelerate the development of its smart beer kegs. IoT blockchain technology enables tracking their location and checking the temperature the contents is stored at. By February 28 the company had raised 112% of its £150,000 target with 22 days left to tun. EIS benefits (Enterprise Investment Scheme) are available for investors who are UK taxpayers.

JNCK Bakery offers low-sugar, nutritionally enhanced cookies, and recently launched in 550-plus stores across the UK. In February the fmcg startup closed an equity crowdfunding round after raising more than £260,000 to further accelerate growth.

Equity crowdfunding by Reality Games raised £1.56m to further develop an immersive geolocation and augmented reality version of the classic Monopoly board game. Players can explore their own city, trade virtual properties, and compete in global challenges.

UK healthtech startup MultiplAI Health is developing an AI and RNA-based screening test to detect earliest stage cardiovascular and complex diseases. By February 28, with 8 days left to run, MultiplAI Health had reached 71% of its £300,000 target to accelerate commercialising as a lab-developed test in the U.S. market.

Vegan fashion startup Immaculate Vegan, founded in 2019, raised £183,375 through equity crowdfunding from 114 investors. Its target was £150,000 to expand its women’s offering, build newer men’s, home, kids, beauty and pets categories, plus accelerate US customer growth.

A new night train service called “European Sleeper” has crowdfunded for a number of years and in total has raised over €5.5m from over 4,000 backers. The Sunday Times reported on one of its pilot journeys from Brussels to Venice, complete with passengers sleeping in refurbished carriages that are 50 or more year old.

Not at all such good news for investors in Gunna Drinks. The Grocer reported that the collapse of the premium soft drinks brand had left crowdfunding investors particularly angry. They hadn’t even been told the founder and CEO had stepped down last November. “Why are we always the last to know?” complained one exasperated backer.

On a happier note, two guys in Salford who have been friends since school launched The Salford Rum Company in 2018 with £5,000 of savings. Their premium rum rivals luxury gins, and they quickly raised over £314,000 from a round of equity crowdfunding. This has already beaten their £250,000 target and as from February 28 there’s still 26 days left to invest.

P2P Lending Through Bonds

British luxury home decor, wallpaper and lifestyle company, the B-Corp House of Hackney, is crowdfunding to raise £2 million by issuing fixed-interest bonds through Triodos Bank UK. It wants to buy out existing private equity shareholders and pursue its ESG commitments with more vigour. By February 28 it had raised just over £308,000 with 28 days left to run. Looks like it’s going to be a tough call. 

Donations and Rewards Crowdfunding

Bramley Baths is an Edwardian heritage treasure in Leeds, and its fundraisers gave themselves until the end of February to raise the final balance of its community shares crowdfunding target of £350,000 to repair and restore the roof, while also installing new energy-saving features. By the time the crowdfunding project closed at 5pm on February 28 it had raised £374,360 from 531 investors in 140 days.

Community shares are an opportunity for people to champion a local organisation or community asset through financial investment. Community shares are unique to co-operatives and community benefit societies, and they can’t be sold to anyone else. Also, no matter how many shares anyone buys, each shareholder gets just one vote when it comes to making decisions.

A group of anaesthetists (doctors trained in anaesthesia) claim the General Medical Council has blurred the distinction between Doctors and Associates. They are crowdfunding to afford legal action against the GMC. It had raised £176,927 by February 28, and was scheduled to run for a further 30 days.  

Aptitude Health & Fitness, a gym in Cheshire that launched during Covid, has gained permission to triple its size in new premises. In February the founder launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £30,000 to meet some of the costs and also strengthen user loyalty. By February 28 he had raised over £17,600 with 16 days remaining.

The owners of Devon-based Sharpham Cheese, Greg and Nicky Parsons, hope their round of reward-based crowdfunding will raise £65,000 to enable them to invest in renewable energy, water recycling and new cheese making equipment.

Coming soon

In April I’ll be covering the EU-Startups Summit in Malta for Crowdsourcing Week and BOLD Awards. Two days of networking, inspiration, and learning includes 15 selected startups pitching to a panel of VCs and angel investors for funding. Find out more at https://eu-startups.com/summit/

In the meantime, if you have ideas and plans for using crowdfunding that you’d like to discuss with an impartial and independent crowdfunding adviser, please get in touch by email to [email protected].

BOLD Awards 2025 Crowdfunding Finalists

Posted on by Clive Reffell
Composite image for Clive Reffell blog on BOLD Awards crowdfunding finalists 2025

The public round of voting in the global BOLD Awards for digital industries has closed. The next stage was an assessment by a judge from an international panel, and there are six finalists in the 2025 Boldest Crowdfunding Project category. They will all be invited to attend the gala dinner award ceremony in Lisbon on Friday March 28th, 2025. Crowdfunding is one of 33 categories of digital industries and the tech that powers them, and all category winners will be announced at the event.

Beyond successfully hitting their monetary target, BOLD Awards judges were looking for projects that were particularly effective in promoting their round of crowdfunding, and projects that derived other important benefits beyond raising funds.

Here is a rundown on the six finalists, and you can use the links to check out their BOLD Awards’ entry in full.

Body Rocket

Body Rocket provides bicycle add-ons for serious performance cyclists, including triathletes, to improve the aerodynamics of not only their bike set-up but also their body position. Pre-order sales on Kickstarter provided public validation of their products, and a round of equity crowdfunding enabled customers and other retail investors to be part of the business and enjoy the ride!

Check their full entry at https://bold-awards.com/project/body-rocket/

Pashley Cycles

This Midlands-based bike maker is almost 100 years old, confirming that equity crowdfunding is not just for startups. Their crowdfunding project in 2023 accelerated development of a range of e-cargo bikes for last-mile delivery purposes, and e-bikes appropriate for public hire schemes. Their agreements with regional transport authorities, and an innovative tie-in with a large-scale residential property developer, ensured a ready market for their products. Their growing D2C sales cleverly involved introducing new owners to their dealers around the country for servicing and accessories.

See what you may learn from their full entry at https://bold-awards.com/project/pashley-cycles-crowdfunding-accelerated-development-of-e-bikes/

Neurita Tequila

Neurita is a range of fruit flavoured tequilas, at 35% ABV, designed to appeal more to female drinkers. A concerted effort by the startup founder enabled the brand to quickly win numerous plaudits and medals at international drinks trade shows. This product validation helped encourage investors to back her round of equity crowdfunding. Equally, the crowdfunding success will act as a marketing springboard to open the door to new distribution deals. Good crowdfunding is good marketing!

The full entry is at https://bold-awards.com/project/neurita-tequila/

IzyCoffee

This chain of sustainable coffee shops based in Belgium began trading just four years ago from a single vintage truck. It now has 22 ‘bricks and mortar’ outlets, and the funds generated by a round of equity crowdfunding in 2024 will accelerate opening outlets in major cities throughout the EU. Any customer had an opportunity to become a shareholder.

The crowdfunding also recruited a cohort of highly brand loyal supporters. Backers who invested higher amounts were able to become accredited Brand Ambassadors. They will provide valuable word-of-mouth support about IzyCoffee’s sustainability priorities and behaviours in the locations of both the existing stores and where a new store will open in the next couple of years.

Their entry is at  https://bold-awards.com/project/izycoffee-a-chain-of-coffee-shops/#main-menu

Prime Time

Prime Time brews award-winning, low-calorie beer in the UK. The two founders shared a passion for great tasting beer and good times. Their commitment to staying fit and leading a balanced lifestyle also led them to brewing beers that have 30% fewer calories, 63% fewer carbs, are gluten free and suitable for vegans.

Publicising their crowdfunding in 2024 was helped by having gained over 10,000 Instagram followers. A presence at festivals and other events also built brand exposure among sociable early adopters and provided opportunities to sign up new followers.

Added incentives to invest included a 20% discount off their website prices for every investor backing them to the tune of £100 or more, rising to 40% for £5,000 or more.

Prime Time’s full BOLD Awards entry as it https://bold-awards.com/project/prime-time/

ConnectionPoint

This Canadian entry is rather different from the others. This B-Corp business has launched four crowdfunding platforms that make a positive social impact.

  • FundRazr is a digital fundraising platform for non-profits, social causes and professional fundraisers.
  • Crowdfundr is a platform designed for creators to sustainably fund their projects and ideas. 
  • Cocopay enables friends and family to pay for a patient’s medical costs and quality healthcare.
  • PetFundr is a crowdfunding platform for animal and pet care for rescues, veterinarians and “pet parents.”

They also provide the backbone technology for organisations to power their own crowdfunding project with an entire advanced fundraising suite.

The ConnectionPoint entry is at https://bold-awards.com/project/connectionpoint/

Crowdfunding is diverse and flexible

Between them, these BOLD Awards crowdfunding category finalists display the diversity and versatility of crowdfunding to be applied to worthy public causes, personal needs, pre-orders to support the development of new products, and equity investment in privately-owned businesses, whether they are startups or well established businesses.

There are also several ways a crowdfunding project can be promoted to improve the likelihood of success. On top of developing innovative products and services, they include gaining industry awards; building large social media followings; achieving sales success and satisfied customers; and having lucrative corporate contracts.

Non-finalists can request a VIP Invitation to attend the BOLD Awards gala dinner award ceremony in Lisbon. It’s a unique event for networking with inspiring global innovators, disruptors and entrepreneurs on Friday 28th March. Hope to see you there!

To discuss your own ideas and plans for a crowdfunding project with an independent UK crowdfunding adviser, who is not tied to any specific platforms, start by emailing me at [email protected]. Go on, #beBOLD

Entry Deadline for Boldest Crowdfunding Award Closes January 9

Posted on by Clive Reffell
Main mage for a blog about Boldest Crowdfunding Award

I have been writing about crowdfunding for Crowdsourcing Week since 2016, and Crowdsourcing Week is a co-founder of the international BOLD Awards for innovators and innovation. There’s an amazing 33 categories of digital industries and the tech that powers them, including crowdfunding. Crowdfunding award schemes seem to be pretty few and far between, and here’s a bit more of an explanation about this one and the benefits of entering before the deadline of January 9.

Why bother?

  • Entering awards shows you think your team is doing a great job, and win or lose it can boost team morale.
  • To enter awards shows confidence to existing customers and stakeholders, and it can be a door-opener to new ones.
  • The process of creating an entry identifies what a company is doing particularly well, and can become transferable content used for other valuable purposes.
  • Progression through stages of the BOLD Awards provides a stream of marketing content to use in any way you decide.

What does it take to enter?

A written submission of just a few hundred words, with links possible to other content, should start with an overview of what your organisation is and does. This probably already exists. And then cover these three points:

  1. A summary of your successful crowdfunding campaign
  2. Demonstrate how you encouraged people to back your project
  3. Describe a benefit, or benefits, the crowdfunding delivered beyond simply raising money.
  • Once an online entry is started, it can be re-visited and worked on right up to the final deadline on January 9, 2025.
  • Take a look at 2024’s finalists.

The BOLD Awards structure

  • There are 33 categories of digital industries and the tech that powers them.
  • Boldest Crowdfunding Project is one of the categories. It’s not all about who raised the most money, and it’s not just for startups.
  • Each entry can be submitted in up to three categories, so each business that enters can choose the most appropriate other ones. It could be Boldest Sustainability if you’re helping the planet, Boldest CPG if you produce consumer packaged goods, Boldest Mobility if you’re in the transport sector, and so on.
  • The entry deadline date is January 9, 2025, so there’s not much time.

What it takes to win

  • Submit an entry to begin with.
  • A round of public voting in January is an opportunity for a business to mobilise its customers, investors, social media followers, and other stakeholders. It will let them know you’re confident to enter, and it can boost brand loyalty when people feel flattered that they are asked for their personal support.
  • A short list of the top entries will go to the next stage of assessment by a panel of international judges.
  • The winner in each category will be determined by a 50/50 blend of public votes and judge’s score.

Award ceremony

  • Finalists in all categories will be invited to attend a gala dinner award ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday March 28th, 2025.
  • This is a unique event to network with peers among some of the world’s most innovative talent, and with representatives of the various category partners/sponsors.
  • Use event photos in your internal communications and external marketing.

What else?

  • Please get in touch via [email protected] if you have anything you want to ask or check.

I wish you a successful 2025, and hope you close Quarter 1 by receiving a BOLD Award in Lisbon. It would be great to see you there. #beBOLD

An Amazing Range of Businesses Used Crowdfunding in September

Posted on by Clive Reffell

The diversity of businesses I found using crowdfunding in September demonstrate the flexibility and versatility of this alternative source of finance. They included organisations asking for straight donations, businesses offering rewards for donations, and businesses offering equity to prospective new shareholders. The sums involved ranged from £3,000 to £1.25 million. Success has been varied – some might have been popping champagne corks while others might have to look in the mirror and answer some tough questions. I wonder if any will enter the crowdfunding category of the BOLD Awards?

Straight Donations

Cumbria Wildlife Trust had raised 80% of what is needed to buy and protect a 3,000 acre wilderness of Skiddaw Forest in the Lake District. It launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the final £1.25 million from the general public, and it had reached 85% of this target at the time of publishing this blog. A closing deadline is not visible on their project.

Strongly featured in the news in late September, AFC Wimbledon had to call off their game against Newcastle United when heavy rain caused a sinkhole to appear in their pitch. A crowdfunding page quickly gave the club’s supporters a chance to make donations, and it was great to see Newcastle United chip in with £15,000. As of September 30, the total raised had reached almost £123,000.

A Portuguese association for travel agents is asking for donations towards possible legal costs. They want to start an action against Ryanair for what they claim is “abusive commercial or legal practices.” Some may wish them “good luck.”

Rewards for Donations

A young entrepreneur in Leighton Buzzard has developed a refreshing mist spray with built-in sunscreen. Her financial target on Kickstarter was for £3,000 worth of pre-orders, though her personal aim of reaching 1,000 pre-orders before Christmas will go a lot further to providing product validation to develop her Beame business further.

Tilted Axis Press hopes to raise £75,000. Faced with cuts in arts funding, this independent London-based businesses needs to plug a gap to continue publishing translations of books written by Asian and African authors. It is offering signed copies of newly published titles and will continue to add more rewards throughout the campaign. However, it is progressing slowly and has reached only just over £8,000, though there are 27 days left for people to get behind it.

Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate is offering a range of rewards in a bid to raise £50,000 to buy new brewing equipment. This is the first stage of a complete overhaul that will see them demolish the existing brewery and build a new one to put the equipment in. In the meantime they will be able to keep brewing. The product rewards on offer (some are in the image below) represent discounts of 15% to 20% off their normal taproom bar prices. Here are some further examples of crowdfunding used by breweries.

Equity Crowdfunding

Pro Espresso beat its £110,000 target quite comfortably and raised £151,814. It’s a subscription business that allows members to enjoy top quality coffee at home. The business is supported by an espresso machine manufacturer.

Not so positive are the results for the upmarket Embers Camping holiday company. They had reached 71% of their £200,001 target with just two days left. Perhaps the recent torrential rain and flooding brought home to people what a precarious investment it could be.

No such worries for the chocolate drink specialist Knoops. They had reached their £1 million target within two days of the project being thrown open to the public. This is never a case of just good luck, it is always due to good planning and hard work in the earlier stages.

Fermtech is an Oxford-based startup that produces a zero-carbon protein that adds taste to plant-based foods. With just four days left to run they had raised £364,000, 5% above their £325,000 target for 10.82% of the company’s equity.  

MPower is a Swiss-based company hoping to raise £1 million for 9.89% equity in the business. MPower raises money from retail investors in Europe, and lends it to lower and middle income earners in Africa, plus small and medium size businesses, to acquire solar panels and electrical appliances. Access to an energy source and equipment can transform lives and accelerate the growth of a small business.

Within each of these three forms of crowdfunding, there are some similar basic rules that apply to being successful.

  • Do not go public until you have some guaranteed support that means your crowdfunding will begin with a bang and not a whimper.
  • Keep supporting your crowdfunding project on social media, and by email if you have a database of addresses.
  • Plan each stage of the project and prepare plenty of image and video content in advance.

You can follow me on Twitter to see my updates and comments on crowdfunding projects as I post them. I am an independent crowdfunding advisor with no formal ties to any particular platforms.

BOLD Awards is an international annual award programme for 33 categories of digital industries and the technology that powers them. Crowdfunding is one of the categories. Projects entered into this category should be able to demonstrate the steps taken to invite others to support their cause and help raise funding, though the winner will be a crowdfunding campaign that also delivered much more than just funding. Entries that are at least started before October 17 will miss a €100 increase in the entry fee, and they can be updated any number of times before the final deadline in December. The award ceremony for the BOLD Awards sixth edition is a black-tie event in Lisbon on 28th March 2025. Enter now – and I hope to see you there!

How Do Money, Innovation, And Democracy Make Rewards Crowdfunding Work?

Posted on by Clive Reffell

Reward-based crowdfunding platforms such as global giants Indiegogo and Kickstarter are wildly popular around the globe. Every year, people use these platforms to transfer billions of pounds/euros/dollars to help artists deliver creative productions and content, and for entrepreneurs to develop new products and services. Though what can explain why and how rewards crowdfunding works, what motivates people to give their money?

The money is not given as charity donations. The backers obtain no financial benefits, there are no legal guarantees that their money will be used as originally described, and there are no reimbursement options. These unfavorable conditions led two American academic authors – Andre F. Maciel (University of Nebraska—Lincoln) and Michelle F. Weinberger (Northwestern University) – to ask why do so many people contribute to crowdfunding. In short, what makes reward-based crowdfunding so successful? The answers are enlightening, and are transferable to equity crowdfunding.

Key findings of why crowdfunding works

The two authors collected qualitative data from crowdfunding consumers, producers, and platforms to reveal the sociocultural underpinnings of this funding model. They found that a major part of why crowdfunding works is that platforms do more than create a technical infrastructure for consumers to transfer money to producers: they also create a mythological foundation.

Through storytelling, platforms cast crowdfunding as a route to create a more democratic society in which ordinary people (rather than banks or wealthy investors) can decide and finance the products that should exist in the market. Consumers then gladly gift their money to entrepreneurs and artists fundraising on these platforms, financing their innovation ideas interest-free. In many instances, they don’t usually receive any tangible return on their investment beyond something like a mug or a T-shirt.

Transactions replaced by social contracts

A second part of why crowdfunding works is that instead of a legal contract, crowdfunding platforms establish with consumers a “social contract” based on noble collective goals and intangible returns.

Backing a crowdfunding project comes with risks, and project backers do not receive the same protections as people buying an item from Amazon, eBay, or anywhere else.

Kickstarter gives a warning to potential project backers: “Unlike sellers on eCommerce sites, creators on Kickstarter do not automatically breach their contract with backers if they do not fulfill their rewards or provide users with a full or partial refund.” Similarly, reward-based crowdfunding backers have no recourse if creators fail to pursue or complete the innovative ideas that were their reason for asking for money.

Intangible rewards

However, in exchange for their financial gifts to support market democratisation, these project backers derive four unique forms of intangible value. 

  1. They get to express their tastes by selecting the innovations that they deem worthy of existing in the market—an opportunity that stands out from their conventional experiences as mass consumers elsewhere. This opportunity is even more significant because their tastes are often niche, patterning the immaterial value of “individualistic democratisation.” 
  2. As producers provide updates on their projects’ progress, consumers relish peeking behind the scenes of the entrepreneurial journey, acquiring the immaterial value of “insider knowledge” in their oft-niche areas of interest. 
  3. Consumers derive excitement from betting some money on the ideas of typically unknown producers. When these producers fulfill their projects and send their supporters some reward -typically symbolic tokens and an early version of the crowdfunded project – these consumers experience a “reciprocity thrill.” 
  4. Finally, crowdfunding consumers derive the immaterial value of “vicarious success”: the experience of getting a flavour of the glow of successful entrepreneurship while taking on little risk.

Reward-based crowdfunding’s main limitation

Beyond the consumer/project backers risks, the academic authors also articulate another important limitation of reward-based crowdfunding. 

For creators, reward-based crowdfunding finances many projects that would not receive bank loans or venture capital for lacking a clear profit potential, a trading history, or due to limited ambition.

Crowdfunding as an alternative means to support the creators tends to attract a specific segment of consumers: well-educated professionals involved in industries focused on producing knowledge, technology, and entertainment. These consumers tend to support projects they deem “cool.” They channel money to innovations that match their tastes, hardly ever picking projects based on the potential to broadly enhance social equality or welfare. 

Campaigns in areas such as music, film, publishing and games are more likely to succeed. Crowdfunding does finance many types of projects, but not as democratically as it first seems. 

Key takeaways

Crowdfunding has become a recognised and accepted branch of the digital economy. It is not used only by upcoming entrepreneurs and artists. Universities, museums, churches, and media organisations (including Wikipedia and The Guardian newspaper) regularly run campaigns to raise money from large numbers of people to create and enhance their market offerings. 

The Guardian newspaper part-funds itself through crowdfunding
The Guardian prefers to use crowdfunding whilst its competitors are behind a paywall

As such, this new research on why crowdfunding works is timely in three main ways: 

  • It sheds light on the consumer appeal of the crowdfunding model; 
  • it brings into relief the role of platforms in shaping the meanings of the digital economy; 
  • and it calls into question these businesses’ egalitarian claims.

Fuller research findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Research, and a version of my article first appeared for Crowdsourcing Week, where I began writing content on aspects of crowd finance in 2016.

I am an independent crowdfunding adviser, with no attachments to any specific platforms. Please contact me with an email to [email protected] to find out if I can help you with any ideas you may have of using crowdfunding. To search my blogs for other content you may find useful use the Search facility at the top right of the page.

Why crowdfunding works so well for craft beer brewers

Posted on by Clive Reffell
Why crowdfunding works well for craft beer brewers

Crowdfunding is a proven and popular way for craft beer brewers to raise money to expand or accelerate growth, or even to start in the first place. It is also a popular way for many thousands of beer drinkers to be able to say “I own part of a brewery.” Here is what I consider to be the key factors.

Funding sources for craft beer brewers

Crowdfunding is popular with craft beer brewers because there are few barriers to using it, beyond the hard work it involves. And many brewers already have a crowd of buyers and drinkers to appeal to who consume their products on a regular basis.

Bank and P2P loans are restricted to businesses that are already trading, with an income and a future order book that looks solid enough to make the repayments. An existing brewer may be able to secure a bank loan, but a new startup won’t. Banks also require guarantees against loans, and if a brewery goes bust its owners will still be liable for the debt. That’s not a comfortable feeling.

As for VCs, the craft beer sector is very fragmented with many small players. From 2018 to 2022 the number of UK brewers grew from 1,489 to 2,426.

Number of breweries in the UK from 2018 to 2022

Graph showing the number of UK breweries

             Source: © Statista 2023

Organic growth is typically slow. It can be difficult to scale fast as it is the antithesis of being a craft product. An exit strategy of an eventual sale to a big drinks company would be difficult to achieve as they have already had their pick of the crop. The Budweiser owner, AB InBev, acquired Camden Brewery; SABMiller purchased Meantime, which was local to me in Greenwich, south east London; Carlsberg took over London Fields; and Heineken acquired Beavertown, founded by Logan Plant, son of the former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant.

As well as limited opportunities to scale, many of the newcomers seeking funding don’t want to raise enough money for VCs to even consider them in the first place.

Crowdfunding is flexible

During Covid, several brewers turned to reward-based crowdfunding to ask customers for their support. Pre-Covid, the Manchester Union Brewery had relied on keg sales in on-trade outlets. When lockdown closed the pubs, they asked their community for donations to install a canning line that would enable them to switch to online orders for home delivery. Incentives to support their appeal included discounts off future purchases, shorter waiting times for deliveries, and inclusion on a “Wall of Honour.” It raised £46,141 from 617 supporters in 64 days.

This method of crowdfunding continues to be used by breweries to raise money to build or expand taprooms (which are on-site public bars). As an example, in March 2021, the Skinners Brewery in Cornwall raised £152,301 from 2,449 supporters in 28 days to build an outdoor drinking area at its site in Truro. Perks for donors included beer vouchers, tickets to exclusive events, branded merchandise and online sales discounts.

Skinners Brewery in Cornwall raised money through crowdfunding to build its outdoor drinking area

Bringing forward demand to generate pre-payment by offering beer vouchers can ease short-term cashflow issues, but has to be carefully judged so that those issues aren’t merely delayed until another time.

Many startup breweries offer shares in the business through equity crowdfunding. One running in November 2023 was Signature Brew, whose business model is to brew collaboration beers with bands and musicians. Founder and CEO Tom Bott had exceeded the £700,007 target for 4.59% equity by +25% with a few days left before the round closed.

Crowdfunding is popular with startups, but not it’s exclusively for startups. Exmoor Ales was established in 1980, and in March 2024 it closed a crowdfunding round that had raised £330,048 from 329 investors. Perks for investors included the standard branded merchandise, discounts on online orders, and a limited amount of free beer for life for larger investors as long as they remained a shareholder.

Good crowdfunding is good marketing

Running a crowdfunding campaign can generate significant media coverage and social media buzz. It serves as a marketing tool, creating awareness about a brewery and its products. This increased visibility can attract not only backers but also potential customers.

In 2023, the southeast London Gipsy Hill Brewery brewed the first carbon-negative beer without using offsets. In October ’23 they began a round of equity crowdfunding and announced their aim to be the world’s first carbon-negative brewery by 2030. The crowdfunding raised awareness of the brewery’s carbon reduction accomplishments to date and future aims. The founder and CEO was interviewed by the Sunday Times, and a television station camera crew turned up to film him at the brewery.

Crowdfunding empowers consumers

Benefits for backers

The most commonly hoped for outcome from investing in an equity crowdfunding campaign is a good return on investment. The founder of Camden Town Brewery, Jasper Cuppaidge, used equity crowdfunding in 2015 to raise £2,749,860 to build his own brewery in London. The amount of equity this involved meant the brewery was valued at around £50 million. Eight months later, having come to its attention, and seeing the extent of its public support (good crowdfunding = good marketing), AB InBev bought Camden Town Brewery for an estimated £85 million. In under a year, the 2,172 crowdfunding investors had secured a 70% return.

Successful crowdfunding does not always mean that a brewery will go on to achieve long-term commercial success. There is a risk. After 25 years the Skinners Brewery in Cornwall was forced to close in October 2022, despite its new outdoor venue paid for with crowdfunded donations.

However, small-scale investors know that a low entry cost to buy some shares can be recovered through using the online discounts that are often offered as perks. When they have saved enough money it effectively means they have reached a breakeven point and become a shareholder at no cost.

When businesses are registered under the HMRC’s EIS and SEIS schemes, crowdfunding investors who are UK taxpayers can reclaim from 30% to 50% of their initial investment. Any eventual return on investment is outside of Capital Gains Tax, or if the business sadly fails then even more of the initial investment can be reclaimed through the taxman.

Beyond ROI, sociable investors like to meet like-minded people at investor events, and can visit a brewery’s taproom bar at any other time to seek out kindred spirits.

Some investors like to invest in several breweries to create an annual schedule of perks of free or at least subsidised beer deliveries at home.

And of course there is the opportunity to drop “I’m a part owner of a brewery” into conversations.

Non-monetary benefits of a brewery having a crowd of backers

Crowdfunding is not just about raising money; it’s about helping to build a community around a brand or a business.

New crowdfunding research findings reveal that crowdfunding backers enjoy a sense of deciding which companies and products will make it to the marketplace. It gives them a tenuous link to the buzz of entrepreneurship with little personal risk – depending on the size of their investments.

I believe it’s then reasonable to consider that having contributed to the existence of a brewery, its new brewing equipment and premises, or a taproom, the crowdfunding backers will be very loyal.

Regular visitors to a brewery taproom can be encouraged to try limited quantities of new beers and give their feedback. Or packaged products could be delivered to crowdfunding backers at home. This form of product validation helps decide which new beers to take to full production.

Brewery supporters, whether investors or donors, can also be very useful as brand advocates. They can give word-of-mouth support and encourage friends and colleagues to try a brewery’s products. They may be able to provide vital business connections and make introductions, and also personally offer to provide a range of services from accountancy and legal advice to decorating offices and servicing vehicles.

To summarise, beer is a product that relationships can be built around, rather than simply regard an investment through crowdfunding as a transaction. Anyone who leaves it at just taking the money is missing a trick or two.

A Snapshot of Small Business Crowdfunding Projects

Posted on by Clive Reffell
Examples of small businesses using crowdfunding

Crowdfunding’s a great way for small business owners to raise alternative funding that’s usually not enough for VCs to be interested. An article published in September 2023 by Small Business Trends gave an overview of five types of crowdfunding, plus five benefits that crowdfunding delivers.

Crowdfunding can certainly do more than just raise money for a business, and here are more than five benefits.

  • Crowdfunding can provide social proof and product validation to show that startup business founders are going in the right direction.
  • It can also be used by existing businesses of any age to develop new products and expand.
  • Early crowdfunding backers can provide valuable feedback as a business tries to fit all the pieces of a jigsaw together to achieve success.
  • Early backers can also become brand advocates in a virtuous circle that allows customers to become investors and investors can become important customers.
  • Pre-orders can de-risk the first production run of a new product, and even multi-national companies including Sony, Coca-Cola and Mattel have used crowdfunding to test consumer demand. 
  • Crowdfunding is very flexible and not only for consumer-facing businesses. Although it’s not exactly small these days, B2B mineral extraction company Cornish Lithium has just closed a crowdfunding round having raised £5.1m.
  • Whatever type of business you have, a well planned and executed crowdfunding campaign also provides great marketing support to build awareness of a business and attract interest. Get in touch if you want to discuss your ideas.
  • Crowdfunding opportunities can also appeal to everyday retail investors who choose to support companies that are active in certain specialist business sectors.

Fashion

Recycled clothing is becoming more and more popular as awareness grows of the amount of waste in the fashion and clothing industry. Immaculate Vegan is an upmarket vegan and sustainable fashion platform. Encouraged by 56% year-on-year sales growth, it launched an equity crowdfunding campaign that closes/closed on September 26. Its target was £200,000 – it reached over £300,000 from more than 300 investors.

Cycling

There have been many successful small business crowdfunding projects in the cycling sector. I guess they appeal to people who want to invest in businesses that may help get people out of cars and tackle air pollution.

Two years ago, the Smart Tyre Company startup in Ohio, USA, developed an airless tyre for road bikes in partnership with NASA. They claim they have both the elasticity of rubber and the strength of titanium, and made them available through crowdfunding on Kickstarter. With 16 days to go at the time of writing, almost 300 backers had pledged just short of £125,000 to order a set of the innovative bike tyres.

Scottish startup Intra Drive is also using equity crowdfunding, through Crowdcube, to help bring its new 8-speed mid-drive for e-bikes to market. The redesigned e-bike motor comes with enhanced efficiency that simplifies manufacturing; a lighter gearbox; integrated electronics; an innovative display interface; and it is easier for manufacturers and consumers alike to fit it.

Healthtech

Healthtech startup AudioTelligence launched a crowdfunding campaign for its hearing enhancement device. Having decided to go-it-alone rather than sell out to an established rival, their small business crowdfunding goal is £400,000 to fund the manufacture of an initial batch of 1,000 units. Feedback from these early backers will be very valuable to aid product development.

Sport

The company that owns both the Cornish Pirates rugby club and Truro City football club in Cornwall, Kernow Sport, has raised over £413,000 from nearly 500 investors by offering equity through crowdfunding. It’s the first stage of raising a £2.5m total as the main benefactor begins to wind down his personal investment in the two clubs, reported the BBC.

Small bsuiness crowdfunding can support sports clubs like the Cornish Pirate rugby team

Community-based projects

The legendary Filmhouse Cinema in Edinburgh is raising the first £250,000 of a total £1.25m needed to re-open with a 21 year lease in its existing building which is being refurbished.

By September 17, a 2021 Masterchef contestant was over 80% of the way to raising £35,000 through reward-based small business crowdfunding to help him open a new restaurant in Bishop Auckland, northeast England.

Proptech

Small buiness crowdfunding helps raise smaller sums than VCs are interested in

HouseStars is an AI-powered app that connects property owners with building trades people. It is 98% of the way to its £125,001 equity crowdfunding target on Seedrs. As at September 25 there were 23 days left to run. SEIS investor benefits are available, which for taxpayers include a rebate through the tax system of 50% of the amount invested.

Food and beverages

World Tea News reported that New York-based Leaves of Leisure, a luxury herbal tea brand with a focus on zero and low caffeine teas, has launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at growing the brand and expanding into new markets. CEO and Founder Allison Ullo hopes to raise $50,000.

Crowdfunding, through offering equity or bringing new products to market, is definitely a strong option for many small businesses with big ambitions. I am an independent crowdfunding adviser, with no ties to any particular platforms. Whatever sector you work in, crowdfunding is very flexible and could play a role to help turn your innovation and dreams in to life-changing reality. If you’d like an objective assessment of how crowdfunding could provide a solution for you, and how close you are to being ready to use it, then please get in touch. Send a message to [email protected].

How do you balance crowdfunding risks and returns?

Posted on by Clive Reffell

Crowdfunding risks and returns follow the same rules as any other investment. Higher returns mean exposing money to more risk. This is certainly true in crowdfunding, whether you want to raise money for your business or on a personal basis. I wrote an article for my client BOLD Awards on this topic, which looks at the risks and returns involved in reward, debt, and equity crowdfunding. I included some examples, plus a little personal experience.

Debt crowdfunding platforms, also known as peer-to-peer lenders, generally experience an average default rate of 1 to 10%. Equity crowdfunding mainly, though not exclusively, involves backing startup businesses. On average, 50% of them fail in their first three years, and only 1 in 10 succeeds beyond ten years. Investors seek higher returns from buying equity than from providing capital for loans.

Reward-based crowdfunding, which does not involve buying equity in or lending to a startup, carries its own risks. It swiftly developed from rewarding backers with a gesture of appreciation for a donation to a project or an appeal. In many instances it has become a quasi-sales channel where the donation is effectively the purchase price of a product, and the product happens to be the reward that is provided. Even though this may sound like a straightforward transactional arrangement, it can carry risks if the product on offer is still in the development stage. It is definitely not the same in timescale or consumer protection as ordering an item from Amazon.

The rest of the article goes through the balance of crowdfunding risk and return for each of reward-based crowdfunding; debt crowdfunding (aka peer-to-peer lending): equity crowdfunding; and crowdfunding to buy fractionalised ownership of tangible assets, such as art, luxury cars and watches, rare whisky, and so on. It is over at the Bold Awards site, please use this link to continue reading: https://bold-awards.com/crowdfunding-risks-and-returns/