Today Envestors has announced it has secured £2m in funding to grow its digital marketplace for start-up investment, The marketplace, powered by Envestors’ white-label investment platform Envestry, facilitates the investment process for all parties, making it easier for start-ups to raise investment and for investors to build diverse portfolios.
Partnering with networks, accelerators and incubators, Envestors provides a branded site where they can engage investors, promote deals and uniquely connect to other networks.
The Envestry platform already has a number of customers including: SetSquared, the number one global incubator, a collaboration between the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey; Bristol-based network Plerith; soon-to-launch OBN Ventures, the life sciences membership organisation; and Prospedia Capital which focuses on advanced automotive technologies.
This new investment will be used to:
· Grow the network of partners using Envestry, including accelerators, incubators, universities, angel networks and larger enterprise clients.
· Enhance the platform, building on ‘smart matching’ functionality
· Develop Envestors’ investment readiness services, to help start-ups increase their chances of raising capital
Currently the investment space is fragmented, with lots of different organisations involved in matching start-ups with investment. They are all doing a great job, but they are disconnected, each having to reinvent its own wheel, and each serving a niche based on region, sector, stage or affiliation (e.g. universities, membership bodies, events companies).
This means start-ups have to do a lot of leg work to get in front of investors and investors themselves typically have to join half a dozen networks to get access to enough investment opportunities to build their portfolio.
