Crowdfunding for business

Equity crowdfunding sells shares in your company to many investors through an FCA-regulated platform. Reward crowdfunding takes money from backers in return for a product or a perk, with no shares involved and no FCA regulation. UK equity platforms at November 2026 include Crowdcube and Republic Europe, the name Seedrs has traded under since July 2024.

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Equity and reward crowdfunding

Crowdfunding raises money from a large number of people, each putting in a modest sum, through a website that runs the campaign. The two kinds a company uses work in different ways. In equity crowdfunding, the backers buy shares and become shareholders. In reward crowdfunding, they pay in advance for a product, an experience or a thank-you, and the company owes them that reward.

The FCA regulates investment-based crowdfunding, because it involves selling shares to the public. It does not regulate reward-based or donation-based crowdfunding, although it may regulate the payment services a platform uses. Investors in equity crowdfunding have no FSCS protection if the company fails.

Reward crowdfunding suits a company with a product people can picture and want to own, such as a gadget, a board game or a drink. It doubles as a test of demand: a campaign that sells a thousand units in advance tells you, and later investors, something about the market. Equity crowdfunding suits a company whose customers would like to own part of it, such as a consumer brand, a brewery or an app with a large user base, and a business the public can follow.

Equity and reward crowdfunding compared

	Equity crowdfunding	Reward crowdfunding
What backers get	Shares in the company	A product, experience or perk
Regulation	Regulated by the FCA, through the platform	Outside FCA regulation
Who can back	Members of the public who pass the platform’s checks for the investment	Anyone
Tax relief for backers	SEIS or EIS relief if the company and shares qualify	None
What the company owes	A share of future value and the rights in its articles	The reward, delivered as promised
Shareholder register	Many new shareholders, or one nominee holding for them	Unchanged
Ongoing work	Updates to shareholders, annual accounts, and votes where the articles require them	Making and posting the rewards

A scientist using a pipette in a laboratory

The platforms

Crowdcube and Republic Europe are UK equity crowdfunding platforms. Republic Europe has been the trading name of Seedrs Limited since 10 July 2024, following its purchase by the US firm Republic, and Seedrs Limited remains the FCA-authorised firm. For reward crowdfunding, UK businesses use platforms such as Kickstarter and Crowdfunder.

An equity platform checks the company before listing it, approves the campaign as a financial promotion, collects the money and handles the legal documents. It charges fees, which each platform sets. Ask for the full schedule before you apply.

Since 19 January 2026, an off-market public offer of shares worth £5 million or more, made to a broad range of investors, has to go through an FCA-authorised public offer platform. Offers below £5 million remain exempt from that requirement.

Equity: Crowdcube and Republic Europe (Seedrs Limited)
Reward: Kickstarter and Crowdfunder
Public offers of £5 million or more go through a public offer platform
Ask each platform for its fees and its rule on a missed target

Running an equity crowdfunding campaign

1
Apply and pass checks
The platform reviews the business, the founders, the accounts and the legal documents before it agrees to list the campaign.
2
Prepare the campaign
Write the pitch, film the video, build the forecast, set the valuation and the target, and get advance assurance if investors will claim SEIS or EIS relief.
3
Open to your own network
A campaign can open privately to the company’s customers and contacts first, so the public page shows money already committed.
4
Go public and close
The campaign opens to the platform’s investors for a set period. If it reaches its target, the documents are signed, the shares issued and form SH01 filed at Companies House within one month.

The work involved

A crowdfunding campaign is a marketing campaign with a legal process attached. The money comes from the people you bring to the campaign, through emails to customers, social media, press and events, and from the platform’s own investors, who can see how much has been committed. Plan for the founders to spend a large share of their time on it for the length of the campaign and the weeks before it opens.

Investors ask questions in public on the campaign page, and the answers stay there. Every claim in the pitch has to be fair, clear and not misleading, because the platform approves it as a financial promotion, so expect the platform to ask for evidence behind each number. Prepare the data room as you would for a venture fund.

A campaign has a target. Each platform has its own rule for what happens if the target is missed and whether the company can accept money above it, so read those rules before you set the figure. Set the target at the sum the company needs to reach its next milestone, and say what any extra money would pay for.

Your shareholder register after a crowd round

A crowd round can add hundreds of shareholders. If each one holds shares directly, each one appears on the register of members, receives notice of general meetings and has a vote. Platforms can instead hold crowd investors’ shares through a nominee, so that one name appears on the register and the nominee deals with the investors. Ask which structure the platform uses and how the nominee votes.

Later investors will look at the register. A venture fund leading the next round will want to know that small holders cannot block a sale of the company, so make sure the articles include drag-along rights, and that the pre-emption rights on new issues work in a way the company can manage. Agree with the platform how crowd investors take part in future rounds.

Crowd shareholders can also be customers who promote the company. Keep them informed with regular updates, file the annual accounts on time, and give them the chance to invest again in the next round. If the company raised under SEIS or EIS, submit the compliance statement as soon as the company qualifies, so investors get their certificates.

Reward crowdfunding and pre-sales

Money from a reward campaign is payment for something the company has promised to deliver. If the product is late or never ships, backers can complain to the platform and the company may have to refund them under the platform’s terms. Cost the making and posting of every reward before you set the price, and ask your accountant how the pledges are taxed and whether VAT is due.

Questions people ask

Is crowdfunding regulated in the UK?

Equity and loan crowdfunding are regulated by the FCA, and the platforms that run them must be authorised. Reward and donation crowdfunding are outside FCA regulation, although the payment services behind them may be regulated. Investors in equity crowdfunding have no FSCS protection if the company fails, and since 19 January 2026 a public offer of £5 million or more has to go through an authorised public offer platform.

Can a crowdfunding round qualify for SEIS or EIS?

Yes, if the company and the shares meet the scheme conditions. When you apply for advance assurance as a first-time user of the schemes, HMRC asks for evidence that the platform has accepted your proposal, in place of a list of named investors. After the round, the company submits its compliance statement and issues certificates so each investor can claim.

Do crowdfunding investors get a vote?

Shareholders vote according to the rights attached to their class of shares. Some crowd rounds issue shares with no vote, and some hold the crowd’s shares through a nominee that votes on their behalf. Check which class of share is being offered and how the platform’s nominee, if there is one, exercises votes, before you agree the terms of the round.

What happens if a crowdfunding campaign misses its target?

That depends on the platform’s rules for the campaign. On an all-or-nothing campaign, investors’ money is not collected, or is returned, and no shares are issued. Read the rules before you launch, set a target that pays for a real milestone, and line up commitments from your own customers and contacts before the campaign goes public.

Is Seedrs still running?

Seedrs has traded as Republic Europe since 10 July 2024, after the US firm Republic bought it. The FCA-authorised company is still Seedrs Limited, and the platform runs equity crowdfunding campaigns for UK companies under the Republic Europe name.

Does crowdfunding put off later investors?

A crowd round can raise questions for a venture fund about a long shareholder register and how easily the company can be sold. A nominee structure, drag-along rights in the articles and clear rules on future share issues answer most of them. A campaign that raised from many customers can also show later investors that the market wants the product.

Finance is subject to status and to the lender’s terms. A personal guarantee makes you liable for the company’s debt if it does not repay, and it can be enforced against your own assets, including your home. Nothing here is a personal recommendation.

All business funding

Crowdfunding for business

Equity and reward crowdfunding

Equity and reward crowdfunding compared

The platforms

Running an equity crowdfunding campaign

Apply and pass checks

Prepare the campaign

Open to your own network

Go public and close

The work involved

Your shareholder register after a crowd round

Reward crowdfunding and pre-sales

Questions people ask

Equity investment

Equity investment

Advance assurance for the seed scheme and EIS

Angel investment

Getting investor ready

Crowdfunding for business

Equity and reward crowdfunding

Equity and reward crowdfunding compared

The platforms

Running an equity crowdfunding campaign

Apply and pass checks

Prepare the campaign

Open to your own network

Go public and close

The work involved

Your shareholder register after a crowd round

Reward crowdfunding and pre-sales

Questions people ask

Equity investment

Equity investment

Advance assurance for the seed scheme and EIS

Angel investment

Getting investor ready

Start a funding search

Cover for a personal guarantee