Yahoo Finance

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UK crowdfunding business Crowdcube has agreed to merge with its rival Seedrs. The two companies say the deal will create one of the world’s largest private equity marketplaces. 

The crowdfunding space was hit hard by the pandemic. In June, Crowdcube saw investments on its platform were down 10% compared to May 2019. Meanwhile, Seedrs made salary cuts and furloughs in June. 

Shareholders in Crowdcube—which raised over £35 million from investors including Draper Esprit and Balderton Capital, according to the PitchBook platform—will hold 60% of the combined group, which will be run by Seedr’s current CEO Jeff Kelisky.  Seedrs has secured more than £30 million in funding. It is backed by VCs including Augmentum, Bluebird Partners and LC Ventures. 

Since 2011, over 1,500 companies have received more than £2 billion across both business’ platforms. Payments group Revolut and beer maker Brewdog are among those to have used their crowdfunding services. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of the year of early 2021.