Darren Westlake, Crowdcube. Photo: Professional Images/@ProfImages
Im the co-founder and CEO of Crowdcube, an online platform that enables startup, early and growth stage businesses, from a range of sectors, to raise finance with the added benefit of being backed by the crowd.
From our headquartersin Exeter, I get to spend every day working with great companies and entrepreneurs of varying sizes, from a range of sectors.Prior to launching Crowdcube in 2011, I spent 20 years working in the internet and telecoms industry where I founded and ultimately sold two IT businesses.
I launched my first business in the mid-1990s, Id heard about voice over IP (VOIP) and thought, wow, this is the future. So I quit my job and set up a consultancy called Spiritec. We built it up over five years before selling for shares to Seimitsu. I then went on to launch another VOIP business which I again sold for shares. The deal resulted in me becoming an employee of a telecoms company. It was a very different experience for me, it was a big company with more than 2, 000 employees and I missed being in a small, agile business.
My varied experiences provided the inspiration for Crowdcube. As an entrepreneur, I knew how hard it could be to raise money and was interested in finding a way of making investing into businesses more accessible, affordable and rewarding. That’s when I teamed up with my co-founder Luke Lang and pressed ahead to launch Crowdcube, the world’s first investment crowdfunding platform. Since 2011 weve grown to a team of 65 people and amassed an investor community of over 180, 000. Over 80m has been invested on the platform, funding more than 250 British businesses as a result.
