The UK Crowdfunding Association was formed in 2013 with the purpose of promoting the interests of crowdfunding platforms, their investors, and clients. By working together and speaking with one voice we are successfully cooperating with regulators and lawmakers to take the industry forward as a force for positive change in the UK’s financial sector.
, and champion crowdfunding with various promotional and lobbying activities. Our members also agree to support calls for a strong regulatory framework, which will protect platforms, businesses, and investors without stifling the industry’s capacity for growth.
A pioneer of digital businesses since founding ba.com in 1994, Julia has spent the last 20 years working on disruptive customer-led propositions across online retail, renewable energy and financial services market spaces.
Straight-talking and passionate about making finance more democratic, she is also a Senior Fellow of the Finance Lab, a Founding 50 member of Innovate Finance and recently completed a Non-executive Director position with the influential campaigning organisation Move your Money.
Karen is the Chief Legal Officer of Seedrs. Before joining Seedrs in July 2013, Karen worked at international law firm Simmons & Simmons LLP in the Financial Markets Litigation and Contentious Regulatory Team, where she acted for a range of financial institutions. At Seedrs she heads up the legal, financial, compliance and administrative functions. Karen is an England and Wales qualified lawyer who holds an MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford, and post-graduate legal qualifications GLD and LPC. Karen was named one of the top women in fintech by Innovate Finance, and UK in-house individual of the year in the Finance sector by Legal 500.
European Crowdfunding Network. Paul’s experience includes working in City law firms, blue chip technology companies and as a non-executive director of a technology startup. Before joining Crowdcube he spent four years leading commercial legal work at eBay. Paul also launched his own startup and is passionate about helping others raise finance to do the same.
Atuksha’s background is in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and data analytics. Over 15+ years, she has helped businesses, across many industries build and maintain a loyal customer base through her CRM consulting business. Her focus is now crowdfunding.
Atuksha is a firm believer in the importance of building a long-standing community and raving fan base; something that is well suited to both CRM and crowdfunding.
An investment banking professional turned financial adviser, with over 13 years experience in the financial industry, across Asset Management, debt & capital markets, investment banking and, recently, advising on technology strategy.Frank is a seasoned business and financial strategist, entrepreneur, and Chartered Management Accountant. While working under a large institution as a financial adviser helping families manage their money, he became ever-more frustrated by the standard products at his disposal, and so decided to bring together a team to develop a new and better way that delivers what some have dubbed “an ingenious and sustainable model with no immediate equal.”In 2014, Frank was appointed Director of the UKCFA (UK Crowd Funding Association), an association that considers P2P as a significant part of the crowd funding revolution. Frank’s motivation is to see the industry grow and gain full acceptance in the wider financial market, especially across ISAs, institutional investments and opportunities with SIPPs and recent changes in annuity requirements.
Oliver is CEO and Co Founder of Envestors® which has completed investment of £100m into high-growth companies. In addition to its private investor network, Envestors® licenses its Envestry™ white-label crowdfunding platform to over 50 organsations. Oliver is also a Member of Court at Imperial College (London) and sat on the Board of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) from 2006 to 2014.
Prior to Envestors, instead of becoming an accountant after university, Oliver opened a sandwich shop in Central London in 1986. By the time he sold the business (“Woolleys Catering”) to Northern Foods in 1997, he had three shops, a healthfood store and three speciality sausage shops in the south-east (“Hugo Oliver Sausages”). After selling the business Oliver went on to invest into early-stage companies and gained a track record unblemished by success. This resulted in him starting Envestors in 2004 with the aim of improving the process for investors interested in tax-efficient investing in the UK.
MoneyThing is a peer-to-peer lending platform and part of the fastest growing sector in alternative banking. We match lenders with business borrowers, leaving out the banks and offering better deals all round. We lend to British businesses and all loans are secured by an asset: be that property, vehicles, or business stock. Our lenders earn between 8% and 13% interest per annum, paid monthly. What makes MoneyThing different from other peer-to-peer lenders is our approach to lending. We are committed to providing the best service we can to lenders and borrowers. We do that by listening to our customers, learning from feedback and aiming for excellence. We are a self-funded family business and since our launch in February 2015, we have experienced fantastic organic growth, due to the support of our growing lender and borrower base.
The #1 French FinTech company: since its launch, Lemon Way has enjoyed positive word-of-mouth between start-ups. The result: 1.8m customer accounts opened in two years and a turnover of €4m that has quadrupled last year.
An independant Financial Institution: there are no banks or investment funds among its shareholders and Lemon Way has been self-financing since it was created in 2007, making it the only independent player in its market. Lemon Way is approved by the French regulator and is licensed to operate in 30 European countries. The company employs 70 people based in London, Paris and Dakar, and plans to recruit 40 more people in 2016.
