Join Thousands of Irish Investors - get exclusive access

Join Thousands of Irish Investors getting exclusive access to exciting Irish Startups

In May 2010, a private Startup run by two Irish brothers was valued at $2 million.  They couldn’t find investors in Ireland and so they raised funds in the US.  In April 2020 this company was valued at $36 billion.  If you had invested $1,000 in 2010, it would be worth $18,000,000 today. 

The name of the company is Stripe and it was founded by John and Patrick Collison from Limerick. 

Back in 2010, there was no platform through which Stripe could allow Irish investors to buy shares in companies like Stripe.  Today, there is – Spark Crowdfunding.

It is the only company in Ireland that offers equity crowdfunding and anyone with €100 to invest can join.

 

Dragons’ Den for Ordinary Investors

Equity crowdfunding gives private investors access to investment opportunities that were once only accessible to large Venture Capital firms.  

Think of equity crowdfunding as an online version of Dragons’ Den, where ordinary investors can become the Dragon.  When enough of these Dragons invest together, they become a ‘crowd’ and the crowd buys shares (or equity) in a private company as a group.    

 

Spark Crowdfunding

Established in Dublin in 2018, Spark Crowdfunding is simply an online platform that connects private Irish companies seeking to raise funds with ordinary Irish individuals who are interested in investing in Irish start-ups.  

The process is very straightforward.  A company uploads a campaign to the platform, which includes a video and a description of the business.  Investors make a decision on whether they wish to invest in the company or not - and can invest anything for €100 to €100,000.  The average investment size is roughly €2,000.      

Investors on the Spark Crowdfunding platform have invested in 14 Irish start-ups over the past two years, in amounts ranging from €50,000 to €560,000.  Many of these companies have also been funded by Enterprise Ireland.  

 

Case Study – Success Story

In December 2018, a car hire app called Fleet raised €384,000 from 132 investors on the Spark Crowdfunding platform at a valuation of €1 million.  The value of Fleet increased over the following 15 months, and in March 2020 Fleet raised more money at a valuation almost three times higher than the valuation at which the Spark Crowdfunding investors purchased their shares. And this doesn’t even include the 40% tax refund the Irish investors received on their investment.     

 

Generous Tax Refunds for Investing in Irish Start-ups

Investors who invest in most of the Start-ups on the Spark Crowdfunding platform can receive very generous tax breaks on their investments.  Specifically, investors can receive a 40% refund on investments in companies that are EIIS approved.  Therefore, a €1,000 investment would receive a tax refund of €400, regardless of how well the company performs.  Further information about this may be found in this article:   https://www.sparkcrowdfunding.com/blog/beginners-guide-to-the-eiis-scheme-for-irish-investors

 

How to Join the Crowd and Invest in Exciting Irish Start-ups

To access these investment opportunities, it is necessary to register as a member of the Spark Crowdfunding platform.  It’s free to join and there is no obligation to invest.  Click here whenever you are ready to join: https://www.sparkcrowdfunding.com/register

 

Perhaps your first investment could turn out to be the next Stripe!!