Vice and Ivy: Crowdfunding for Expansion in Risky Business Culture

Unlike other companies that use this instrument in the early stages of development, the companies founded by Alex Puig and by Marc dove y Bernard yearsrespectively, they do so when they have already acquired greater financial muscle.

leftover financing

In October of last year, the vegan food group announced that it had already raised 20 million euros, mostly traditional, and announced that he plans to open a second phase of fundraising in 2023 until reaching 50 million. For its part, the hamburger chain captured 17 million last April.

Despite this, both startups resort to a mechanism that until now was used rather in cutting-edge sectors in technology y biomedicine –there is the example of platforms like Capital Cell o Fundeen— which while requiring intensive financing often have a dubious return.

New brand culture

According to the experts consulted, the measure entails a change of brand culture: you want to button up the most loyal followers while giving an open image of the investment startupera. Not to mention the campaign advertising free What do these rounds entail? democratic of financing.

“From the point of view of engagement and of the branding it is a good initiative, as well as the management of the investment that is structured in a single syndicated instrument and is well regulated”, acknowledges an investor from the Barcelona entrepreneurial scene. Among other issues, many platforms carry out a test of suitability and the characteristics of the investment are well explained.

From fans to investors

“In the case of Heura y Vicio, it has an exclusive objective that is to retain future clients as shareholders, turn your fans into your owners to complement the professional capital with people from the street. In principle, it’s not a bad idea,” adds another accredited investor who criticizes the “snobbery” that sometimes leads to distrusting the financial wisdom of individuals.

In any case, this route can find more accommodation in companies B2C, abbreviations to designate the business between companies and consumers. But it must be borne in mind that the entry of these owners will hardly give them decision-making capacity in the direction taken by the top management, beyond receiving internal and private information at shareholder meetings. And you have to know how to explain it.

added risks

“has this risk added to give entry to investors who are not professionals. You can have very radical shareholders who act differently from a family office o one venture capital“, he adds. “What will happen if tomorrow a multinational buys Heura? Will these small investors understand that they have no impact on the governance of the company?”, replies another interlocutor.

The truth is that the crowdfunding it is better defined now than it was years ago. Since 2020, the Union European has defined the scope and use of this mechanism. In addition, it has raised the maximum amount of contributions per campaign from two to five million euros for a period of 12 months. What has made this option more attractive.