Crowdberry in 2021
14/03/2022
14/03/2022
2021 was a year full of opportunities. Czechs and Slovaks showed that despite all the challenges, they still want to keep developing their businesses and the world around them. To see how, look at the numbers from our platform. Last year, private investors stumped up the most investment in our history for successful Czech and Slovak companies and real estate – over €16 million (CZK 400 million). In total, Crowdberry had €60 million of capital under management and 42 companies in its portfolio by the end of 2021. In addition, Crowdberry partner Peter Bečár oversaw saw the creation of a qualified investor fund focused on real estate. There was even a record increase in registrations on the Crowdberry platform and in our team members.
In 2021, we successfully closed 10 investment opportunities on the crowdberry.eu platform. The total amount of invested capital reached over €16 million (CZK 400 million), with one in three investors putting their trust and capital in two or more companies. The portfolio of funded companies was mostly those focused on technology (such as Artzenal, nettle.ai, SEC Technologies), but also included e-commerce and booking platforms and their related infrastructure (Footshop, Boataround, isklad.eu), biotechnology (Glycanostics) and real estate (KLM Piešt'any).
The fund targets superior returns by investing in undervalued properties with the opportunity to increase their value. The fund is regulated and supervised by the CNB and was just launched in 2021.
Last year, we added over 1,500 new investors (active and passive) who registered on our platform. In total, our investor community now amounts to over 4,700 members, an increase of 50% year-on-year. Our investors were able to learn new market trends and company news at regular meetings, webinars, and online discussions with the investment team and company founders, over 70 of which were held last year. Company founders and investors also shared their experiences with the wider community at the Crowdberry Forum. event. This was the first ever Czech-Slovak conference on growth capital and was watched live by more than 800 people.
We have grown from our original 21 colleagues to a team of 35 people working with us to prepare investment opportunities, provide professional service to companies and investors, and keep the infrastructure and mechanisms of our platform running. In addition, they also prepare analyses, webinars, meetings, news, and much more. We’ve also significantly strengthened our marketing department. Our internal team is now strengthened by experienced marketers from SenseZOOM, in which Crowdberry acquired a majority stake last year.
