A letter from the Seedrs CEO, Jeff Kelisky

This week we spent time in the Her Majesty's High Court of Justice in England. What were we doing you ask? Just finalizing the future of the first ever global private investment marketplace. The acquisition of Seedrs, our European counterpart, was finalized early this morning.

Seedrs is now officially part of Republic!

What does this mean for investors and entrepreneurs? Expect more ways to invest across global campaigns, more opportunities for companies to enter new markets, and more products built to support the growth of both investors and entrepreneurs.

Read more about the world’s first global private investment platform in a letter from the Seedrs CEO below.

(Oh, and if you’re wondering - we did try to get our counsel, Max, to wear the traditional courtroom wig, but he claimed he somehow misplaced it.)

From the Seedrs CEO, Jeff Kelisky:

I’m excited to share with the Seedrs community that our acquisition by Republic, announced in November, is complete. Now officially a part of the Republic ecosystem, we are building the world’s first global private investing platform. It’s the perfect cap to the first ten years of Seedrs, during which we helped facilitate £2 billion in investment in over 1,700 campaigns by incredible companies like Revolut, Chapel Down, Lick Paint, and Wealthify as well as funds such as Passion Capital and Superseed. Our next chapter will be even more exciting. 

But neither Seedrs, nor Republic, has been standing still over the past few months while the acquisition was underway. On the contrary. Since my last CEO letter, Seedrs: 

• Grew 50% year on year, funding a record 310 deals & powering 17,000 secondary market trades

• Celebrated 10 years with 1,700 campaigns and over £2 billion in total facilitated investment 

• Helped iconic businesses such as Spoke raise £4.7m from 1,579 investors; THIS raise its 2nd round on Seedrs with £11m in total across both rounds; and Crypterium, a world-leading crypto app, raise over €3m from 2,535 investors

• Expanded our European footprint with our European HQ in Dublin, including two leadership hires

During the same time, the greater Republic ecosystem has: 

• Launched Republic Asia, further building on its goal to democratise investing globally 

• Expanded alternate investment opportunities into culture, including fine art investing with Damien Hirst’s Psalm 116. 

• Announced its 9th cohort of the Republic Venture Partner Program, with 42 partners from 13 countries

• Launched an investment consortium between Republic Crypto, Galaxy Interactive, and Alameda Research to support top-tier gaming studios entering web3

I could go on, but now, I want to look forward to a very exciting future. As the new leader of the now-global Republic Retail organisation, of which Seedrs will serve as the European arm, my goal is to both further accelerate investment opportunities for our combined 2.5 million members globally as well as open up new fundraising audiences for high-growth businesses like the 1,370 currently active in our combined portfolio. 

This global collaboration has already begun, with Seedrs portfolio companies THIS!, Fishbrain, and Fy already accessing US markets by running successful campaigns on Republic’s US investment platform in the first half of 2022. And this is just the beginning - across the global Republic Retail organisation, we are on track to deliver over 600 campaigns and £250 million in net investment to fundraising companies worldwide. 

So what’s next? Well, without giving away too much, let’s just say - we’ve got exciting things in store. Expect more ways to invest across global campaigns, more opportunities for companies to enter new markets, and new products including web3 offerings to support the growth of investors and entrepreneurs. I hope you'll join and collaborate with us in this next stage of growth. 

The first 10 years have been exciting, but the next 10 years… I’m pretty sure, will be interstellar 🚀

Thank you for all your support!

Jeff Kelisky

CEO, Seedrs and EVP, Republic