Sitting left on stage at the FT European Sharing Economy Summit (March 17th) is Alex Stephany, Chief Excutive Officer from JustPark. He is participating in a panel about the future of the city.
Stephany explains that the future is about urbanization. A large share of the global population will live in metropolitan cities. Initiatives like JustPark, its platform connects parking space owners with drivers looking for a convenient space, will prevent that these cities implode. JustPark helps to avoid that you circle around with your car, looking for a parking space. Key is that the platform gives total visibility of where you end up, before you get there.
Stephany is not the only one that foresees the urge of platforms like JustPark. Apparently the crowd is also convinced about the urge (and future success) of the platform. JustPark announced today that it has closed its highly successful equity crowdfunding round on Crowdcube having raised £3.7 million from 2916 investors purchasing 15.61% equity in the firm in 34 days. According to Crowdcube, investors came from around the world including Hong Kong, Costa Rica and Monaco. Approximately 1/3 of investors were users of the product. The funding round is one of the largest equity crowdfunding raises in UK history.
JustPark, founded in 2006, is indicative of a shift in UK equity crowdfunding as larger, later stage firms, take advantage of the internet to quickly and efficiently raise capital. Crowdfunding platforms generate more revenue off of larger, successful issues, and thus are incentivized to pursue larger firms to scale. (Source: Crowdfund Insider)
During the FT European Sharing Summit the report What We Know about the Global Sharing Economy was launched. According to the report 80% of the Sharing Economy startups see crowdfunding as the best way to raise capital. The report is made by Compare and Share and can be downloaded here.
Flowing Economy 