FundedByMe expands to South Africa. A Letter Of Intent has been signed with Thrive Business Innovation Group.*

An LOI, letter of intent has been signed between FundedByMe AB and Thrive Business Innovation Group regarding the expansion of the crowdfunding platform's operations to a very promising region in South Africa and the Sub Saharan region. The partner Thrive Business Innovation Group is an incubator and a company based in Cape Town, which works with fundraising, where they’ve launched a new setup on corporate development in South Africa, focusing on incubating and accelerating companies that have the conditions for good growth in the digital economy.

FundedByMe has operations in other countries within the EU, Southeast Asia, and Dubai/MENA through Joint Venture Franchise models, where the local party is responsible for setting up a local company, obtaining the necessary permits, scouting and coaching companies and expanding the investor network. FundedByMe provides the platform, method, investor network, and receives a monthly license payment as well as ownership in the local company.

FundedByMe has noted that all companies that go live on the site today have investors from at least 2 countries and historically it has proven that cross-border investments in startups and growth companies through crowdfunding works very well.

The Letter of Intent states that a joint local company shall be started, where FundedByMe AB will own about 20% and where the local company will pay FundedByMe AB a monthly license and share part of revenue. The ambition is to complete all the necessary steps until the summer of 2020 to begin formal activity from Q3 onwards. Several promising companies wishing to seek capital through this cooperation are already being guided.

FundedByMe is the EU's largest equity crowdfunding portal, where more than 650 companies have implemented successful equity crowdfunding rounds and more than 1000 projects have received support.

“Living in the UK for more than 18 years made me realize how important your roots are. It also gave me insights and skills that could contribute to growth in Africa. There are so many amazing opportunities in Africa, and we believe this will be one of the most important growth areas in the world over the next few decades. Our big vision with Thrive B.i.G is to help businesses grow through innovation and access to funding. Our partnership with Funded By Me in establishing the biggest global crowd fund focused on growing businesses in Africa is a game-changer, not only for us but for business in Southern Africa!” says Mr. FC Rademeyer, CEO of Thrive Business Innovation Group

“We have always had great ambitions for this movement as one of our main ambitions is to work towards the democratization and improvement of the financial industry. This geographical expansion is very natural for us as the company's co-founder Arno Smit has roots in Namibia and South Africa and as we have seen a great need for an international crowdfunding platform in the region. We have also seen an expressed interest from European investors looking at startups focused on solving the problems for the entire Sub-Saharan region. This is also in line with the previously announced continued geographical expansion and we are very excited about the collaboration with Thrive,” says Daniel Daboczy, CEO and co-founder.

*English translation for convenience only

For further information, please contact:
FundedByMe Crowdfunding Sweden AB
Daniel Daboczy, CEO
Mobile: +46 (0) 73 6269985
E-mail: daniel@fundedbyme.com

About FundedByMe
FundedByMe is a tech company, focusing on the financial markets. Today the company offers a digital and global platform for financial support for startups and growth companies around the globe. Customers sign up online where they are able to book their investment interest in different companies. The company consists of FundedByMe.com, Feminvest and Laika Consulting, as well as 6 joint ventures in Finland, Malaysia, Singapore, Poland, The Netherlands, and Dubai/UAE. Together the group reaches over 269,000 registered investment members globally. For more information visit www.fundedbyme.com