This week, Crowdcube became the first UK-based crowdfunding website to raise £200m in investments for start-ups and small businesses.
It represents almost 50 per cent of the UK market, and reached its milestone after lingerie and nightwear firm Bluebella secured over £1m from more than 700 investors.
Co-founder Luke Lang said: “We predicted last year that investment rounds would get bigger in 2016, with the average amount raised going up.
“In our experience, this prediction definitely rang true with the largest crowdfunding rounds to date having been completed on Crowdcube this year.
“As 2016 draws to a close, 116 raises have been done on Crowdcube, raising a total of £69m for ambitious businesses in the last 12 months alone.”
In 2017, founders Darren Westlake and Lang expect more businesses to come back to crowdfunding for series B and series C rounds, and say there will be more return for investors.
Since 2013, a total of £5m has been returned to investors on Crowdcube, which they see as “a further indication of how the crowdfunding industry is maturing”.
But what are the site’s biggest success stories?
So far in 2016, the top 10 projects listed on Crowdcube have raised more than £28m between them.
In order, here are the site’s 20 most successful campaigns since 2011
Crowdcube: £6.7m (2016)
The amount raised by businesses through Crowdcube has increased by more than 50 per cent to £86m in the last year.
And, taking a slice of its own action in 2016, Crowdcube became its own biggest success story.
The proceeds went towards funding existing operations, and increasing its technology team and marketing budget.
BrewDog: £4.1m (ongoing)
The UK’s leading craft brewer, BrewDog offered its fans the chance to get involved with one of the fastest-growing food and drink companies in the UK over the last six years.
Based in in Ellon, Scotland, and Columbus, Ohio, the firm has 50 craft beer bars around the world, and flagship beer Punk IPA is the No. 1 craft beer in the UK.
Money raised will be put towards the American brewery and continued global expansion.
The campaign still has 31 days left to run, as of December 16.
goHenry: £4m (2016)
goHenry is a digital banking solution aimed at making kids smarter at managing money than their parents.
Earlier this year, the project raised 199 per cent of its £2m target.The firm’s pre-paid debit card and app come with unique parental controls to help teach young people good money habits.
With over 200k users and 10k joining every month, KPMG and H2 Ventures named goHenry one of the world’s “Leading 100” FinTech innovators.
Capital was raised to continue its UK and international growth.
JustPark: £3.51m (2015)
Aiming for just £1m, JustPark managed to secure more than three times that amount in 2015, as it aims to take parking cars into the digital era.
Its app and website give drivers instant access to a network of 150,000 spaces across the UK, taking the hassle out of parking and making it cheaper and easier than ever.
With backing from BMW and Index Ventures, JustPark allows users to book off-street spaces online wherever and whenever they need them.
Sugru: £3.39 (2015)
A moldable glue designed to fix everything, Sugru also raised more than 300 per cent of its funding goal last year.
Named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 best inventions in the world the year it launched and dubbed “21st Century Duct Tape”, the patented product is now used by more than 1 million people in 160 countries.
Founded in Hackney, London, it has just launched in the US with stores Lowe’s and Target.
Chilango: £3.37 (2015)
A London chain of fast-service Mexican restaurants serves award-winning burritos, tacos, salads and more.
Branding their campaign the Burrito Bond, the aim was to help roll out more restaurants across London.
Previous investors included the CEO and CFO of Carluccio’s, the CEO of Krispy Kreme UK and the former MD of Jamie Oliver International.
1Rebel: £2.92m (2015)
Fitness brand 1Rebel offers a luxurious and fashionable chain of contract-free ‘high intensity’ boutique gyms in London, allowing members to book classes online and via an app on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis.
The gym aimed to expand on the 12.5 per cent of the UK population who are members of a fitness club, in an attempt to match figures in the US, which are around twice that.
Camden Town Brewery: £2.75m (2015)
One of London’s biggest breweries, Camden Town Brewery grew their annual revenues by tenfold in just three years, from £900k to roughly £9m.
Investors ploughed in almost double the brewery’s funding target to build a brand new custom-built brewery to “bring the taste of Camden Lager to the world”.
eMoov.co.uk: £2.62m (2015)
The online estate agent charges a fixed-rate, lower fee, which reportedly saved its customers more than £6m in 2015.
By automating tasks traditional estate agents do manually, the company claims to increase response times, reduce the risk of mistakes and reduce the cost of servicing.
Pocket: £2.5m (2016)
Aimed at delivering affordable homes in London, the developer Pocket raised cash to produce compact properties designed to maximise space, comfort and sustainability.
Its houses are sold at a discount of at least 20 per cent to the open market, and residents own them outright.
The Greater London Authority supported the product with a £21.7m loan facility for 10 years.
Pocket is 10 years old and is now working across 11 London boroughs with the aim of delivering against a target of 4,000 homes by 2023.
The crowdfunding campaign was to meet operational costs as well as retain a cash contingency to meet unforeseen expenditure.
The rest…
Innis & Gunn: £2.4m (2016)
Witt Energy: £2.4m (2016)
BrewDog (Bond): £2.31m (2015)
Hybrid Air Vehicles: £2.2m (2015)
Adzuna: £2.11m (2015)
Chilango (Bond): £2.04m (2014)
GripIt Fixings: £2m (2016)
Hab Housing Limited: £1.97m (2013)
Hochanda: £1.96m (2015)
Pavegen: £1.9m (2015)