Bike Leasing Company turns to crowdsourcing for finance - invest for as little as £10

Nearly at the £12k mark now.

We only need 4,404 of you to invest £20

Hello,

I thought that it might be useful if I pasted this information from the Crwodcube website that explains how it works:

Investing on Crowdcube is designed to be straightforward, simply register as a member, find a pitch that you like and invest online and, if the pitch reaches its funding target, you’ll get your equity share. However, here’s a more detailed description of the end-to-end process so that you know exactly what to expect when investing on Crowdcube.

Register as a member

By becoming a member of Crowdcube you are a member of Crowdcube Ventures Limited ("Crowdcube") which is a Company Limited by Guarantee. As a Member you do not have voting rights and may be required to contribute a nominal amount of 1p in the unlikely event of the winding up of Crowdcube Ventures Limited.

Submit an Expression of Interest

When you initially make an ‘investment’ on the Crowdcube website you are actually submitting an Expression of Interest to the investee that you wish to invest in the business. At this stage it is not legally binding and you still have the right to withdraw your money at any time. You will be required to complete a GoCardless transaction. This doesn't take any money from your account until the pitch hits its funding target and you confirm that you are happy to confirm your expression of interest into shares.

Pitch hits its target

Expressions of Interest in a pitch accumulate to reach a pitches funding target.

New Articles of Association

When a pitch has reached it funding target we’ll work with the company and their solicitors to draw up and agreed the Articles of Association for the business. Articles of Association form the basis of a company's constitution and need to be amended following new investors in a company. The Articles of Association are typically based on our standard articles.

Confirming your investment

As an investor you’ll be sent an email, with the new Articles of Association attached, giving you three calendar days to withdraw your Expression of Interest. Once the three days have passed and you’ve confirmed that you wish to continue your Expression of Interest will be converted into a binding order for investment in the company.

Share certificates sent

Once all of the above steps have been completed you will be sent your share certificate in the company and we’ll transfer the money to the company you invested in. Remember that you will get direct ownership in that company, rather than via a third party.

Ah ha, so you get shares in the company for your money. That's quite a good idea now that its explained.

Nope - you're making an investment of £10k in the company. Hopefully the company will be hugely successful and your investment will go up in value, so that in a number of years your investment will get you back £10k + £xk.

As an incentive to get you to invest £10k, the company will lend you a £6k bike for a year free of charge. At the end of the year you either give the bike back, or you buy it. The two things are separate. Hope that helps.

I just don't get it at all.

Invest £10,000 and you get to loan a £6,000 bike for a year?

So you are paying £4,000 to rent a £6,000 bike for a year??

An interesting idea but I feel like most cyclists would prefer to own their machine