Why crowdfunding is harder than you think
And how to do it well: A short cat furniture case study.
by Kate Bassett
While Covid-19 brought many small firms to their knees, entrepreneur Andy Sutton reported 300% business growth during the pandemic and recently raised nearly £200,000 on CrowdCube to fund further expansion.
Sutton, who started luxury cat-furniture business Catipilla in 2018, explains why he avoided bank loans, government grants and venture capital and opted instead for crowdfunding to take his Monmouthshire-based firm to the next level.
“Last year, we realised we’d hit a sweet spot in our niche sub-sector of the pet market: sales were accelerating and we had barely any competition. We wanted funds to ramp up production, extend our range and explore the massive international export market.