Freetrade

Freetrade has strong customer loyalty. This enabled them to raise nearly all of their early investment through record crowdfunding funds (they also recently raised £12m from VC Draper Esprit). Crowdfunding tends to work particularly well when the investors active in crowdfunding communities can relate to the product, which is certainly the case here!

They've also created an active community where potential investors can share advice and learn about company stocks, which has helped fuel engagement and growth. Freetrade is in a market with a lot of well-capitalised incumbents (such as the big banks and brokerages) and some big disrupters (like Robinhood and Revolut, who are both £bn+ companies already). The key to continued customer growth will be finding marketing strategies that don't rely on them outspending deep-pocketed rivals.

On the product side, Freetrade has built a brokerage platform from scratch using serverless technologies. This will help them scale their product in a cost-effective way, as they're not reliant on a 3rd party broker. 2023 investment from Crowdcube will be put towards increasing its UK customer growth and finding more markets in Europe, all whilst launching new products and features.