PlatformAug 18 2017

Tennis star Andy Murray reveals his crowdfunding picks

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Tennis star Andy Murray reveals his crowdfunding picks

Twice Wimbledon champion tennis player Andy Murray has revealed his crowdfunding investments.

Mr Murray has invested in several companies via the Seedrs platform, and is also an investor in Seedrs.

Among the investments he has made on the Seedrs platform is Twickets, a ticket resale platform, WeSwap, a peer to peer currency exchange, and Landay, which is a mortgage lending platform.

A representative of Seers told FTAdviser that Mr Murray “takes his investments seriously” and with Landbay, took part in a second round of funding.

Mr Murray said he - along with his financial advisers - decided to invest in a fairly broad range of businesses, as he didn’t "want to get pigeonholed into one sector".

"Since there are a wide range of entrepreneurs fundraising.. at any given time, I looked at each opportunity as it has arisen and on its own merits.

"Then I've sat down with my financial advisers, we've looked at the numbers and gone for the businesses I believe have real potential."

Mr Murray said he is well aware of the risks of losing money with such early stage companies.

"I fully understand that not all of the companies will succeed and that there will losses along the way, but this is very much the norm with early stage investment," he said.

"Ultimately it is a high-risk high growth potential asset class, which is why it's sensible to build a diverse investment portfolio and spread risk.”

Ian Lowes, managing director at Lowes Financial Services said he has recieved an increasing number of queries about crowdfunding products, but to date is not comfortable with advising clients to make those investments.

He said his general policy is to try out an asset class first by putting his own money into it before deploying any client capital, and clients trust his judgement on the sector for that reason.   

Alastair Cunningham, financial planner at Wingate Financial Planning, said crowdufnding is "too risky" for most people. 

 

Andy Murray’s Investments on Seedrs:

MacRebur, sustainable plastic roads

VPAR, a golf technjology app for amateurs and pros

Twickets, a ticket resale platform

WeSwap, a peer-to- peer currency exchange app

Perkbox, an employee benefits platform

Mindful Chef, a fresh ingredients delivery box

Sell My Livestock, an online marketplace for selling livestock and crops

blow LTD, a beauty on demand app

Beeline, a cycling navigation system

Dog Tracker Nano, a GPS device for pet dogs tracking location, health and wellbeing

CommuterClub, a season ticket subscription service for commuters

Oppo ice-cream, the first certified healthy ice cream

Landbay, a mortgage lending platform

Tossed, the healthy eating company

Den, a smart-home system

Revolut, a digital banking alternative

Morpher, a fold-up cycling helmet

 

David.Thorpe@Ft.com