Circle Uses USDC to Make $10.5M Investment in UK Crowdfunding Platform Crowdcube

Circle Internet Financial, owner and operator of U.S. startup fundraising platform SeedInvest, announced Tuesday (Nov. 23) that it is leading U.K. firm Crowdcube’s $13.5 million funding round with an investment of $10.5 million.

Launched in 2013 and headquartered in Boston, the payment services company is the principal operator of dollar digital currency USDC and startup funding platform SeedInvest. In a sign of rapid growth, the firm’s share of the stablecoin market has jumped by 23.5% in 2021, only behind Tether.

The global FinTech startup and stablecoin issuer has experienced significant growth in recent years, with the total number of Circle accounts estimated to grow by 229% over the next few years, to more than 30,000 in 2023, according to PYMNTS.

Crowdcube is the largest startup fundraising platform in the U.K. and the strategic partnership will help accelerate global startup fundraising, from seed stage to public offering.

News on the deal, Circle’s largest strategic investment to date in the European market, comes at a particularly interesting time given recent European-wide regulations that standardize investment-based and lending-based crowdfunding services related to business financing.

With those regulatory changes, companies in the European Union can now raise up to 5 million euros ($5.6 million), with Crowdcube announcing that it expects to be the first platform with pan-European and U.K. regulatory approvals.

See Circle’s Dante Disparte interview here: Circle Details Plans for Using USDC to Advance Financial Inclusion

Crowdcube will be able to capitalize the regulation to accelerate its launch into emerging European markets, while leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs and individual investors who raise capital from their dedicated communities.

“Combining Circle’s strategic investment with our decade of knowledge and experience of capital raising in Europe, Crowdcube is extremely well-positioned to capitalize on our first-mover advantage into Europe’s high growth investment market,” said Darren Westlake, Crowdcube CEO and co-founder.

“In the first instance, we’re considering a crowd round to offer Crowdcube’s community of investors to participate in our round, alongside Circle, supporting our growth as Europe’s preferred private investment marketplace.”

SeedInvest CEO and Co-Founder Ryan Feit added that “private capital online fundraising is at a pivotal moment of maturation” and “expanding online fundraising to new markets creates a massive opportunity for internet native capital formation where individuals and businesses can connect and transact digitally from anywhere.”

Massive Stablecoin Market

In an interview with PYMNTS in September, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the $27 billion market value for USDC stablecoin was an indication that the digital asset was too big to ignore, adding that there was enough room for a wealth of digital assets to grow.

Read also: Circle CEO Says USDC Stablecoin Is Too Big To Ignore

“There’s wide recognition that stablecoins running on public blockchain infrastructure are here to stay,” Allaire said, noting that there’s also a significant role for what he called “digital commodity money” ‑ using bitcoin as a form of that currency.

Read the PYMNTS report: Capturing the Global Cryptocurrency Payments Opportunity

A PYMNTS report, published in collaboration with digital payment and banking provider, i2c, further backs these claims that stablecoins will eventually dominate the cryptocurrency payments space.

You might also like: The MiCA Framework Seeks to Govern Stablecoin Issuance in EU

And recent data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown that the market capitalization of stablecoins has quadrupled to over $120 billion in 2021, with stablecoin trading volumes overtaking those of all other crypto assets, including bitcoin.

Related: Global FinTech Circle Eyes Expansion With Singapore HQ

Last week, the FinTech behind the USD Coin announced its intention to invest in the Singapore market, with plans to establish an Asia-Pacific headquarters for the broader market in Singapore.

Read more: USDC Coin Issuer Circle Launches Venture Fund

This news came on the heels of the launch of Circle Ventures, a new project designed to invest in “compelling, early-stage blockchain projects and companies,” fulfilling “Circle’s mission to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of financial value,” PYMNTS reported.