Although it doesn’t show in my profile, I’m a shareholder in IE following their first crowdfunding campaign.
This is the first time I’ve invested through a crowdfunding campaign, so I’m not sure on what to expect, but my query is when do we as shareholders get updates about how our investments are doing? I’m well aware not to expect to be able to withdraw these funds for many years, but thought we might get updates as to our portfolio valuation? At this point, I’m unclear if our funds have even been invested by IE…
I did message IE about this a while ago, but I didn’t get a thorough answer other than ‘the investor quarterly update is coming out soon’ - but that’s just a brief generic update.
Thanks in advance to anyone who’s had some experience previously in this situation that can advise of what to (potentially!) expect
You seem to be misunderstanding how investing in IE (as in, investing in the company itself) works.
You can’t get updates on the valuation of your investment. Suppose you buy 1 share in a company that lists 100 shares for £10. You have spent £10 to buy 1% of the company.
In 3 years, another person wants to buy your share off of you for £30. This means that the value of your share has tripled and you would profit £20.
However, if nobody wants to buy your share, it is worthless. You don’t get updates on how your investment is ‘doing’. The reason you get updates on your ETF portfolios is because thousands of people are buying and selling the shares you own every day so you know how the market values them.
You won’t know how much your shares are worth until InvestEngine is acquired or buys them back.
As IE is doing another funding round, you will be able to work out how IE currently values your shares (as in, the price that other investors are willing to pay for them.)
The closest you’ll get to investor information regarding InvestEngine as a company is a Quarterly investor update via the Crowdcube platform. The last one being “Quarterly investor update Q4 2022” which was circulated 10 days ago on the 3rd of March. It is sent from support@crowdcube.com
You are not going to hear anything about what your investment is worth now. After all they’re a private company, not listed on any stock exchanges.
Regarding the value of your investment in IE as a company, the best is just to “forget about it” unless you’re hard-up for cash and you want to sell. On the other hand, if you believe in the company then invest some more on the next investment round that will open up very soon.
On Crowdcube I have invested in the following companies: Monzo, what3words, Freetrade, InvestEngine, Celtic Renewables and Crowdcube itself. I don’t know what the value of my investments are today other than the purchase value at time of investment and to be honest, I don’t really care. The companies are up and running doing their thing so all is good.
And dont forget: in Anon’s example you bought 1% of the company. When the next crowdfunding round comes (its a matter of WHEN, not IF), your share will be diluted. So if they offer the same amopunt of shares as with the last crowdfunding round, your share is worth only 0.5% of the company. And then the next crowdfunding round comes… and the next… and in the end your investment is just worth a fraction of what you thought you bought.
I don’t need to withdraw my funds anytime soon (otherwise investing in crowdfunding start up definitely wouldn’t have been a good idea, lol) but thought that even as a private company, investors might get a little more info than a brief quarterly update. I am new to this investing approach though, so still learning.
It’s ok though, like other investors, I’m in it for the long run.
My other investments are a buy and hold approach using passive strategies, so I’ll just employ the same levels of patience with this
