Campaign Success: Nuw

Nuw is a clothes sharing community app who has successfully raised over £130k from 300 investors on Seedrs. We spoke with Founder, Aisling Byrne to hear their equity crowdfunding success story.  

How has Nuw been funded to date?

Our funding roadmap to date has been investment from the Bethnal Green Accelerator then a round led by Sustainable Ventures alongside BGV and angels. This built the team and got the product to the app store, initial users and early revenue. This current round that we just closed is a pre-seed round.

What attracted Nuw to equity crowdfunding?

We were drawn to crowdfunding as it allows our community to become part owners in our business. Nuw is built by our community which is really important to us. Nuw, like crowdfunding, is about democratising access to services. We love that Seedrs is open to everyone who believes in the mission of the business they fund. This very much aligns with Nuw’s mission to build an accessible, sustainable fashion solution.

What did you do to prepare for your Seedrs campaign?

We originally planned for our campaign to remain in private mode; therefore, the initial preparation we did was for this. We decided two weeks into the private campaign that it was necessary to take it public to achieve our target. We spent three weeks preparing for the campaign. In hindsight, if we knew that we were going public, we would have spent longer. In these three weeks, we finalised our pitch deck, created our campaign idea page and selected imagery to be used. The campaign page was the most time-consuming part for us. We spent a lot of time reviewing other campaigns to ensure we not only selected the most relevant information for investors but that it flowed correctly. We were lucky that we already had a video created on how Nuw works – this is crucial for the campaign. We also created templates for all email communications and social posts. All of which had to be approved by Seedrs.

Before launching your Seedrs campaign, how much investment did you have pre-aligned?

We had 60% of our investment pre-aligned before going live. We would advise that having as high a pre-aligned figure as possible before going live. Your campaign will receive more coverage based on its % achieved. The higher the % achieved, the more investors you will attract.

What was the most challenging part of your Seedrs campaign?

The constant momentum that is required to key the campaign moving. Morning, noon and night and over the weekend, you need to be available, to answer all questions and requests from potential investors. It is essential to respond to queries quickly and promptly.

If you were to launch your Seedrs campaign again, what would you do differently?

Go in with a higher amount of pre-aligned investment. The quicker you can get your campaign into overfunding, the better. If we had known we would need to go public, we would have spent more time on outreach seeking larger ticket investments to get the funding bar moving on the campaign.

What do you think has been the key to your equity crowdfunding success?

Persistence. Persevering all angles of the campaign. Outreach for the big-ticket investments. Continuous communication with the pre-registration list and our community. Adding in community investor rewards ( the 6 for 6, 6 months free membership when you buy 6 or more shares). Constant communication with Seedrs and understanding the campaign analytics.

What would be your top tips for equity crowdfunding success?

Secure as much investment as you can pre-launch. Work your community and network hard – use rewards or incentives to gain momentum. Persistence and momentum with communication!