Council teams up with Crowdfunder to launch £150,000 Business Fund

Perth & Kinross Council has teamed up with Crowdfunder to launch the £150,000 Crowdfund Perth and Kinross Business Fund.

By matching up to £5,000 of crowd-sourced funding, this unique new project will support individuals, businesses and communities to establish and grow businesses, projects and services that make a real difference to the economy in the area.

To be eligible for the fund, applicants must run a crowdfunding campaign on the Crowdfunder platform and match certain criteria. Crowdfunding is where a large number of people support a business or endeavour by individually pledging small amounts of money, either as a donation or in return for a reward.

Perth & Kinross Council leader Councillor Murray Lyle said: “Six out of 10 Scots are employed by small-to-medium sized enterprises so finding ways to support them is critical to our economic well-being.

“This scheme supports and rewards those businesses and communities that not only have great entrepreneurial ideas, but already have support from the public and investors through crowdfunding. This money can be used to help get a new business off the ground or help them develop. Raising money through Crowdfunder shows that your idea matters to the community and if it meets our criteria then you could gain additional funding.”

Councillor Lyle added: “We also launched a Micro Enterprise Fund this year to support small businesses in Perth and Kinross and this new scheme will complement it. As a Council we are determined to do all we can to grow our economy and help firms recover from the coronavirus pandemic.”

Su Johnstone, Business Development Manager at Crowdfunder said: “We are delighted to partner with Perth and Kinross Council to support businesses in the area. Crowdfunder has already seen many dozens of small and medium sized businesses successfully crowdfund in Perth and Kinross.

"We very much look forward to working alongside the business support community to deliver more opportunities for successful, sustainable economic growth across the region.”

Business start-ups or existing SMEs who are looking to grow with the support of the crowd are encouraged to apply for funding to make their dreams a reality.

Crowdfunder will be holding an online launch of the fund on from 12 to 1pm on February 15.

To find out more, please visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/funds/perth-and-kinross-business