Seedrs, an equity crowdfunding platform co-founded by Portuguese entrepreneur Carlos Silva, just raised €14M from Woodford Patient Capital Trust and Augmentum Capital. Besides that investment, Seedrs plans to raise €3.5M through a crowdfunding campaign on its website. Seedrs, who was already playing ball with the tennis player Andy Murray (with whom they established a partnership), is now going overseas.

According to Jeff Lynn, CEO and co-founder,

The capital we are raising will allow us to deliver our next stage of growth in the UK, Europe and the United States. As importantly, though, is the signal this investment sends to the market.

Right now, and due to this investment round, Seedrs is valued in €42.4M. As startups seek new ways to get capital, the equity crowdfunding industry in the UK grew an impressive 410% in only 2 years. For Tim Levene, managing partner of Augmentum Capital, even though the equity crowdfunding market still has a long way to go, Seedrs will thrive:

Seedrs has the right blend of talent, vision, experience and rigour to ensure they become the leader in this exciting space.

Levene, who is also joining Seedrs board of directors, believes that the crowdfunding platform is the stand out company. And Augmentum Capital already has experience in alternative finance businesses: they invested in companies such as Zopa, Interactive Investor, Borro and BullionVault.