Eureeca, a crowdinvesting (equity crowdfunding) platform for SMEs and growth businesses, announced full funding of Nabbesh.com, the first business to raise capital through the website in exchange for equity.
The Middle East’s first virtual skills marketplace, Nabbesh.com reached its funding target only 12 days after it first launched its search for capital on the platform, making it one of the quickest success stories for almost any crowdfunding proposal globally.
Nabbesh, which won the inaugural Middle East start-up reality TV show, ‘The Entrepreneur’ earlier this year, launched in 2012 to provide a solution to the growing problem of unemployment in the region. As a digital platform, that enables individuals with specific skills to find flexible work opportunities while helping employers access a readily available talent pool based on business demands. To date, the service has facilitated jobs for over 700 individuals across the region, and facilitated connections between thousands of others.
As with all businesses listed on Eureeca, Nabbesh’s funding proposal called for a minimum investment of $100 awarding each investor a share in the business. Within four days of its proposal being uploaded on eureeca.com, Nabbesh achieved 50% of its funding target and eventually closed its funding round with 23 investors today. Nabbesh’s ‘crowd’ investors include its fans, followers, clients as well as other angel investors on eureeca.com.
Eureeca, which launched last month with an additional two funding proposals currently live on the site, offers a game-changing alternative for SMEs and growth businesses to source funding. The speed of platform’s success in facilitating funding for Nabbesh not only proves the viability of the crowdinvesting model but also demonstrates the market’s significant appetite for investment opportunities in the region.
Nabbesh, will be using the capital raised to meet its hiring requirements as well as expand the company’s network of freelancers and employers to enable more jobs and connections across the region. In addition to its scalable business model and sound growth strategy, Nabbesh’s launch of a flexible employment concept for the region made it an attractive proposition to investors.
Commenting on Eureeca’s first funding success, Managing Director and Co-founder Sam Quawasmi said, “Eureeca not only demystifies the traditional funding process for the average individual but also provides businesses with an accessible and transparent platform to raise funds. Nabbesh’s success in raising capital from the crowd in a remarkably short period of time is testament to the potential, efficacy and convenience of the crowdinvestment model. It also demonstrates the role of crowdinvesting for job creation and regional economic growth. In a world where lack of finance is the number one challenge to small business growth, crowdinvesting is a sustainable alternative.”
Loulou Khazen Baz, Founder & CEO of Nabbesh, said, “We are thrilled to have Nabbesh funded so quickly. For an innovative and disruptive business like ours, crowdinvesting is an equally innovative means of raising capital. Nabbesh has an extensive user network and strong social following which proved to be advantageous in our search for capital. Eureeca provided us with the perfect platform to really harness this existing community of supporters and let them be a part of our growth.”
Since its beta launch in late 2012, Eureeca has received overwhelming interest from companies around the world seeking capital to be listed on the platform. The two businesses currently listed on the platform, DGrade and The Outlet, have received considerable investment interest from the crowd and are estimating higher levels of activity in the near future. The investment appetite for crowdinvesting has also been strong with Eureeca’s network of investors growing daily.
