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European law firm Fieldfisher has acted for boutique travel company Mr & Mrs Smith on its recent equity crowdfunding round on the entrepreneurial investment platform, Crowdcube.
Mr & Mrs Smith, which offers members privileged access to its carefully curated collection of worldwide hotels, reached its initial target of £1 million within the first day. The funding round closed at £6 million on 8 October.
The company intends to use the funds raised to support the growth of its US villa and hotel business, alongside expanding its US membership base.
Mr & Mrs Smith's successful funding campaign reflects Fieldfisher's longstanding work in crowdfunding, which has become an increasingly viable fundraising option for many start-up, small and rapidly growing businesses.
Crowdfunding allows individuals and self-styled "armchair Dragons" to invest modest to large sums of money in businesses, enabling them to curate highly-personalised investment portfolios.
For businesses, crowdfunding offers an often faster and more flexible way of securing investment than more traditional funding routes.
Fieldfisher is also advising Mexican restaurant chain Chilango with a second mini-bond offer – dubbed "Burrito Bond 2" – with £1.6 million already raised of a target £2 million.
Both deals were led by corporate partner George Cotter with support from senior associate Elise Nowak and solicitor Amelia Thomson.
Commenting on the deals, Fieldfisher partner George Cotter said: "Fieldfisher has been a leader in crowdfunding for a number of years, acting on Mr & Mrs Smith's first mini-bond offer in 2012 and helping to launch Crowdcube's mini-bond crowdfunding product with businesses such as Chilango and the Eden Project.
"We are delighted to see longstanding clients and pioneers in the sector returning to the firm to help with the next stage in their growth plans."
About Fieldfisher
Fieldfisher is a European law firm with market leading practices in many of the world's most dynamic sectors. We are an exciting, forward-thinking organisation with a particular focus on energy & natural resources, technology, finance & financial services, life sciences and media.
Our network has more than 1,450 people working across 24 offices providing highly commercial advice based on an in-depth understanding of our clients' needs.
We operate across our offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Belfast, Birmingham, Bologna, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Turin, Venice and Silicon Valley.
Fieldfisher is currently Law Firm of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2018 and British Legal Awards 2017.