The Cheeky Panda, the five-year-old company specialising in bamboo hygiene products, has become the first pure secondary share sale campaign to be listed on the Seedrs platform. Following a hugely successful 2020 with 200% growth and sales in excess of £5million, The Cheeky Panda founders and early angel investors are releasing £2million of additional equity onto Seedrs Secondary Market in order to meet market demand and reward the brand’s loyal community of everyday investors and attract new shareholders.
The first £1.2 million of shares sold out in less than a week, with a further £800,000 worth of shares still available to purchase.
As investor appetite to buy and sell shares in unlisted, private market companies with high growth continues, The Cheeky Panda’s decision to release an additional £2million worth of share onto Seedrs’ Secondary Market brings liquidity for The Cheeky Panda’s founders and some of its earliest angel investors. This move will provide an opportunity for new investors within Seedrs community and beyond to buy shares in The Cheeky Panda into the businesses without waiting for a new fundraising campaign.
Seedrs has helped Cheeky Panda raise over £6million in the last three years via three primary share issues and the business remains one of the most popular shares to be traded amongst Seedrs investors when the Secondary Market exchange opens each month.
Chris Forbes, co-founder of The Cheeky Panda said: “Our business has gone from strength to strength and the last 12 months, we now have thousands of 5* reviews and with new products and market launches across, Europe, USA and China we have achieved only a fraction of our potential. With the demand of shares in B Corps and ethical high growth businesses with ESG at its core investor appetite in our business has never been higher. By releasing some equity now it means we and a few of our angels don’t have to wait another few years for a IPO to benefit from the high growth curve. As The Cheeky Panda is a disruptor it’s great to be the first to do Seedrs first pure secondary market transaction. It will open up the opportunity for other entrepreneurs in high demand high growth businesses to get liquidity ahead of gong public or a PE deal. To sell over £1.2m in just over a week shows the product works and the demand is there for trading in private market shares.”
Acting as a private investment platform, Seedrs secondary market allows investors and founders to cash out their shares for liquidity reasons 5-10 years before a traditional exit. It lets them take advantage of the success seen to date and a rise in share value. Seedrs Secondary Market had its most successful year to date in 2020 as it delivered nearly 14,000 investor exits, with total investor profit growing 260%. The Seedrs Secondary Market now offers up to 400 companies on any given month, including The Cheeky Panda, during each monthly open and averages nearly half a million pounds of trades during that week.
Jeff Kelisky, CEO at Seedrs, says: “We aim to become the largest and most trusted marketplace for private equity investment providing alternative paths for investment to the typical VC-Exit cycle. Our secondary market delivers liquidity to a previously highly illiquid asset class and is ideal for growing businesses, like The Cheeky Panda, that are balancing the captable and seeing investors looking to recognise success, shore up liquidity and exit early. Our platform makes trading for investors and founders as easy, as trusted, and eventually as fast as a public market”
