Republic Europe Review 2026

What it is

Republic Europe is the British equity crowdfunding platform that used to be called Seedrs. It has run since 2012, was bought by the American investment platform Republic in 2022, and was renamed in 2024; the company behind it is still Seedrs Limited. It lets ordinary investors buy small stakes in private startups and growth companies in the UK and Europe. The platform says £2.8 billion has been invested through it in more than 2,200 startup raises, from 700,000 registered investors (as of October 2026; the figures carry no date).

How it works

A company publishes a pitch with its valuation and target. You pick the companies yourself, from £20 or €20 per investment (£100 or €100 for venture funds), paying by debit card, bank transfer or open banking. Euro investments are converted to pounds. If the round completes, the shares are registered to the platform's nominee company and held for you. An AutoInvest tool can invest automatically in campaigns that match your criteria. UK investors must say which type of investor they are (everyday, sophisticated or high net worth), renew this every 12 months and pass a test on the risks.

Returns

The platform's own figure is 12.91% a year across the 1,038 companies funded from 2012 to 2022, measured to the end of 2022 and published in December 2023. No newer figure has been published since. This is a gain on paper, not money paid out: holdings are valued at the price of each company's latest funding round, and about three in four companies were still held and had paid nothing back. The same report shows how much depends on a few large winners: with the same amount put into every deal, the figure is 7.8% a year, and investors with only one investment averaged minus 13.7% on paper. Money actually returned is far smaller: more than £21 million through company sales and stock market listings, and more than £11.5 million to nearly 10,000 investors who sold on the secondary market, about 1.2% of the £2.8 billion invested (calculated from the platform's own figures). Its headline examples are single cases, such as investors in Senta who made 332 times their money with tax relief, and a five-times exit when NatWest bought Cushon.

Losses and defaults

By the end of 2022, 217 of the 1,038 companies funded (20.9%) had been wound up, dissolved or were being wound up. This counts companies, not money lost, and the platform publishes no figure for money written off. Failure rises with age: 62% of 2013 deals and 47% of 2015 deals were in companies that had failed, against 3% of 2022 deals, so the overall figure will grow as younger companies age. Of 29 full company sales by then, 16 made a cash profit and 7 a cash loss for investors. When a company fails, shareholders are paid last and usually get nothing back.

What secures your money

Nothing secures your money. You buy shares in young private companies, with no collateral, no buyback, no reserve fund and no insurance, and no compensation scheme covers investment losses. The shares are registered to a separate group company, Seedrs Nominees Limited, which holds them for you; you keep the full economic interest, including any EIS or SEIS tax relief, but you do not vote your own shares. The platform's standard terms usually give investors pre-emption rights and a say over new share classes, and it checks the claims in each pitch before launch, but these checks cover the pitch, not the value of the shares. If a company fails, shareholders are paid after every creditor, so you usually lose the whole amount. Wound-up companies are valued at zero.

Who runs it and its licence

Seedrs Limited, a London company founded in 2009, is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference 550317). European investors are served by Seedrs Europe Limited, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland since 6 October 2023. Investors' shares are held by Seedrs Nominees Limited. In January 2024 the business cut about 15% of its European staff and changed its chief executive. When Republic bought Seedrs, the crowd investors who owned shares in Seedrs itself were not offered shares in Republic and received their proceeds over about three years. Since October 2025 the UK company register shows no person with significant control of Seedrs Limited.

Fees

You pay 2.5% of each investment, at least £5 or €5 and at most £250 or €250. There is no fee while you hold the shares. When shares are sold at a profit, through a company sale or on the secondary market, the platform takes 5% of the profit; there is no charge if they sell at a loss.

Getting your money out

There is no maturity date and no promise of repayment; the platform says a return can take ten years or more. Money comes back when a company is sold or listed, or if you sell on the secondary market. That market has traded continuously since May 2025, but over its life only about £25 million has changed hands in 66,000 trades and nearly 10,000 investors have used it to sell, out of 700,000 registered. Not all shares can be listed, and prices are set by sellers.

Our view

Return: Very High — a paper gain of 12.91% a year across 1,038 companies to the end of 2022, though little cash has come back. Risk: Very High (higher means more risk) — one in five funded companies had failed by 2022, older ones fail far more, and the only performance figures are almost four years old. Risk-return: Medium — startup shares are high risk and high return by nature, so we judge them on their chance of large gains: Republic Europe has a long record of exits, a large flow of deals and a secondary market open around the clock, which makes big wins realistic even though many companies fail.