UK-based Islamic peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform Qardus has crowdfunded 79% of its GBP215,001 (US$299,041) target, or GBP169,927 (US$236,349), through Seedrs as at the 18th March 2021.
Qardus is offering 6.68% of its equity, valued at GBP3 million (US$4.17 million), to investors and has attracted investments from 194 investors through Seedrs so far. Seedrs is increasingly being used by Islamic fintech start-ups as a means to raise investments: another Shariah crowdfunding platform, Yielders, also turned to Seedrs in 2019 to raise funds.
Approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, Qardus intends to use proceeds from the equity crowdfunding campaign to fund marketing initiatives, expand its team as well as widen its services to SMEs. It has the intention to become an Islamic challenger bank for SMEs.
Since its launch in July 2020, the firm has disbursed over GBP250,000 (US$347,721) in financing to SMEs, with investors holding a GBP3,500 (US$4,868.09) average ticket size. It has managed to maintain a 100% track record and 0% default rate to date. The firm’s model is to offer up to GBP200,000 (US$278,177) in interest-free business financing based on the commodity Murabahah structure to eligible SMEs for up to 36 months.