RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers, today announced it is collaborating with Crowdcube, the leading UK-based online equity crowdfunding platform, to help members of its DesignSpark engineering community realise their product and business ideas.
The agreement between RS and Crowdcube marks an important expansion of the third-party services available to UK-based DesignSpark members. Members applying through DesignSpark, to be considered by Crowdcube for equity crowdfunding, will benefit from a 10% discount in Crowdcube’s standard fees, if accepted.
Crowdcube is the UK’s market-leading crowdfunding platform with approximately two and a half times more equity raised than its nearest competitor. The platform has delivered more than 500 successful funding ‘raises’ since its inception and raised more than £27 million in its most recent financial quarter, including 10 raises of £1 million or more.
The DesignSpark community provides a platform that enables its members to share their ideas and to seek advice and support from other engineers and community members. Since its launch in 2010, the DesignSpark initiative has also delivered a growing portfolio of free tools that are easy to use and enable design engineers to reach their goals quickly and without financial impact.
The DesignSpark portfolio of free-for-download software includes DesignSpark PCB for electronic board design, DesignSpark Mechanical software for 3D modelling, and DesignSpark Electrical for electrical system design. The latest tool in the suite is Obsolescence Manager, an online tool that enables product developers to manage the problem of obsolescence and plan for when end-of-life (EOL) notices are placed on components and parts that will soon cease to be produced, repaired and supported by their manufacturers.
“DesignSpark is an important enabling initiative that helps engineers and entrepreneurs realise their ambitions and bring their projects, products and business ideas to market,” said Mike Bray, Vice President of DesignSpark at RS. “Partnering with Crowdcube provides easier access for members of the DesignSpark engineering community to the investment support Crowdcube offers, with a significant reduction in the fees associated with that.”
