Crowdcube blocked 'hundreds' of investors from backing a shoe startup

A shoe company set up by two of the Clark family raised £1.38 million from 1,192 investors on CrowdCube this week, but one of the founders said it could have been more if the crowdfunding platform hadn't stopped a large number of investors from backing the campaign.

Galahad Clark told Business Insider that Vivo Barefoot - a company selling shoes that are designed to let your feet do their "natural thing" - missed out on thousands of pounds because Crowdcube wasn't able to accept their payments.

"The biggest challenge we've had with Crowdcube is the internet has been a complete ball ache for international people," said the member of the Clark family mid-way through the crowdfunding campaign.

"I reckon we've lost hundreds of people because of that. It's a couple of hundred grand I reckon. We definitely lost a lot of American potential investors.

"Officially you have to invest with a debit card. A certain type of debit card. The banking system in Europe is not compatible for whatever reason with Crowdcube. I reckon we've lost hundreds of people because of that."

Clark said he believes rival platform Seedrs is a "bit better" at accepting international payments.

Business Insider contacted Crowdcube to find out more but did not immediately hear back.

Following the publication of this article, Crowdcube cofounder and CEO Luke Lang provided the following statement:

USA, Canada and Japan are jurisdictions where we are aware of the existence of financial services regulations which are not compatible with crowdfunding. As a result, it is our general policy of not accepting investments from those jurisdictions. Exceptionally we may be able to accept US investments, provided the investor complies with certain additional procedures, including taking US law advice to confirm that he/she can legally invest.

Other international investors are subject to enhanced anti-money laundering and sanctions checks. Where our dedicated compliance team is not satisfied with the results of such checks, an investment would not be processed. Investments are paid using our third party payment provider, Stripe, using a debt or prepaid card. If an investor does not have a debit or pre-paid credit card, and they reside in a country from which they can invest, we will work with the investor, when possible, to process their payment.