EVERYONE would like a piece of the next Google or Facebook. But the big venture-capital (VC) firms do not usually raise money from small investors. And some entrepreneurs complain that it is hard to get noticed by the hotshots in the VC industry. Hence the enthusiasm for crowd-funding, where small investors can buy a stake in startup companies.
所有人都想購買穀歌或Facebook的股票， 但是， 大型風投公司往往不會向小投資者融資。 一些創業者抱怨稱， 很難得到大風投企業的親睞。
Seedrs, a British crowd-funding firm, was set up in 2012, and has backed 500 firms so far, raising a total of £210m ($271m) from more than 200,000 users. But there are two big problems with crowd-funding. First, it is risky: most startups fail. Second, investments tend to be illiquid—shareholders have to wait for a takeover or a stockmarket flotation to recoup their investment.
2012年成立的英國眾籌企業Seedrs迄今為止已為500家企業融資， 從20多萬眾籌用戶那裡籌集了2.1億英鎊（約合2.71億美元）資金。 不過， 眾籌存在兩大問題。 第一， 高風險：大多數創業公司倒閉。 第二， 投資流動性弱——股東必須等待股份被收購或股票上市才能收回投資。
Seedrs is trying to solve the illiquidity problem by setting up a secondary market, where buyers and sellers can exchange shares. The new market will start operating this summer, and will allow trading for a week every month, starting on the first Tuesday. The price at which investors can deal will be set by Seedrs itself, based on a valuation mechanism in line with industry guidelines. But there are some restrictions: only current investors in a firm will be allowed to buy shares. And, to the extent that investors make a profit on a sale, Seedrs takes a 7.5% cut of the gains.
Seedrs試圖建立二級市場， 解決投資流動性弱的問題。 在二級市場， 買賣雙方能交易股份。 二級市場將在今年夏天啟動， 每月交易一次， 為期一周， 開始日期為每月第一個星期二。 Seedrs根據專業的評估機制， 為投資者制定交易價格。 不過， 這種做法存在局限性：只有公司的現有投資者可以買股票。 另外， Seedrs將從投資者的股票交易收益中抽成7.5%。
Crowd-funding might be even more attractive if investors could at a click assemble a diversified portfolio of small stakes in 20-30 companies rather than just one—just as those who put money into peer-to-peer lending can spread their risk across a range of borrowers. The next challenge will be to build on early efforts to offer the same to investors in shares: ie, mutual funds for crowd-funded startups.
如果投資者選擇一個多樣化的投資組合， 對20到30家公司少量投資而不是孤注一擲， 眾籌也許會更具吸引力。 這就類似把錢借給一群實力相當的人以分散風險。 接下來的挑戰是讓投資者在交易或持有股票時享受同樣的待遇， 即為眾籌創業公司建立共同基金。
編譯：張思瑩
審校：菜菜泡菇