Crowdcube has received authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to operate as a Public Offer Platform (POP), marking a major shift in how UK retail investors can access private markets.
The equity crowdfunding platform‘s FCA approval follows the launch of the Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations (POATR) on 19 January 2026, widely seen as the biggest overhaul of UK capital markets rules in a generation.
The new framework replaces the EU Prospectus Regulation with a more flexible, disclosure-based regime designed to boost London’s competitiveness and help high-growth companies raise capital more easily. Crucially, it removes the long-standing cap that limited private companies to raising around £6.8 million from the public without publishing a costly, FCA-approved prospectus.
With POP status, Crowdcube can now facilitate uncapped primary public offers by private, unlisted businesses, including large pre-IPO fundraising rounds, without requiring a prospectus. That opens the door for retail investors to participate in much larger funding rounds that were historically reserved for venture capital firms and institutional investors.
Matt Cooper, Co-CEO of Crowdcube, described the new regime as a “watershed moment” for the UK’s scale-up economy. He said the platform can now act as a regulatory bridge between early-stage crowdfunding and full stock market listings, helping close the long-discussed “equity gap” that has often excluded retail investors from late-stage private growth opportunities.
For Crowdcube’s community of more than two million investors, the change could be transformative. Retail participants may soon gain access to £10 million, £50 million or even £100 million-plus funding rounds, investment opportunities that previously sat firmly behind institutional paywalls.
The authorisation also builds on Crowdcube’s partnership with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to provide retail access to the Private Securities Market via the PISCES sandbox. Together, the POP regime and PISCES framework create a pathway that allows companies to raise primary and secondary capital across their lifecycle while remaining private.
With the success of UK Fintechs like Revolut, private markets are becoming more popular with retail investors. In November 2025, unlisted securities venue JP Jenkins was awarded a PISCES operator licence by the FCA, becoming one of only a handful of approved platforms under the new framework. The initiative aims to enable intermittent trading of private company shares, unlocking liquidity for early investors and employees while helping recycle capital across the growth ecosystem.
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