Over 1000 Investors - Sarah Merrick, Ripple Energy

Fundraising Stories with Female Founders

Fundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Sarah Merrick, the Founder and CEO of Ripple, an innovative clean energy ownership platform. Sarah set up Ripple to enable household consumers to own their own source of clean power and transform the ownership of the UK's energy assets.

Sarah has worked in the wind energy industry for 19 years. Prior to setting up Ripple, she was Head of Public Affairs for Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, and she was also vice-chair of RenewableUK, the UK's trade body for wind and marine energy.

Sarah saw a gap in the market and initially went to VCs for investment pre-launch and struggled to gain commitment before deciding crowdfunding was the better option at this early stage. With the world now taking notice of climate change and looking for cleaner energy solutions, it was the right time to gather interest from a wide network of investors via crowdfunding. In 2019, Sarah secured £856k investment for the growth of her business through crowdfunding, and Ripple was awarded Startup of the Year by Seedrs investors and Business Green.

In fact, over 1000 people invested in Ripple, showing how important the company's mission is for people looking to make a difference to the world we live in.

In this episode you’ll discover…

• Why you should expand your thinking with ideas that make a real difference
• Why timing can be key for a successful investment round
• How crowdfunding investors invest for different reasons to VCs