Events

Crowdz Accepted to the Mayor’s International Business Programme as Finance Cohort Member

As any startup organization, we’ve perfected the art of hustle, cold calling, and door knocking. We’re so thrilled that all of that hard work has paid off to be alongside some of London’s greatest up-and-coming organizations.

Sarah Wyman

Nov 11, 2021

The team at Crowdz is happy to announce our company was accepted to the Mayor’s International Business Programme by London & Partners.

As the business growth and destination agency for London, London & Partners has made it their mission to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable, and inclusive. In part of that goal, their team launched the Mayor’s International Business Programme. Crowdz CEO, Payson E. Johnston, will act as a cohort member and represent our company on Thursday, October 21st. Keep reading to learn more about our involvement at the Mayor’s International Business Programme.

More About the Mayor’s International Business Programme

Honored as a ‘Best in Class’ international export program by the UK Scaleup Institute, the Mayor’s International Business Programme assists various types of start-up organizations across London. They have helped more than 1,000 high-growth companies across a variety of industries including technology, life sciences, creative, and urban sectors.

Not only does the Mayor’s International Business Programme help to promote businesses locally, but also works with organizations to grow an international presence. Their cohort members have created more than 4,000 jobs, completed deals worth over €193 million, and raised more than €486 million investments.

Notable alumni include:

Crowdz is very excited to join that list as we were accepted as a 2021 cohort member for the Mayor’s International Business Programme. As any startup organization, we’ve perfected the art of hustle, cold calling, and door knocking. We’re so thrilled that all of that hard work has paid off to be alongside some of London’s greatest up-and-coming organizations.

About the Journey to Becoming a Cohort

From start to finish, the journey to being recognized as a Mayor’s International Business Programme alumni is a 12-month period. First, we had to submit an application to be reviewed for eligibility.

To be eligible for the program, businesses must:

Be based in London
Be looking to expand internationally
Have between 10 and 249 employees
Be generating revenues of at least £1m per annum or the equivalent in funding (or both)
Demonstrate steady growth with active projects, domestically or internationally

Luckily, Crowdz was accepted to the program alongside organizations such as Bring, Atlas, CyberSmar, Elmore, Envestors, Karri, Lovis, and more.

Gaining access to the free 12-month accelerator program provides our team with the tools we need to scale internationally. Their various workshops, trade missions, and mentoring sessions will grow our skillset exponentially.

Workshop Series

The Mayor’s International Business Programme organizes a range of networking opportunities that allow our team to connect with other cohort members. The goal of the workshop series is to help navigate the nuances of doing business internationally and in overseas markets.

Each workshop covers a different topic such as branding and marketing, sales and fundraising, people and leadership, and strategy and business planning. In addition to networking events, there is also the opportunity to join one-to-one mentoring sessions to get more personalized training sessions with other experienced entrepreneurs.

Trade Missions

The Mayor’s International Business Programme understands the key to conducting business internationally is to know a market inside and out. That’s why we will have the opportunity to join high-profile and sector-focused trade missions in areas such as China, India, France, Germany, North America, and more. During the trade mission, we will gain credibility, senior-level access, and the opportunity to evaluate a market first-hand while making personal contacts.

Mentoring Scheme

Last but not least, as a cohort member of the Mayor’s International Business Programme, Crowdz will gain access to its mentor network with more than 100 business experts. Each business expert is an experienced entrepreneur with first-hand experience and skill in our chosen market. The program will match Crowdz with a mentor in the financing space who can answer our unique questions, introduce us to trusted advisors, and connect us with investors.

More About Crowdz

Starting as a team of two entrepreneurs, our CEO Payson E. Johnston and COO Steven Lee understood the impact of cash flow challenges for new businesses. In fact, studies have shown poor cash flow management or poor understanding of cash flow contributes to the failure of a small business 82% of the time.

Johnston and Lee believed the right technology and access to greater opportunities could change that. In 2014, Crowdz was born. Our mission was — and still is — to create an alternative funding solution that makes it easy for businesses to invest, forecast, and scale faster.

The Recurring Revenue platform by Crowdz offers immediate payment on your monthly recurring subscriptions, so small businesses can quickly reinvest those funds for sales, marketing, hiring, and more.

Fast forward to today and we can’t believe how much success the Crowdz platform is seeing each day.

More About London & Partners

London & Partners is a non-profit organization made up of 10 non-executive directors and two executive directors who have worldly expertise in the private sector. Since being founded in 2011, the establishment has created nearly 70,000 jobs, helped almost 2,000 companies to set up or expand in London, and generated €1.5 billion in economic growth.

In short, London & Partners works to support the Mayor’s priorities. They love encouraging people to invest, work, study, and visit London by promoting it as the best city in the world.