Gary Usher’s new crowdfunding initiative was nearly two hours late going online last night, owing to ‘technical issues’. But still, the chef and owner of Elite Bistros managed to drum up a staggering £126,000 in just a few hours, as he opened up his business for people to buy shares in.
The man behind restaurants like Hispi, Kala, Burnt Truffle and Wreckfish, announced that he was planning to sell shares in the business earlier this year, with the crowdfund set up on the investment platform Seedrs. The huge sum was raised with the help of 305 investors.
“Wow, that was an intense start last night,” he said in a video posted to Twitter. “I’ve not had much sleep. We were meant to launch at six o’clock, but as anyone watching it saw, we didn’t launch till about half past seven. There were a few technical issues.
