Crowd for Angels, one of the UK’s leading crowdfunding companies, has launched its first “crowd bonds”, a specially created secured, high interest product which is eligible for its new Innovative Finance ISA (IF-ISA). Introduced by the government in April last year, the IF-ISA allows investors to earn tax free* income on crowdfunded debt securities.

The first two companies to issue crowd bonds to investors on the Crowd for Angels platform are:

•  Seven Spirit Limited, an independent bar & restaurant group raising up to £400,000 and offering 6.4% p.a. interest, paid monthly.
•  PayitMonthly, a company which helps SMEs offer their customers interest free finance, which is raising up to £200,000 at a rate of 9% p.a., paid monthly.

These are the first two crowd bonds launched by Crowd for Angels which are eligible for its new IF-ISA.  The bonds have been designed to offer a higher rate of return than a typical Cash ISA and, providing a further degree of protection, are secured against assets of the borrowing companies or other assets. The IF-ISA is free and easy to open, available online 24 hours a day, and all investors need to do is register with Crowd for Angels and provide their National Insurance number.

Tony De Nazareth, CEO and Founder of Crowd for Angels commented: “With interest rates on Cash ISAs currently at all-time lows, we expect to see high demand for our crowd bonds. Investors who are willing to take on extra risk by lending to companies have the opportunity of making tax free returns of up to 9% per annum on our asset backed bonds, which compares to an average interest rate of just 0.64% on a Cash ISA”.