LONDON — FleishmanHillard UK has been appointed by Crowdcube, a European marketplace for retail investment into private companies, as its first retained agency in the UK after a competitive pitch.

The agency will lead the 10-year-old brand’s press office and reactive news programme, while developing campaigns to communicate the evolution of its business model from equity crowdfunding to end-to-end investing. Crowdcube will also tap into the agency’s global network and specialisms such as crisis management, integrated creative and planning.

Crowdcube was the first investment crowdfunding platform to be licensed under recent EU regulations that give it increased access to European markets. Recent launches include Community IPO, which allows small investors to take a stake in companies at the point of going public.

The PR account will be serviced by FleishmanHillard UK’s fintech team, which combines B2B and B2C specialists in areas such as press office and creative, policy and global account management.

Crowdcube chief marketing officer Nathan Levi said: “FleishmanHillard’s strategic approach to our brief won us over. The deep analysis into our core, and new, audiences to establish what they truly care about to then build campaigns around is something that massively appealed to us and showed how the team work. They showed us the kind of fresh and creative thinking that will help us to take our communications to the next level and make real impact.”

FleishmanHillard UK director and head of fintech Gemma Lingham added: “Consumers are now engaging with, investing in, launching and growing businesses that align with their core values more than ever. Fintech platforms like Crowdcube are providing the ability for both investors and entrepreneurs to succeed in this. Our partnership will see us create a communications programme that truly understands these audiences and that inspires them to become the next generation of investors and entrepreneurs.”