Apprentice star turns to crowdfunding for The Link App

Former Apprentice star and solicitor Lauren Riley is using her entrepreneurial nous to fund her budding business empire The Link App.

Opening her business up to the public, Riley has listed The Link App's equity funding target as £150,000 on Crowd2Fund. Funding will enable the family law specialist to launch her product to the general market and, hopefully, revolutionise the way lawyers will communicate with their clients.

The basic version of the app has already launched, with Riley claiming that 80 firms have expressed interest in using it.

The £150,000 will be used to further develop and market Riley's app. She is offering 15 per cent equity and the business has also pre-qualified for the seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) tax incentives.

As an added incentive, investors will receive £1,000 of usage credit on the app if they contribute £5,000 or more of the total target.

'Crowd2Fund offers a simple and quick platform for investors to gain insight into the business with much of the usual due diligence work done for them,' explained Riley. 'My investors also become my clients, product testers, and invest in future rounds so crowdfunding was clearly the best way to raise funds.'

The Link App is being marketed to lawyers as offering real cost saving to firms. Riley has estimated that £9,600 per year can be saved in solicitors' salaries alone. She predicts that with the additional time saved a firm could potentially increase its profit by £84,000 per year per solicitor.

Riley previously told SJ: 'I have always loved being in business. As an entrepreneur I was convinced there must be a better way for lawyers to communicate with their clients. After all, this is the 21st century.

'After listening to the continued grumblings of my colleagues who work in law, I had my eureka moment and The Link App was born. We've seen phenomenal interest in the app so far; using the crowd is a modern way to raise funds for a modern company.'