Rushmore Group secures further funding

Rushmore Group, the Jonathan Downey-led members’ clubs, bars and restaurant operator, has netted a further £500,000 through crowd-funding website Crowdcube.

It comes as Rushmore looks to open three new members’ clubs in London over the next 12 months.

The group, which has raised £2m since November 2011 via Crowdcube, is in talks on three new sites in Clerkenwell, central London, and Shoreditch, east London.

Downey told M&C Report that he hoped to open at least two of the ventures this year. He is also planning to raise a further £1m through a bond issue.

Downey added: “We have now sold exactly 20% of our equity to around 300 investors and it’s at a level we feel comfortable with.

“We’d now like to add some debt and further equity through a bond issue. I am amazed by what we have achieved so far, with — for example — 200 people putting forward £5,000, £1,500 of which they get back in tax relief immediately.”

Downey said that, via the bond issue, investors would also be offered further incentives connected to the business.

He added that the group’s current six sites, including the bar-café Giant Robot in Clerkenwell, continued to perform well.