In a landmark moment for grassroots women’s football, Camden Town Women’s FC, a tier-six club has just raised £138,000 from its own fans, reaching 272% over their target. Six years ago they were a park-football side, training on public pitches in Regent's Park with no ground to call their own. Ninety-eight people now own a stake in a club that has won three promotions and won the 2024/25 season’s league and cup double. Fans invested for as little as £24, rising to £20,000.

Camden’s highly successful raise on Republic Europe shows that club superfans at every level can directly fill challenging funding gaps. Republic’s own portfolio data shows that clubs who convert supporters into shareholders see customer lifetime value rise 54 per cent, brand loyalty and retention rise 60 per cent, and fans become twice as likely to actively recruit other supporters and promote club partners through word of mouth.

“The success of this investment round sends a powerful message about the appetite to be part of the future of Camden Town WFC. People aren't simply backing a football club, they’re investing in an ambition, a community and in what we believe can become a genuinely important club in the women’s game,” says Camden Town WFC chairman Richard Mahoney.

“We wanted people to have the opportunity to become part of what we are building, not simply spectators to it. Bringing investors into the club creates a much wider community of people with a genuine stake in our journey and who can share in our ambitions for the future. The response has far exceeded our expectations.

“As players, we can feel the ambition growing around Camden Town WFC, and this investment is a real vote of confidence in the team and the wider club,” says Maxine Borden, Camden Town WFC’s midfielder and a graduate of Chelsea and Arsenal youth academies. "We are building something special here.”

Hosted on the equity crowdfunding platform Republic Europe, the seed round closed on Wednesday 23rd September having raised above £138,00 against a £50,002 target, valuing the tier-six club at £480,000. It is the first women’s football club to run a fan-investment seed round on Republic Europe, which has previously backed fundraises for multiple men’s clubs including AFC Wimbledon, South Shields, Altrincham and Dorking Wanderers, totalling £10m from over 11,000 investors, since 2019.

Tom Field, Head of Sports Investment at Republic Europe, said: “We’ve seen time again in the men’s game that fans want to be more than spectators, and Camden’s fundraise shows that appetite is growing fast in women’s football. What Richard has built at Camden Town WFC is incredibly impressive and impactful. We’d expect to see a lot more grass roots women’s clubs look at this model as a result.”

The numbers sit against a backdrop of real growth in the women’s game. Deloitte puts global revenue in women’s elite sport at $3 billion this year, up 340 per cent since 2022. Women’s Super League clubs generated £90m between them last season, four years on from the Lionesses’ European Championship win that changed how the country watches women’s football.

The challenge for the future of women’s football, however, is that most of the funding stays at the top of the pyramid. A Starling Bank survey this summer found 97 per cent of coaches at grassroots girls’ and women’s clubs say they need more funding, and three in four female players expect to drop out of the game within five years if it isn’t found.

The club now fields more than 100 players across four teams and counts Adobe and Entain among 15 commercial partners. It is targeting the Women’s National League within three seasons and a potential pathway to the WSL within five to six years.

Chairman Richard Mahoney continues, “This investment will allow us to strengthen the foundations of the club, invest in the environment around our players and team and build the infrastructure needed to take Camden Town WFC to the next level.”

ENDS

Investment of this kind carries risk: shares in early-stage and small companies are illiquid, investors could lose some or all of their capital, and tax reliefs such as SEIS and EIS are not guaranteed. This release is not investment advice; anyone considering investing should read the risk warnings on the Republic Europe campaign page.

Press Contact:

Republic Europe

emily@dartmouth55.com

https://europe.republic.com

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