Business mentoring company Britbots launched a crowdfunding platform Britbots CROWD to support British robotics startups, the company announced today.

“Whilst talking to investors about the British Robotics Seed Fund we realized that there was a broad appetite amongst investors to include some high-potential robotics businesses in their portfolio on a discretionary basis without necessarily going down the fund route,” founder Dominic Keen said in a prepared statement. “Hence we are delighted to have launched Britbots CROWD, the world’s only dedicated equity crowd-funding platform for robotics companies, giving investors direct access to this exciting class of investments for the first time.”

The platform gives private investors a way to build their personal share portfolio of new robotics companies. The companies listed on Britbots CROWD have already received funding from Britbots’ British Robotics Seed Fund, which raised more than £500,000.

The companies listed will accept a minimum investment amount of £200, which will allow mainstream investors to purchase shares, and will receive mentoring and business development support from Britbots. In addition, investors will also receive tax incentives under SEIS or EIS.

Currently the platform hosts investment opportunities for robotics platform company ZOA Robotics, bot program support company Botskill, drone provider Tethered Drone Technologies, software company Redbeard and computer programming educational organization Future Technology Resources.

“I’m pleased to be working with Britbots CROWD to source new investors for our current funding round,” ZOA Robotics CEO Thiago Acevedo said in the statement. “It can be difficult to identify investors who are specifically interested in robotics companies when using other equity crowdfunding platforms and so I’m confident that Britbots CROWD will do a good job in filling this niche.”