Qardus is an ethical and Sharia-compliant financing platform for social impact Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and investors. Qardus asserts that the 3.8 million Muslim community in the UK, and 25 million in Europe, is massively underserved when it comes to accessing interest-free (Sharia-compliant) structures. It intends to change this. Qardus offers up to £200,000 in innovative interest-free business financing to eligible SMEs for tenors of up to 24 months and is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved. Qardus points out that it has provided over £250,000 in financing to some high social impact SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic, maintained a 100% track record with a 0% default rate to date, and featured in media entities like Sifted, Islamic Finance News, Peer-to-Peer Finance News, and Fintech Futures amongst others. It will use 30% of the investment on marketing costs for acquiring SMEs and investors on its platform, 60% on growing its team, and 10% on obtaining additional licenses to expand its services.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£313,009
Rescape is a company pioneering the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in healthcare and frontline services. Its DR.VR platform, launched in 2019, helped reduce pain and anxiety amongst patients in hospitals and care homes. The company delivers VR content to patients through the Samsung Gear VR headset, a hard-plastic headset, that can be wiped down and disinfected along with VR sanitary eye masks that reduce chances of infection and irritation to patients. Through the company's technology, patients can experience ocean life, amusements parks and relax in some of the most beautiful settings in the world, all from the safety of the healthcare institution. The AR/VR in Healthcare Market is predicted to reach USD 30-40 billion by 2026, and Rescape aims to be a disruptor in this segment. The company will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£488,450
TheCarCrowd is a Passion Asset Investment (PAI) platform that intends to address the lack of investment options for the 8 million UK millennials by allowing them to take a real equity stake in a classic car and benefit from the potential appreciation. The company argues that classic cars appreciated 194% over 10 years up to Q4 2019 as per expert reports. TheCarCrowd points out that its portal allows interested investors to buy shares in cars from just £20 and unlock the benefits of potential appreciation. The company asserts that its business idea has found traction amidst users with over 620 investors registering on the portal since the company's launch in November 2020. TheCarCrowd will use 12% of the investment for Public Relations (PR), 48% for marketing, and 40% for working capital.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£379,108
Compared to modern paper currency, which tends to devalue over time, gold has always maintained its significance and purchasing power. The Glint smartphone app, in partnership with MasterCard, allows customers to buy and sell gold in real-time for a 0.5% fee into multiple currencies such as USD and EUR. The company has attracted more than 1500 customers in its beta phase and is now seeking investment to expand worldwide. The gold is located in Switzerland in Brink's secure vault.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,166,290
Smartlands is a blockchain-based digital finance and investment ecosystem. It allows asset owners to turn an ownership right to a share of any asset, into a tradable digital token attributing it almost unlimited liquidity. In the UK, Smartlands is the first platform for crowdfunding investments that allows investors to use digital currencies alongside fiat currencies to raise capital. The platform boasts of a 16,000 strong community following with over 11,000 wallets opened since its inception. It has a reputed list of partners including Colliers International, CMS, Archax, UK Sotheby’s, and many more. They have been awarded the 'Best Crowdfunding Platform' at the 2020 FinTech Breakthrough Awards and have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Forbes, Coindesk, Benzinga, and Investors Chronicle to name a few. With the investment, the company will grow its internal engineering team and obtain the necessary licenses to move its business forward across Europe.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£379,183
Charm is a peer-to-peer impact investment platform that allows a user to use his/her investments to drive positive change in the world while earning a financial return. Morgan Stanley estimates that 85% of people are interested in sustainable investing. Charm enables individuals to fund projects led by high-impact entrepreneurs selling clean energy solutions in developing economies. Users can view their investments on the company's transparent, personalised impact investment dashboard, as well as, earn social, environmental and financial bottom line returns for their contributions. The company secured a £496,000 grant funding to develop its platform, refine its offering & provide growth capital. It is in the process of becoming an appointed representative of a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised entity post this funding round. It will use the investment to expand its team, develop its platform, and raise brand awareness.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£273,720
Spotlight Consultations aims to diagnose diseases based on evidence-based questionnaires. The company's Algorithmic Questionnaire (AQ) strives to be a simple 3-5 minute questionnaire, dynamically responsive with each question linked to an actionable care pathway. The company estimates that 10% of global health expenditure per annum is spent on diabetes, which is predicted to rise to $825 billion by 2030. Indirect costs from premature death, disability, and diabetes-related health complications add an additional 35% more to this number. Spotlight intends for its AQ to help reduce expenditure and healthcare burden while improving the quality of care and health outcomes. The company will use the investment to support early revenue generation, team expansion and stimulate Research and Development (R&D) tools to cover more diseases like CVD, IBD, chronic pain, and cancers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£69,682
Nextfin is an FCA approved aggregation and rating portal for equity and debt crowdfunding investments.
AIM is shrinking, legacy stock markets are too expensive to maintain and do not serve the requirements of SMEs, banks are closing branches, lending less and are paying little or no interest to investors. As a result of this, there is a huge growth in equity crowdfunding and P2P lending which has seen the launch of hundreds of alternative lenders & platforms that has created a new c.£3bn marketplace, expanding at 66% p.a. There is no single portal or trusted ratings index for investors to compare on a like for like basis and no secondary market to facilitate exits.
* NextFin is the new trading name of Business Agent Ltd
The solution
NextFin aggregates equity and debt crowdfunding investments to create the alternative finance marketplace. This makes it easy for investors and lenders to find and compare opportunities by presenting all investment offerings in one place. With the addition of a free of charge ratings service investors will be able to view ratings of every equity crowdfunding pitch, every P2P site, and every equity crowdfunding site. NextFin’s technology will constantly track these companies and investments providing the investor real-time intelligence on which to base investment decisions. The platforms and entrepreneurs will be self-promoting and marketing their ratings driving thousands of visitors a month to the NextFin site, in the same way, businesses refer their potential clients to Trip Advisor and Trustpilot. There is an estimated 10 million website/platform visitors per month across the whole of the alternative finance market. NextFin is targeting to direct 5% of this highly profiled traffic to its platform from which it will earn between £5-£8 per click from advertisers and partners. In addition, an in-house brokerage service also earns between 1%-6% commissions on loan placements. A future revenue stream (not featured in the financials) will be developed once visitor traffic reaches critical mass. This will see Nextfin being able to realise the full value of its captured ratings data and visitor traffic by launching a secondary market, which is estimated to be a £5bn marketplace.
NextFin is raising £500k at a pre-money valuation of £2M to: • Develop P2P and Equity site ratings• Expand the management, infrastructure and marketing resource• Increase visitor traffic to 6m a year via rating referrals
Owing to the size of the market and rapid growth of the industry, enterprise valuations in alternative finance are based on visitor traffic, market share and registered users. Recently published valuations of companies with visitor traffic of over 6m per year are in excess of £70m. NextFin is the market-leading aggregator and has first-mover advantage. It has the potential to exceed these valuations because it is the whole of the market aggregator and is currently the only ratings service provider as it grows to achieve 500,000 visitors p.m.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£274,057
GymBuddy is an online platform that enables consumers to find, book, and attend a gym location, services, or products offered and operated by fitness studios, gyms, trainers, venues, or other third parties. Users can easily, through filtered searches on the app, view descriptions, and contact information of specialists within the fitness industry such as personal trainers, nutritionists, and physiotherapists. The UK fitness industry alone is currently worth over £5 billion. Based on recent statistics, the average gym membership in the UK costs members £40 a month, which often ties them into lengthy contracts. The GymBuddy app will enter the Health & Fitness club sector as a multi-gym membership feature that gives users access to gyms and various fitness plans, without the need for bricks-and-mortar locations under its brand. The company is seeking an investment of £400,000 to expand its brand identity and bring more users to its ecosystem to generate profits.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
Baanx is a B2B2C mobile banking platform offering cutting-edge services in remittance, spending & blockchain. The company takes pride in its innovative customer acquisition process through partner communities. The BaanxCL already has a CL™ VISA Debit Card, Crypto-Payment Gateway, a Crypto-Exchange, Stablecoins, and other exciting features. The company is also partnering with new brands around the world which are not banking already but have large user communities to connect. The company is aiming to target 100,000 users by Q2 2020 with the assistance of Super Seed Investors. With the proceeds, Baanx will hire additional team members, spend funds on marketing, and launch services in South America and Asia.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£658,200
