Kestrl is a mobile app based on the principles of Islamic banking. It aims to cater to the over 1.9 million British Muslim community to invest in the UK in line with their religious beliefs. Consumers can avail a host of financial services from finding interest-free savings accounts to taking out a mortgage. The company raised a £135,000 pre-seed round from C-level Islamic banking professionals in January 2020. It also launched its application on Google Playstore and App store in September 2020. Kestrl is working on launching an equity-based home purchase product soon. It also aspires to expand to Malaysia/Indonesia by white labelling with established retail banks and utilising its 'inside knowledge' of the region. It will use 39% of the investment towards platform up-gradation and tech team expansion, 20% towards hiring personnel across various departments, 19% for maintaining agency license fees and acquiring its own regulatory permissions, 8% in marketing, and 14% towards ancillary costs.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£194,502
QFinds is a purpose-built hiring tool that enables employers to easily and efficiently pre-screen candidates, conduct interviews and generate employment contracts. The company asserts that it is a UK government vetted 'Kickstart Scheme' representative and can get small businesses grants to hire interns having already processed over 100 job applications. QFinds claims that its app has been downloaded 2 million+ times garnering 24,000 reviews averaging 4.8/5 stars. QFinds also points out that bad hirings cost the UK up to £6.7 billion in turnover, productivity, and training. It seeks to change this and disrupt the £39 billion recruitment market. The company has partnered with notable entities like University College London, Kings College London and Brunel University London, intending to use them as strategic partners to increase job seekers signing up to and using its app. QFinds will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£222,866
Hitmarker is a proprietary job platform that covers the entire video game sector. It aims to be the leading job provider in the $159 billion video game industry. It has a database of 67,000 candidates and has posted 46,000 jobs from 4,500 companies in 77 countries. The company asserts that one million people have used Hitmarker 2.5 million times to post or look for jobs. Hitmarker has been covered by publications like Forbes, CNBC, and The FT. It has also onboarded 20 partners, including The University of California, RGF Executive Search, and the British Esports Association. The company will use the investment to build a global network of localised platforms in crucial territories and expand its addressable market.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£521,283
Monva is an FCA approved, customer-centric intelligent comparison platform for financial products and services. It combines Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and smart technology to enable its customers to select the most accurate financial product they wish to buy or invest in. Monva is initially targeting the Credit Card market, which will be followed by Loans, Energy, and Communications, which already represents a potential £3 billion opportunity. The company is targeting 80% of the adults in the UK market that have either never switched a financial product or switched only once. With the investment, the company will build the platform to make it more user friendly, develop strategic partnerships, and recruit staff who specialise technology and marketing.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£479,440
Saurus is a digital banking platform that aims to make all banking services accessible to its users from the convenience of their smartphones. The company aims to develop a current account facility and contactless payments between their users' smartphones, and eventually venture into saving accounts, Automatic A.I Loans, P2P Loans, Investment account, Instant transfers, and Personalized Debit Cards. The company has a growing online presence with 133,000+ YouTube and 700+ Instagram followers with 1500 users registering on the portal with negligible marketing activities. In February 2020, more than a 1000 people showed interest in opening a Saurus account. With the investment, the company aims to launch the Saurus App with 'Current Accounts' features during Q3 2020, hire qualified professionals to expand the brand, and sign appropriate contracts with its providers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£943,540
Celo is an app-based insurance provider designed to provide cheaper quotes, faster claims, and a pleasant user experience. We plan to offer insurance cover for motor vehicles, travel, health, and more. Like Monzo and Starling who are disrupting banking, Celo plans to disrupt the insurance industry.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£142,840
Scribestar's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform digitises and automates the documentation and compliance processes required for raising capital on stock markets such as IPOs, bonds etc. The platform intends to provide users with structured data format documents that can be machine-read and monetised. Scribestar aims to become a contender in the $22 billion Regulatory/Legal Technology markets. It argues that it is already active in the UK and has witnessed over 50 transactions on its system. It is also a part of the London Stock Exchange Issuer Services and CMS equIP with 4 years of verifiable commercial use and over £13 million received as investments. Scribestar asserts that its services are being regularly used by three law firms in the UK with more showing interest in its capability to function as a remote tool to manage the compliance documentation process. The company will use the investment to start its expansion in the US and other markets targeting law firms and deliver successful trials with stock exchanges.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£864,009
Findr aims to automate the creation of business partnerships by providing easy access to hyper-targeted opportunities in minutes. The company asserts that its platform allows any business, regardless of its size, to sign up, post its partnership requirements, and explore opportunities for free. The company's portal allows users to request a 1-hour 'Discovery' call with a potential partner when the said user spots a relevant opportunity. Findr argues that it has made 'Discovery' for free for the first few months to build its user base. The company has onboarded 140 business users ranging from early-stage to global brands such as Mastercard, Uber and Visa since November 2020. Findr has featured in Forbes for helping businesses navigate COVID-19. The company will use the investment to develop two new price plans – Unlimited and Enterprise, introduce new platform features, hire a machine learning expert, and undertake digital activity to grow its user base.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£396,288
Legal Connection (LC) is on a mission to democratise the $1 trillion legal profession, and enabling networks of legal professionals to compete with large partnership firms. The company asserts that the UK leads the world in being a friendly regulatory environment for freelance lawyers and virtual firms. LC aims to capture this sentiment and provide the aforementioned lawyers with the right technology so that they can group to provide a comparable service to large firms at a fraction of the price. LC argues that its product looks like a social networking tool but functions as a legal case and practise management suite wherein all the work takes place in secure chat rooms. Lawyers are also allowed to leverage third-party managed accounts to hold client money and execute transactions. LC was selected by Antler Venture Capital and given a pre-seed investment of £120,000. LC will use the investment to grow its user base, continue product development, and use technology to power the future of law.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£211,874
Opportunity Network is a digital network that provides equal growth opportunities to Chief Executive Officers (CEO). The portal's algorithm vets prospective users, allows them to buy, sell, raise or invest in an asset, gives them the option to choose the industry they wish to do business in, and then post their requirement for the same. The user can then select the best deal for their business from a list of responses and scale profitably. The company's platform connects 32,000+ qualified CEOs in 130+ countries to $295 billion worth of commercial, financial, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals. 86% of the deals on the portal find at least 1 counterpart in 48 hours. Opportunity Network aims to reach full scale by the end of 2020 and find 10 counterparts for 95% of the deals in 1 hour. The company has also been featured in publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Financial Times, and The Economist. It will use the investment to scale its business across various verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£962,500
