Reef Knots is a direct-to-consumer menswear brand that was launched in 2013. Inspired by the ocean and summer, the brand has grown its reputation with silk ties and innovative print design but has now ventured into multiple categories, including upcycled ocean plastic swim shorts and knitwear using 50% recycled plastic. Since April 2014, the brand has made sales worth £2 million catering to more than 22,000 orders. Moreover, Reef Knots is now a profitable business with 108% online growth. With the investment, the brand will accelerate online sales through digital marketing channels and invest in a core team to generate further sales in wider demographies.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£176,220
Jack’s Shack is an automotive conversion company that creates and sells bespoke campervans and custom trucks to match the dreams and specifications of its customers. The company earns its revenue by customising a customer's campervan or buying, converting, and selling a van to the next potential customers through retail partners. It is aiming to capitalise on the ‘staycation’ trend, with an estimated 83% of British holidaymakers stating they would prefer to holiday in the UK in 2021. Jack's Shack states it has grown annual revenues to £1.5 million+ in 2020. The company is also planning to introduce new custom designs to boost margins from 2021. It will use the investment to move to a bigger site, grow its team, create space to hold more vans at a given time, and generate faster revenues.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£155,848
PANTSANDSOCKS.COM is an online retailer and subscription service that helps men buy branded underwear and socks. They state their mission is to be a convenient, one-stop-shop for top brands in the market. PANTSANDSOCKS.COM argues that it is an ‘Authorised Stockist’ of 16+ leading brands including Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. The company claims to have fulfilled over 2,000 orders, welcomed over 100,000 unique website visitors to its site, achieved a 4.6/5, ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating, and signed up over 4,000 people to its database. The company has integrated with Amazon and Google Shopping to provide additional revenue streams. They state they will use the investment to achieve 100,000 unique visitors per month by the end of Q3 2021, meet its business targets, and continue to develop its internal capabilities at a sustainable rate.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£205,504
Burleighs Gin is a company that aims to establish itself as the leader in the gin market. It is the official gin partner for entities such as Leicester City Football Club, Leicester Tigers RFC, and the King Richard III foundation. Burleighs plans to introduce a 'non-alcoholic gin' apart from its gin products. The company feels that this will allow Burleighs to enter into the rapidly rising 'low & no' growth sector, now valued at £60 million a year in the UK. It also intends to commission the production of a 'Ready to Drink Gin & Tonic' in a can, another growth market driven by the popularity of gin that is now worth £472 million a year. Burleighs has on-trade listings secured with Cosy Club, Loungers, All Bar One, and Miller & Carter. It has hosted consumer events during 2019 including; Picnic in the Gardens, World Gin Day festival and The Great Burleighs Express. Burleighs Gin has been featured in BBC Good Food Guide's 'Best Gins to try in 2019'. They will use 50% of the investment for new product development, 15% for distillery expansion, 15% for recruitment drives, 10% for export growth, and 10% as marketing expenses.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£130,490
VPS work with vehicle manufacturers to provide labour such as fitting air conditioning, leather seats, etc. to their cars as they arrive at port from overseas. VPS's main focus is the manufacturing of Number Plates within the Approved British Standard and selling these directly to the car manufacturers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£851,620
Gravitricity is an energy technology company. The company uses winches to raise a heavyweight to the top of a vertical shaft to store electricity in the form of potential energy when there is excess energy on the grid. It then lowers it when required with the winch motors running as generators to transfer energy back to users on the grid. Gravitricity argues that the system can be charged and discharged multiple times a day for over 25 years. The company has built a 250kW concept demo in Edinburgh. It aims to become a contender in the energy storage market that is set to be worth $620 billion by 2040. The company has received interest from operating mines, grid companies, EV charging stations and solar developers for its technology. It is also investigating project sites in UK, Europe, the USA and South Africa. It will use the investment to complete the concept and detailed design for its prototype, develop its commercial projects portfolio, and protect its Intellectual Property (IP).
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,124,008
Established as a trusted brand since 2017, YPP provides high-quality and bespoke printed products to the public, private, and third sectors. In 2019, YPP launched a site Customgifts.co.uk for year-round gifting, following the success of Santa Sacks, a B2C Christmas brand in 2018. Within six months, they have achieved sales of over £300,000, hold licenses with many world-renowned brands with the likes of Harry Potter, Batman, Loony Tunes and Elf, and a variety of top-flight football clubs. The Custom Gifts site has already processed over 14,000 orders with more than 13,000 customers joining their database. The funds raised will be used for online marketing, new product development, and hiring of new staff.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£404,490
Greenwall Environmental Group is a company engaged in making devices that can minimise non-biodegradable waste. It argues that asbestos remains the largest occupational killer in the UK today. Its product, Asbestosprobe, aims to change this situation. The company asserts that Asbestoprobe is arguably the world's first handheld analyser specifically designed to detect asbestos in real-time. It argues that current methods of detecting and recording the presence of asbestos are costly, invasive and slow. Asbestoprobe uses a point-and-click approach utilising NIR Spectroscopy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse the presence of asbestos in two minutes via the Asbestoprobe App. Greenwall plans to provide an annual software licensing model which grows through recurring revenue year on year. It endeavours to be a segment leader in the projected $1 billion global asbestos management market. The company will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£253,017
Celtic Renewables (CR) converts residual by-products from Scottish Whisky production into high-value, low-carbon sustainable chemical and biofuel products using its patented Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. CR asserts that the end products, Acetone, Butanol, Ethanol & high-grade animal feed, play an important role in daily human lives. The company argues that these are potential applicants in industries such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food production, hygiene products & advanced sustainable biofuels. CR states that the downstream markets for ABE biochemicals would be worth over £130 billion by 2025. It aims to be a leading contender in this segment. It also endeavours to replicate its ABE technology in global markets. CR has been named the 'Most Innovative Biotech SME' in Europe. The company will use the investment to bring its first industrial-scale plant into full operation by Q1 of 2021 and capitalise on commercial opportunities.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£3,576,901
Crover intends to leverage the world's first proprietary method for locomotion in bulk solids. It argues that globally, 20% (60% in developing areas) of harvested grains are wasted during storage that led to almost 631 million tonnes of grains being wasted in 2018. Crover claims CROVER, its robotic grain monitoring device, can fluently “swim” in stored grains, monitor their conditions, reduce losses due to spoilage and avoid a drop in quality of these valuable crops. The company argues CROVER can provide hi-resolution readings across the storage unit and help hinder pest growth, allowing for early detection of potential spoilage. Crover was awarded £614,000 in grant funding including, £212,000 from Innovate UK. It has featured in publications such as The Times, Farmers Weekly, and Milling & Grain. They intend to use the investment to begin arranging and readying parties regarding new pilot programmes and begin small series manufacturing for these pilot schemes.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£337,762
