Black Young Professionals (BYP) Network is a company that empowers black professionals around the world to solve the problems they face through economic empowerment and connectivity. The company has grown from side hustle to a 6-figure revenue-generating company with over 40,000 members. BYP allows both members and corporate partners to avail a variety of offerings including webinars/events, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, a social networking app, and job board alerts. The company has about 60 corporate partners including Accenture, Facebook and Soho House. It has featured in publications including BBC, Roc Nation, and Forbes. BYP Network has won the Maserati Top 100 Most Innovative Companies and a place on The Mayor of London’s International Business Programme and London Stock Exchange Elite Program. The company will use the investment to have a user base of over 500,000 black professionals with 2% on its premium model in the next 18 months through marketing, scale its leadership, sales, and content teams, and improve its current technology platform to make it more intuitive.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£853,982
FounderTribes helps budding entrepreneurs get access to advice, connections, and capital from established founders via its educational app. It argues that around 581 million people will never gain access to Venture Capital (VC) funding or avail meaningful entrepreneurial education. FounderTribes intends to change that and become a contender in the Education Technology (EdTech) market worth $5 trillion. Users can use the app to get personalised feedback from FounderTribes's community of seasoned entrepreneurs and investors, get actionable tips from industry-specific networks to work on problem areas, and avail alternative financing to start and scale their business. FounderTribes has raised £700,000+ as part of this round, onboarded over 400 investors and 500 mentors on its portal, and signed its first paying customer, Capital Enterprise, with £20,000 worth of subscriptions. It will use 76% of the investment for HR costs, 10% towards video content creation, 3% towards IT expenses, 2% towards marketing expenses, and 8% for general operations.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£805,960
nu:move Group is an award-winning Hybrid nationwide online estate agency. The company offers its customers a simple, online process to sell and let their property. The business is built on an ethos of modern innovation and traditional values by blending online and high street estate agency services seamlessly. The company offers a full set of estate agency services and affordable sales packages. nu:move Group has marketed more than 10,000 properties globally that are worth £3Bn and has received a 5 Star Trust Pilot Rating. The company has won The Negotiator 'Hybrid Estate Agent of the Year Award 2019.' 40% of the investment will be used for brand awareness, 30% for technology, 20% for franchise network training and expansion, and 105 for staffing at nu:move HQ.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£153,342
Perkier is the UK’s fastest growing healthy snack bar brand. It asserts that its bars are 100% plant based, contain 60% less sugar, and are free from gluten and palm oil. Perkier aspires to dominate the global snack bar market that is worth $22 billion. The company claims that its products are distributed in every Sainsbury’s supermarket, in over 450 Morrisons stores and over 400 ASDA stores. It further points out that it is listed in major foodservice companies including Compass, Brakes and Bidfood. The company has over 55,000 followers across social media, and a brand ambassador program including team GB Olympians reaching 1.6 million people. Perkier states it will use the investment to expand its team, increase digital marketing, and invest in innovation.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£811,695
Quotall is a specialist insurance technology software entity that helps large, high profile enterprises to enter the insurance market. The company claims that to date, brands have struggled to extend into insurance due to significant up-front costs, regulatory concerns, legacy technology in the insurance sector and a lack of in-house expertise. Quotall claims that its insurance ecosystem service aims to remove these barriers and enable rapid market entry. The company asserts that it can arrange regulatory approval for the client and link the latter's customers through to its fully client-branded, quote, buy and self-service insurance platform. Quotall's earned revenues in 2020 reached close to £500,000 and it has raised £4 million to date. It states it will use the investment to resource the implementation, development, and servicing of new client accounts as they are contracted.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£708,805
Pocket App are the largest independent app development company in the UK. They have had a number of high value clients such as Coca Cola, Samsung and Adidas. Pocket App are also starting to do work in partnership with the likes of Microsoft and IBM.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£837,115
The Cheeky Panda (TCP) is a B Corp that offers a range of sustainable bamboo tissue and hygiene products available across Europe, the USA, China, and the Middle East. It asserts that its products are on the shelves of some of the World's top retailers including, Waitrose, Boots, MonoPrix and Carrefour. The company has sold over 12 million products across 25 countries and aims to become a contender in the overall hygiene market that is valued at over $200 billion a year. TCP featured in Sunday Times 'Fast Track – 'Ones to Watch' list, won Ocados rising stars best plant-based product in 2021, and launched with Waitrose in over 200 stores. TCP will use the investment to strengthen its management team in the run-up to IPO, focus on marketing and brand awareness to grow D2C sales, and oversee product launches with major retailers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,400,550
YAYZY has created a platform that calculates the carbon footprint of a user using their spending data land helps the user make up for it using carbon offsets and guides the user towards more sustainable choices. The company believes that the shift in the use of money from high carbon to low carbon choices will accelerate the transition to a new era of sustainability and responsibility. YAYZY raised a £120,000 pre-seed amount, experienced a 26% organic week-on-week growth only driven by referrals and is in conversation with three major banks that are interested in using its technology. YAYZY will use the investment to launch its Android app, convert 25% of users to subscriptions, introduce impact investing, and onboard at least two B2B customers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£722,793
Gigrev is a powerful direct to fan social platform for artists to connect directly with their fan base, enabling them to own their fan data, generate a new revenue stream and save on social media advertising costs. Fans can get exclusive behind the scenes access to video blogs, insights of their favourite artist, event tickets and buy merchandise direct.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£296,200
Occuity seeks to develop revolutionary non-invasive screening and monitoring devices for chronic diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's. It argues that its device safely shines a low power beam of light into the eye and then collects and analyses the return signal to accurately measure structures within the eye and detect changes associated with the onset of the aforementioned diseases. Occuity is targeting three distinct markets, namely Ophthalmology, Disease Screening and Disease Monitoring, which is worth an estimated $35 billion per year. It claims that its 'Occuity Indigo' product enables earlier detection of diabetes and provides a non-contacting, pain-free glucose monitor. Occuity was awarded over £1.5 million as part of the Innovate UK grant for the development of technology within Occuity Indigo. It has also signed a partnership with one of the UK's leading ophthalmic distributors, Birmingham Optical, to distribute its PM1 pachymeter device. It states it will use 42% of the investment towards Research and Development (R&D), 23% towards sales and marketing, 20% towards management and finance, 9% towards managing CAPEX and NRE, and 6% towards paying fees.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,854,857
