Zoom 1hr is a hyperlocal last-mile delivery service delivering food, convenience and retail goods within one hour. The company is currently operating in West Midlands, Wales, and bordering English counties. It aims to become a contender in the online food delivery market that is projected to reach over £5 billion in 2021. Zoom 1hr has witnessed 70,000 app downloads, processed over 280,000 orders through its platform, and gained an annual turnover of £665,000 in 2019-2020 at an order growth rate of 108%. Zoom 1hr argues that its list of partners consists of local, national and international stores including Subway and KFC. It has also secured a contract with Co-Op to be its third national last-mile delivery partner, currently servicing 61 stores. The company will use the investment for New Area Mobilisation (NAM), product and website development, key hires, and team expansion.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£595,084
Peckwater Brands (PB) is a company engaged in the growing cloud kitchen/delivery business that runs virtual restaurant brands from the kitchens of existing restaurants. It argues that restaurants need to pay high street rents and staff wages no matter how many diners visit. Nearly 5,000 restaurants have closed in the UK since 2015 due to not being able to fulfil these tasks. PB aims to change this scenario. It helps restaurant partners use their existing staff and kitchen capacity better, and help keep struggling businesses running. The company received more than 10,000 customer orders through Deliveroo and Uber Eats. It witnessed more than £250,000 in customer sales since June 2020 and is spread across London, Manchester, Leeds, and Coventry. PB has launched four brands with four more in the pipeline. It will use the investment to get more partners, launch more brands, and acquire more customers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£232,208
Wedding Planner is an online wedding-planning marketplace that provides an easy way to plan and book a wedding. Around 20,000 couples are using this platform to plan their dream weddings. Besides being a pre-COVID profitable business in the UK, it is the UK's number one ranked site for 'Wedding Planner' as per Google. The website has been created by combining a digital wedding booking system, curated venues, planning tools, and supplier search options. The platform generates 8,500+ leads for venues and suppliers per quarter and has a registered base of 3,000+ venues and other suppliers. With the investment, the company will use 25% to update their booking system catering to couples and suppliers, 12% in creating new and tested standardised contract templates between the couple and the supplier, 13% in developing a partnership with a wedding insurance provider, 30% as substitution funds for supplier and venue subscriptions frozen during COVID-19, 13% in continuing the platform's growth in Sweden, and 7% in costs associated with fund-raising.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£25,010
Drinkly is an award-winning tech platform that delivers chilled beers, spirits, wines, and more in one hour. The company has increased by 400% in sales since its launch, delivering more than 14,000 orders in Edinburgh, London, & Glasgow. Moreover, it has won the 2019 Online Business of the Year at the Scottish SME Awards. Drinkly has also worked in collaborations with global drinks brands including Asahi, Heineken, and Tito's Vodka, introducing new products to market and gathering invaluable customer insights. With the proceeds, the company will recruit staff and grow sales; it will also invest in and execute its marketing strategy to fuel customer acquisition and retention.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£262,496
Prepaired is a global platform for university students to learn from and teach each other via video calling. Students can post a study request on the portal with the questions they have regarding a subject, and others can offer to explain it via a one-on-one video call. The company asserts that its technology is an ideal platform in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic allowing students to share notes and chat on classroom syllabi. Prepaired has tied up with GlobalExam, an e-learning content provider, to further its mission of remote teaching. It will use 67% of the investment in product development, 12% in sales and marketing, and 21% as operations cost.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£115,209
JiveBird allows users to create and send a greetings package that consists of a personal voice message, music, eCard, a photo or selfie, and a gift to their loved ones or acquaintances. The company asserts that its package can be sent at the last minute or in advance. Jivebird claims that for the millions of people who send greetings and gifts every year, its portal provides a personal, cheaper, and convenient way to send greetings. Jivebird argues that it has no direct competitors. Its exit strategy is to sell the company when it achieves the growth metrics in the business plan, projected to be within five years of consumer launch.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
GENEROUS APE is an online shopping destination for the style-led conscious shopper. The company asserts that the word 'APE' is an acronym for 'Animal, People and Environment' and is targeted towards sustainable shopping. GENEROUS APE argues that it has completed eight weeks of beta-testing with an average of 450 visitors showing interest in its website and 47.62% being returning customers. The company asserts that the average basket value was £89 with partnerships signed with 80 style-led sustainable brands. GENEROUS APE onboarded 'DHL GO GREEN' as its primary delivery associate and partnered with World Land Trust on the 'Buy an Acre' scheme to facilitate wildlife protection in perpetuity. The company will use the investment for optimising marketing, boost organic growth channels and paid media, improve the consumer experience, and develop a personalised dashboard for each customer.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£208,525
HUN Wines sources premium quality wine from Stellenbosch, South Africa, to create the UK's first Fairtrade, wine in a can. It aims to become the largest canned wine brand in the world. The company asserts that its products are fully recyclable and vegan friendly. HUN Wines claims that it is backed by industry titans including James Bailey, current Waitrose CEO, Andy Shaw, previously Brewdog Beer CEO and RedBull MD, Formula racing legend David Coulthard and RedBull executives. The company has successfully canned 300,000 units of its products consisting of flavours like Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rosé Bubbles (one of the lowest-calorie wines in the UK). It accepted its first order via a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) site in May 2020, launched nationwide in Tesco Supermarkets in June and expanded onto the e-commerce platform, Amazon, in July. HUN Wines will use 15% of the investment towards staff expenses, 40% towards marketing, 25% towards festival activations and listings, and 20% towards New Product Development (NPD).
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£600,761
ShareVision aims to revolutionise trading and investing with its streaming technology and financial tools backed by credible creator-driven content. Users can chat live with creators on the portal, track their financial data, and avail the portal's messenger service to collaborate with other community members. ShareVision has partnered with a community of over 100,000 retail traders looking to either create or digest content relating to trading, investing and the economy. It has also onboarded credible investors such as Oliver Velez and John Person, amongst other internationally recognised specialists in investment, trading and financial management. The company has featured in publications like MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, and Business Insider, to name a few. It will use 50% of the investment for growth and acquisition, 30% towards product development, 10% towards team expansion, and 10% for operations.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£384,577
Faizpay is a financial technology entity that provides a cost-effective alternative to card payments in-store and online. The company facilitates account-to-account payments from a consumer to a merchant via 'Open Banking' as per the European Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and bespoke direct Application Programming Interface (APIs) with financial institutions, when available. It asserts that their online tool provides seamless integration with a retailer’s e-commerce system including plug-ins and Software Development Kit (SDKs) for WordPress, Android and iOS. FaizPay states it also allows merchants to offer first-time and regular discounts that automatically apply to transactions. The company has 71 fully registered merchants with 95 registered terminals. FaizPay has onboarded the nine biggest UK banks and signed notable entities like Monzo, Revolut and Starling. The company will use the investment to grow its team, hire additional tech development and sales personnel, apply for an e-money license in the UK, and seek relevant financial authorisation to provide its services in the European Union (EU).
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£536,714
