B-North is creating an SME business bank that will deliver fast decisions with loans being given in two weeks. Its model is formed around strong relationships with both brokers and customers. B-North is in a positive conversation with the British Business Bank for Tier 2 debt, and its FinTech enabled lending platform is excellent. The funds will be used to expand the team and develop the platform. The company also aims at assembling a highly-experienced and ambitious management team supported by a heavyweight board.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,815,350
B-North intends to revolutionise the business lending industry, which is often outdated, impersonal and slow. The fintech company uses some of the most advanced cloud-based technology, coupled with face-to-face relationship teams to get the best lending solutions for borrowers and their businesses. The company is powered by a team with prior experience in starting and scaling challenger banks, and profitability is its focused goal. B-North has submitted the banking licence application, and the result is expected by 2020.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,135,456
Bua Fit is easy to use, a simple way to book web application for outdoor fitness classes. It eliminates all the trouble by connecting the trainers to clients for group fitness classes and gives the customers a diversity of trainers. The company has been a finalist in The Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge, has a network of 100 trainers and 42% active user rate since launch. With the proceeds, the company will earn more users, more trainers, more revenue, invest in product development and expand the team.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£205,378
Juggle helps companies hire, manage and retain experienced professionals on flexible contracts. The company has onboarded more than 9000 professionals and over 700 businesses on its platform. Juggle asserts that its portal is completely free for companies to post jobs wherein professionals will receive a recommendation to the right opportunities based on their profiles. Juggle allows both companies and candidates to manage the timesheet and payment formalities through its platform once a contract is agreed upon. The company claims that 85% of professionals recommended by its platform are interviewed. Juggle aims to become a contender in the online recruitment industry that is projected to reach $36.2 billion by 2027. It will use the investment to make additional hires in certain key positions, expand product features, and apply to the FCA for a license to handle payments at a larger scale.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£467,537
MacRebur uses waste plastics destined for landfill or incineration and adding them into asphalt for road construction and surfacing to extend and enhance the bitumen (fossil fuel) binder. It argues that its carefully selected plastics, taken from the waste stream, are added into roads to improve strength and durability, whilst reducing the quantity of the oil-based bitumen used in a traditional road construction mix. MacRebur asserts that with each km of road laid using its MR products, the company sustainably uses up the equivalent weight of 740,541 one-time-use plastic bags. MacRebur has completed road tests in numerous countries including the UK and Europe, Turkey, Australia, and Japan to name a few. It has also signed agreements with India, the USA, Chile, Estonia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Switzerland, Bahrain, Spain, and Malaysia. The company will use the investment to build its manufacturing plants in five strategic locations across the world.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£3,055,740
Carnot is an engineering company that is developing biofuel and hydrogen-powered Carnot engines with the aim of reducing global CO2 levels by 13%. The company asserts that metal engines, unable to withstand fuel combustion temperatures, waste one-third of fuel energy to cooling & have operating efficiencies of only 30%. Carnot argues that its engines can bring operating efficiencies up to 70%, halving fuel costs. It also intends to develop clean, secure, and affordable global off-grid energy solutions and provide disruptive technologies that are both commercially viable and environmentally friendly. Carnot was awarded a £157,000 Innovate UK Grant to develop an energy access solution in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was also awarded a place on OGTC Tech X accelerator, in partnership with organisations like British Petrol (BP), Equinor, and KPMG with a £100,000 funding. The company will use the investment to bump up the maximum theoretical engine efficiency to ~85%.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£307,911
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
Gravitricity is an energy technology company based in Edinburgh, London. Its patented technology is based on a simple principle: raising and lowering a heavy weight to store and release energy. The Gravitricity system suspends weights of 500 - 5000 tonnes in a deep shaft by several cables, each of which is engaged with a winch capable of lifting its share of the weight. Electrical power is then absorbed or generated by raising or lowering the weight. The technology has a 25+ year life with no cyclical degradation, has no parasitic loads, is cost-effective and can be installed anywhere including city-centres. The company has recently submitted its fifth patent application and has won a grant under InnovateUK's Energy Catalyst programme. It is working with winch partner Huisman Equipment BV and controls-partner ISC to build a 250kW Concept Demonstrator and design modular full-scale systems. With the funds received, Gravitricity will buffer for any COVID-related delay in energy requirements amidst the global economic downturn.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£775,000
CharitableBookings is an original and amazing hotel-booking platform with a social purpose. This free lifestyle platform offers its members excellent perks while helping to raise funds for any registered charity of their choice at no cost to them or the charity. The customers can book rooms at 600,000+ hotels across 80,000 locations worldwide at cheaper room rates than other hotel-booking sites. The company has earned various star endorsements, such as Sir Martyn Lewis CBE and Zoe Wannamaker CBE. CharitableBookings has been highlighted in the press including the Sunday Times Magazine and Country Life magazine. The company is also working with its charity partners to expand its global social media reach. The funds raised will be used for marketing the current platform and creating and marketing new products.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£255,177
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
