East London Liquor Company (ELLC) has been distilling, importing and serving gins, whiskies, vodkas, rums, and canned cocktails since 2014. ELLC asserts that off-trade gin sales hit US$8.4 billion in 2020 with UK seltzer sales expected to reach £75 million by 2023. It intends to become a contender in the aforementioned categories. ELLC has had a 600% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase to £206,000 in off-trade sales from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021. The company has partnered with the UNESCO world heritage site, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to release its product, Kew Gin. It has also entered into the Ready-To-Drink and seltzer categories with its range of canned drinks, and onboarded retailers like Waitrose, Tesco, and Co-Op. The company will use the investment to grow its off-trade channels both in the UK and abroad, expand its Direct To Consumer (DTC) output, update its 'Brand Home' to attract more customers, and increase its whisky production to meet demand.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£921,686
EcoPrams is aiming to change the childcare experiences by raising capital to launch and produce plans. It is multi-functional and forward-thinking stroller technology that combines safe swing-seat, toy, and shopping basket that are engineered to address the baby's and parent's needs. The company's unique baby products are raising funds to introduce their first EcoSwingi, pram-system, to address the problems that parents face every day. EcoPrams focus is to launch an internationally recognized brand for parents. It also has a Green Channel Patent which is granted for a storage solution. The company plans to produce its product in China by using position-marketing-plans and e-commerce through internet retail-outlets and independent stores.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£36,890
Wellbeing Sisters (WS) is a company that offers wellbeing advice, hosts an online shop, and sells a subscription box full of toxin-free health, beauty, and nutritional products by and for women. The company first launched its subscription box in 2019 for women trying to conceive. WS witnessed a sell-out of its series of one-off boxes tailored towards conceiving, pregnancy, early motherhood, midlife and menopause in 2020. WS aims to be a contender in the UK subscription box market that is set to be worth £1 billion by 2022. The company asserts that it has organically grown its social media following consisting of over 5,000 supporters. It will use the investment to invest in technology, product development, and marketing/PR.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£153,394
Chapel Down (CD) is one of the UK's leading wine industry leaders that seeks to challenge the hegemony of champagne. It argues that with the sales of English sparkling wine forecast to grow by 134% by 2026, the demand for its products is growing fast. CD's 'Sparkling Wine' sales increased by 52.8% in 2020 whilst champagne sales in the UK dropped by 21.7% over the same period. The company argues that 2020 was a record year for its business, despite COVID-19, with its revenue growing by 32% year on year and e-commerce sales growing by 467% year on year. CD has partnered with notable hospitality entities like Harrods, Royal Opera House and Sheraton Grand. It will use the investment to scale up and improve its winemaking capabilities, complete the planting process of its biggest vineyard on the finest terroir in England, scale up its e-commerce channels, invest in selected export markets worldwide, and give people a memorable experience at its winery.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£6,953,241
Healthier Brands is a family business which provides innovative, fun and healthy snacks for kids and is loved by health-conscious adults as well. Its sales have doubled, and it has over 1000 retailer across the UK. Its current strategy is to provide natural products to the jelly market. Furthermore, its aim is to become a national family brand and to find its place in all the major multiple grocery stores by 2020. Healthier Brands has been featured in The Telegraph, Metro and countless local titles. The company will use the fund to drive growth, scale up sales and trade marketing supports with retailers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£244,583
Vertically Urban (VU) is a horticultural lighting specialist that produces high-tech LED lighting solutions for indoor industrial farms, glasshouses, medicinal growers and onsite Pod farms, who in turn, supply to supermarkets, restaurants and the medical market. The company aims to be a segment leader in the global vertical farming market that is projected to reach $12.7 billion by 2026. VU asserts that vertical farming has been tipped as the future of food production and supported by early investors such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. The company has witnessed £30 million+ worth of sales to date. It will use the investment to increase brand awareness via horticultural trade shows, market its products on online and offline portals, develop new technologies, and recruit senior personnel to oversee growth in key markets.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£335,040
trükl is a web-based, integrated and automated parcel delivery booking platform for small businesses. The company argues that on average, 5% of all UK deliveries don’t go as planned, which amounts to over 50 million dissatisfied customer experiences. trükl intends to change this and become a contender in the parcel delivery industry that is expected to double to £21 billion by 2024. The company monitors orders for issues and alerts retailers in real-time to ensure satisfied customers across the supply chain. It has successfully monitored the delivery of 4,500+ shipments since August 2020. The company also processed 330 orders earning revenue worth £1,800 on a single day in December 2020. trükl is a member of SETsquared, an award-winning business incubator. The company will use the investment to develop its integrations further, platform features and acquire and support new retailers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£357,477
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
TOG designs handmade kitchen knives that are forged in the Samurai sword. By working with craftsmen in Seki, Japan, this company has produced knives and a brand that met its customers' needs. It has been endorsed by ten Michelin star chefs and appeared on cooking shows such as Masterchef. In 2017 and 2018, TOG Knives reached 18k profit (EBITDA £19.5k). Currently, it is aiming to be the UK's No.1 premium knife brand by helping people realise how enjoyable food preparation is, only if, one owns the right knife. With the fund raised, it will purchase stock, grow its team, shift its staff to full time and hiring new people.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£193,810
A grocery retailer and kitchen combination, for customers to purchase essential food whilst drinking a coffee. Melrose and Morgan currently operate in two locations; Hampstead and Primrose Hill. They are now seeking funds to expand their business further in London, with the aim of opening two stores in 2019 and totalling 10 stores by 2022. The company has been trading for almost 15 years and has their products listed in other retailers, including Selfridges, Ocado and independent shops.
Melrose and Morgan own more than 50 SKUs and source their produce from small businesses in the UK. The company has recently restructured, which has resulted in refurbishing their two existing stores, upgrading their website and investing toward research and development of new products and fine food.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£115,600
