Troubadour is a London-based menswear brand specialising in designing minimalist bags & accessories by combining performance design with a clean & modern aesthetic feel. The company has delivered its products to 60+ wholesalers. It is backed by Pembroke VCT, a luxury-focused venture capital firm based in London. Troubadour is planning to work with non-traditional retailers including Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, and Equinox. It has also collaborated with many world-renowned brands such as British tailors 'Thom Sweeney' and British essentials brand 'Sunspel' that is famous for clothing James Bond. The company has also been a case study for classes at the Harvard Business School. With the investment, the company will support sales growth to its customers and retail partners and also fund working capital requirements from its forecast growth plan.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£621,240
JOHNNY'S is a sex-positive condom brand. It asserts that conventional condoms are overpriced, often unethically made harming both humans and animals, with the buying process being an awkward experience. It aims to change this via its condoms that are vegan, compostable, of high quality and packaged as sustainably as possible. The company intends to deliver its products on a subscription basis, similar to Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) health disruptors like Harry's and Dollar Shave Club. It aspires to become a contender in the global condom market that is set to be worth $15 billion by 2026 and enter the lubricant and sex toy market later in 2021. The company has also pledged to give a condom to HIV/STI/NHS clinics for each condom sold. It will use the investment for a PR launch, social media advertising, stock purchase, and attract talent to help the business hit its growth targets.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£219,819
The Funky Iron Company is shaking up the electric steam iron market by making a brand based on style, innovation, and functionality. The funky irons performed truly unequivocally on various tests and met the guidelines of ‘The Good Housekeeping Institute’. Presently, the funky iron is a "Decent Housekeeping Institute 2019” approved item and is selling successfully on Amazon with 6.75% conversion rate.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£250,862
Vegums develop multivitamin gummies for a vegan and plant-based lifestyle. The company argues that some vitamins are difficult to get from a plant-only diet, such as vitamin D, B12, and iodine. Vegums has researched and incorporated non-animal vitamin ingredients into its products to address that issue. The company asserts that its products are 100% plastic-free and biodegradable. It claims that the number of vegans in the UK grew by 40% in 2020, and shows no sign of slowing down in 2021. It aims to become a contender in this segment. Vegums won the World Plant Award 2020 for the 'Best Plant-Based Start-Up', has a social media following of over 15,700 on Instagram, achieved 4.8/5 on TrustPilot, and scaled from selling 1 pack of Vegums to over 9,000 a month to its customers. It will use the investment for New Product Development (NPD), team expansion, and launching into new markets and countries.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£312,463
Yapa® is a free social app with an emphasis on your mental health. The application gives a solution to the users to have accurate changes in both mental illness and mental wellness. The application has exceeded 10,000 downloads, and it has 400,000 followers. It has elected former England and Liverpool FC goalkeeper Chris Kirkland as the first ambassador to encourage and build Yapa. The funds will be used for marketing, operation and product innovation.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£41,930
Big Sister Swap is a personalized clothing swapping service aiming to make circular fashion more accessible. They seek to address common challenges in accessing sustainable alternatives to fast fashion, leveraging a one-stop-swap process. Customers select a swap option by weight, print a postage label to send unwanted clothes, and fill out a style form to communicate their sizes and preferences. The company's stylists, assisted by bespoke technology, then select clothes to send back, ensuring individualized matches and keeping clothes in circulation. The service is monetized by charging customers for the swap process based on weight, with an emphasis on affordability and accessibility. Big Sister Swap's approach includes automated quality matching to maintain fairness, and they plan to expand through word-of-mouth and social media marketing.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£174,471
A fashion brand in the contemporary luxury accessories market ethically producing handbags to be sold directly to the consumer through e-commerce. Hill & Friends's handbags are manufactured from high quality materials in Western Europe. All leather used is ethically sourced and is a by-product of the food industry. The company sells its products via their own website, through wholesalers and at retailers such as Selfridges, Barneys, Harvey Nichols and Fenwick.
Hill & Friends are raising funds to invest in three initiatives. Firstly, they are seeking change in their manufacturing process to utilise more scalable and agile methods that will reduce total expenditure and shorten lead times when reordering high-selling products.
Secondly, the company intends to re-platform from Magento to Shopify due to the latter's greater impact on the market. This will result in an improved customer experience and better integrations with affiliate sites.
Finally, with the rapid increase of online shopping, Hill & Friends will use the funds raised to invest further in digital marketing by increasing the number of social ads and working alongside a diverse range of online influencers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£773,059
Cleaning Club delivers a wide range of laundry and cleaning products through its online platform directly to businesses and households across the UK. It owns and sells tried and tested high performance, and award-winning brands like Senses, Muvo and Moss & Rowe, all rendering significant value than the current market leaders. It has sold more than 40,000 units of its product in the first month. Moreover, it has 70K+ fans on social media and thousands of Cleaning Club members. With its proceeds, it is going to enhance the platform and increase the flexibility of the subscription model.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£81,920
PLAYin CHOC is an ethical UK manufacturer that makes chocolate and plastic-free toys sustainably. The company asserts that it currently has a range of 19 products that are plastic-free, organic, vegan certified, and free from 14 allergens. It aspires to become a contender in the global chocolate with toy market segment that is worth 4 billion USD per annum. PLAYin CHOC claims that its distributors have access to over 600,000 shops across 30 countries. PLAYin CHOC points out that it is listed with 3 global companies, Sysco, Ocado and Gategroup, and is in early-stage conversations with 'Top 5' supermarkets in the UK. The company has also won 18 multi-national awards and exports its products to 30 countries. It argues that its UK factory has the capacity to produce 33,000 bars in 8 hours. PLAYin CHOC will use the investment to scale its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£364,495
Fightback is a beer and cider brand on a mission to save music venues with support from across the live music industry. The company claims that every pint sold contributes to Music Venue Trust (MVT), a UK-registered charity, which acts to protect, secure, and improve Grassroots Music Venues. It argues that it has sold 10,000 pints and 10,000 cans in 61 venues before the COVID-19 lockdown. Fightback asserts that it has agreed on a new national distribution deal to make the brand more accessible amidst the lockdown. It intends to supply 900+ venues affiliated with MVT when venues reopen. Fightback will use the investment to roll out beer and cider to help secure the long-term future of the venues that ensure that the music culture is kept alive.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£52,596
