YoungPlanet enables parents to put their children's unused things to use with new families and away from landfills for free via its app. The company cites PwC data estimating the UK’s sharing economy to be worth £9 billion by 2025. It aims to be a contender in this segment. The company argues further that 10-year-olds in the UK will own on average 238 toys at any one time and yet play with just 12. This leads to UK households wasting over 25 million tonnes a year, with one-fourth of this number ending up in landfills as per the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). YoungPlanet aims to change this. It has onboarded 36,000 users on its platform to date and featured in press publications such as BBC News, Vanessa Feltz, and LadBible. YoungPlanet will use the investment to scale nationally, begin generating first phase revenue via brand sponsorship of events, branded gamification, and Business-to-Business (B2B) subscriptions for semi-closed communities via its app.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£547,103
Avida Global (AG) is a Business-to-Business (B2B) producer of high-quality medicinal cannabis oils and derivatives for the global medical, well-being and cosmeceutical markets. The company has a cultivation and processing facility in North-East Colombia. It asserts that the therapeutic properties of the cannabis plant has driven 53 countries to legalise its use, with more to follow. AG seeks to capture this demand and become a contender in the medicinal cannabis market that is expected to soar from $33.1 billion to $84.0 billion by 2028. The company has received regulatory approvals for initial non-psychoactive cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and export licences in 2019. It is working on a partnership with a medicinal cannabis prescriber through doctors and clinics for the supply of medicinal cannabis strains in the UK. The company will use 40% of the investment to drive revenue growth, 25% as capital expenses, and 35% as additional operating expenses.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,646,249
FinOptix is an innovative FinTech company that solves real business problems. FinOptix’s objective is to become a significant player in a rapidly growing FinTech market by developing systems that provide financial clarity to decision-makers. FinOptix has a well-established user base, as well as a sales pipeline that covers multiple geographies and sectors. Their verification and validation procedures applied during the development process and operational trials have led to engagement with commercial partners. With the proceeds, they will design an Evaluator for the future, apply AI techniques to solve complex problems, develop their skill set and framework and hire a team of data scientists based on the assessment.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£125,000
Smartlands is a blockchain-based digital finance and investment ecosystem. It allows asset owners to turn an ownership right to a share of any asset, into a tradable digital token attributing it almost unlimited liquidity. In the UK, Smartlands is the first platform for crowdfunding investments that allows investors to use digital currencies alongside fiat currencies to raise capital. The platform boasts of a 16,000 strong community following with over 11,000 wallets opened since its inception. It has a reputed list of partners including Colliers International, CMS, Archax, UK Sotheby’s, and many more. They have been awarded the 'Best Crowdfunding Platform' at the 2020 FinTech Breakthrough Awards and have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Forbes, Coindesk, Benzinga, and Investors Chronicle to name a few. With the investment, the company will grow its internal engineering team and obtain the necessary licenses to move its business forward across Europe.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£379,183
Clim8 is a sustainable investment company which allows people to invest into clean energy and green companies According to the United Nations, the world needs to invest $2.4 trillion dollars, every year, into clean energy, from now until 2035, to meet the climate change targets. Clim8 aims to capitalise on this objective by building a simple way to invest in a targeted portfolio of publicly listed companies that are making an impact in sectors such as clean energy, clean technology, sustainable food, smart mobility, and recycling. The company has successfully raised a seed round of £650,000 in 2019 from investors with backgrounds in finance, including ex Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank executives. With the investment, the company plans to launch its proprietary app, invest in recruiting human resources and promote marketing activities to broaden the brand identity.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,523,120
Celo is an app-based insurance provider designed to provide cheaper quotes, faster claims, and a pleasant user experience. We plan to offer insurance cover for motor vehicles, travel, health, and more. Like Monzo and Starling who are disrupting banking, Celo plans to disrupt the insurance industry.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£142,840
QFinds is a purpose-built hiring tool that enables employers to easily and efficiently pre-screen candidates, conduct interviews and generate employment contracts. The company asserts that it is a UK government vetted 'Kickstart Scheme' representative and can get small businesses grants to hire interns having already processed over 100 job applications. QFinds claims that its app has been downloaded 2 million+ times garnering 24,000 reviews averaging 4.8/5 stars. QFinds also points out that bad hirings cost the UK up to £6.7 billion in turnover, productivity, and training. It seeks to change this and disrupt the £39 billion recruitment market. The company has partnered with notable entities like University College London, Kings College London and Brunel University London, intending to use them as strategic partners to increase job seekers signing up to and using its app. QFinds will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£222,866
Nextfin is an FCA approved aggregation and rating portal for equity and debt crowdfunding investments.
AIM is shrinking, legacy stock markets are too expensive to maintain and do not serve the requirements of SMEs, banks are closing branches, lending less and are paying little or no interest to investors. As a result of this, there is a huge growth in equity crowdfunding and P2P lending which has seen the launch of hundreds of alternative lenders & platforms that has created a new c.£3bn marketplace, expanding at 66% p.a. There is no single portal or trusted ratings index for investors to compare on a like for like basis and no secondary market to facilitate exits.
* NextFin is the new trading name of Business Agent Ltd
The solution
NextFin aggregates equity and debt crowdfunding investments to create the alternative finance marketplace. This makes it easy for investors and lenders to find and compare opportunities by presenting all investment offerings in one place. With the addition of a free of charge ratings service investors will be able to view ratings of every equity crowdfunding pitch, every P2P site, and every equity crowdfunding site. NextFin’s technology will constantly track these companies and investments providing the investor real-time intelligence on which to base investment decisions. The platforms and entrepreneurs will be self-promoting and marketing their ratings driving thousands of visitors a month to the NextFin site, in the same way, businesses refer their potential clients to Trip Advisor and Trustpilot. There is an estimated 10 million website/platform visitors per month across the whole of the alternative finance market. NextFin is targeting to direct 5% of this highly profiled traffic to its platform from which it will earn between £5-£8 per click from advertisers and partners. In addition, an in-house brokerage service also earns between 1%-6% commissions on loan placements. A future revenue stream (not featured in the financials) will be developed once visitor traffic reaches critical mass. This will see Nextfin being able to realise the full value of its captured ratings data and visitor traffic by launching a secondary market, which is estimated to be a £5bn marketplace.
NextFin is raising £500k at a pre-money valuation of £2M to: • Develop P2P and Equity site ratings• Expand the management, infrastructure and marketing resource• Increase visitor traffic to 6m a year via rating referrals
Owing to the size of the market and rapid growth of the industry, enterprise valuations in alternative finance are based on visitor traffic, market share and registered users. Recently published valuations of companies with visitor traffic of over 6m per year are in excess of £70m. NextFin is the market-leading aggregator and has first-mover advantage. It has the potential to exceed these valuations because it is the whole of the market aggregator and is currently the only ratings service provider as it grows to achieve 500,000 visitors p.m.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£274,057
The Pension Lab offers an interative platform for employees and individuals, helping them reconnect and engage with their pensions. Its mission is to provide the customers with better knowledge of pensions and promote long-term financial decision making. The company has reached the finals of 'Pitchfest' competition held at the NEC as a component of “Venturefest”, and it is also a finalist in the “Innovation in Business” category. Some of the best Fintech solutions providers and pension services such as Yodlee and Origo are in partnership with the Pension Lab. With the proceeds, the company will develop its working capital, infrastructure development, and customer acquisition.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£38,024
Bippit is a wellbeing platform that provides employees with financial consultancy from a professional with zero cost to the employees themselves. The company asserts that COVID-19 has made financial consultancy services difficult to access for employees. Bippit aims to resolve this situation. It is available in mobile and desktop formats and integrates with an employees’ entire financial life through 'Open Banking'. Bippit argues that this helps staff members receive all the tools they need to learn, plan, and take action concerning their finances. It also helps companies save time and money, ensures that employees receive an impartial support system, and allows financial experts to get an extra revenue stream. The company will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) likely within 5 years if it moves beyond strategic acquisition.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£73,000
