My VIP Card is a loyalty platform that aims to help people save money when they shop local. The company offers thousands of discounts, cashback and gift cards, encouraging people to support small businesses and the high street, nationally. It has over 2,000 business listings on its website and asserts that its business model caters to the estimated 86% of UK Shoppers that are part of a loyalty program. The company claims that its service is also available as an employee and member benefit for employers with a host of benefits. My VIP Card has won awards such as, 'Entrepreneurial Spirit for the South East' at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and 'High Business Growth' at the Successful Women Awards. It has also featured in publications such as The Sun, The Telegraph, The Daily Record, and BBC Radio Solent. My VIP Card will use the investment for acquiring more customers and growing its business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£84,257
A mobile-based credit card created by a team consisting of members from American Express, Capital One, Zopa, LendingClub and Trussle. Fea are raising funds to develop the app and aim to launch their product in 2019. The initial offering will be a prepaid card, with a full credit card following shortly after. The company is also in the process of acquiring FCA authorisation.
The company aims to generate revenue via a fixed monthly subscription, with no other fees. The pricing will be set to the customer's credit limit, divided by 100. For example, if the customer’s credit limit is £1000, their monthly subscription cost will be £10.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£102,230
Elemental is an agricultural food technology company that converts 78% of beef processing waste into sustainable fertiliser. The company claims that its technology can potentially reduce global beef CO2 emissions equivalent to 50 million cattle. Elemental asserts that its technology has been developed through extensive R&D and protected by patents in 60+ countries. The company raised £1.5 million on Crowdcube in late 2019, signed agreements for 14 projects in the UK and Europe using its technology, built a demonstrator plant and agreed to install its technology on commercial terms at 6 UK abattoirs. The company states they will use the investment to operationalise their first plant by December 2021 and grow their business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,395,801
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
Itasca Wines is a Hampshire-based vineyard and winery that produces fine English wines. The company is raising funds for its contract winemaking facility, to fulfil the growing demand from vineyards. There are over 760 vineyards in the UK currently, 111 have their own winery and only a handful of these provide contract winemaking services to other vineyards. Itasca Wines aims to become a major winemaker and create award-winning wines at Penn Croft. The company planted its first vineyard of 16,000 vines in May 2019 and has featured in Vineyard Magazine in February and May 2019.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,147,003
Glug provides a platform for businesses to let customers order from a digital menu and have them served to the table or pick up from the bar. It points out that its system is designed to be user friendly and easy to set up wherein restaurants or bars can upload and digitalise their menu and can be discoverable within 24 hours. Consumers can discover the restaurant, book a table, place an order, and browse for offers and discounts, amongst other features using the company's community app. Glug asserts that more than 16,000 users have ordered food and drinks through its app in less than four months since the company's launch. It intends to become a contender in the UK dining and pub market that is a £40 billion+ industry. Glug argues that more than 20,000 users have downloaded its app from the App Store and Google Playstore. It will use the investment for marketing, hiring, technology development, attract 1.5 million users and onboard 1,000+ venues over the next 12 months.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£73,114
MusicGurus is an e-learning platform that offers video courses, interactive sheet music and online tests/exams. The company argues that conventional music learning is archaic consisting of lessons in either paper or PDF formats. MusicGurus aims to change this. Its portal features celebrity artists and pro musicians teaching all instruments and styles allowing users to avail the scrolling sheet music option and even "Play with a live band". MusicGurus asserts that it has 40,000+ users worldwide. It aims to become a contender in the $18 billion music learning industry. The company has raised £700,000+ to date from Venture Capitalist’s (VCs) such as Ascension Ventures and business angels such as the founder of Caffè Nero. MusicGurus has also partnered with music establishments such as Rockschool, Sony ATV, Hal Leonard, and Schott, amongst others. It will use the investment to develop new celebrity and partner courses, increase its sales, and prepare for a Series A round in 2021.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£176,336
A P2P lender for short-term borrowers focused on providing affordable, flexible and ethical loans. Welendus has full FCA authorisation and there are over 18,000 users on the platform with more than 900 loans issued. Investment is sought to expand the team with new operational members and grow the service with the use of viral marketing and referrals. The company is seeking more IP applications and to develop the service with new functionalities.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£939,104
eDrinks is on a mission to help the hospitality industry harness the power of technology and social media. It has come out with digital drink tokens redeemable in partner pubs and bars. Users can gift and receive the tokens from friends, family or even a stranger and redeem them in pubs and bars using the 'MyRound' app. eDrinks has acquired over 2000 users over 1.5 months through organic social marketing, of which, 1011 are active ones. It has also availed the Commercial Partner Membership (CPM) of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). The company is also developing its proprietary 'Bar Tab' redemption app to make it easy for independent venues to scan and redeem eDrinks contactless. eDrinks will use the investment to create marketing campaigns, app development, and hiring personnel.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£116,195
StepLadder is a financial technology company dedicated to helping people buy their first home. The company asserts that it is tackling the housing crisis with its 'StepLadder Circles' that is based on the Rotating Savings and Credit Association model (ROSCA). Users have to state a monthly monetary contribution and a financial goal. The portal then adds them to a group of people with the same goal wherein all users contribute the same amount each month. The portal then randomly allocates one person in the circle each month the total contribution received. This repeats every month for the duration of the circle until everyone has received their deposit. It has awarded over £750,000 to members on its portal. The platform has featured in The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, and The Independent. It also won 'Innovator of the Year' in the Women in Tech Awards 2020. StepLadder will use the investment received to improve its pan-UK growth via referral and ambassador programs.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£161,420
