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
A rapidly growing printing, merchandising and clothing brand with customers including Google, Amazon and Nike. Awesome Merchandise produce all their products in-house and ship internationally. The company has created over 65 million items for more than 70,000 customers and have been in profit every year. Investment will help to build a new factory based in Austin, TX, USA and to create US and European websites.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£654,870
Whitehall Finance (WF) is a Business-to-Business (B2B) financial technology platform that provides working capital to UK-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The company offers revolving credit facility that is withdrawable in currencies like GBP, USD or EURO or a combination of the above under a single facility agreement. It also permits buying companies to offer their suppliers an early payment for a discount, as well as, enables users to access Forex services and creditworthiness data of companies. WF has extended around £16 million in finance through 1,600+ transactions over its platform in the past one year. The company will use 30% of the investment to expand its sales, 20% to increase its marketing budget, 30% to increase operational capacity to service volume business, and 20% to develop key partner relationships.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£160,027
Halo Coffee (HC) makes 100% home compostable biodegradable coffee capsules. It has sold its products to more than 9,000 customers across 70 countries. The company has generated 45% of sales revenues by subscription customers having a more 40% retention rate. HC was the winner of Sky: Beyond Plastic category at the tve 2019 Global Sustainability Awards. It has also signed a partnership with The Perfect World Foundation, and onboarded noted environmentalist, Sir David Attenborough. HC is the official sponsor of the British Olympic Sailing team. The company is planning to launch Halo Coffee Germany (GmbH) in 2021. The company will use the investment to build brand awareness, further develop sales, drive customer acquisition, expand product portfolio, strengthen the team and build Capsule Generation II.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£349,160
buyfair intends to be a premium variant of ebay for businesses. It is powered by features like multi-lot algorithm that enables huge volumes to be sold in smaller quantities and a brand safe atmosphere preserving premium brands. The company has over 500 live auctions every day, and 150 brands have already signed up across 18 countries. buyfair has also been featured in Forbes, Cosmetic Business, The Independent. buyfair is planning to use the funds for buyer acquisition, tech development and marketing.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£316,160
Equipsme is a company that aims to democratise health insurance by making it affordable for businesses. The company offers flexible fixed-price packages to employees while giving them the option to upgrade their package to avail more features upon payment. Members can speak to a general physician round the clock, have physiotherapy sessions, avail regular health checks and, if necessary, be quickly referred to a consultant for diagnosis and treatment. Members can access these features through a simple-to-use application. Since February 2018, the company has secured an exclusive 5-year insurance capacity deal with AXA PPP Healthcare and grown its members by 130.5% Year-on-Year (YoY) (to May 2020) with a 95% broker renewal retention rate. The company will use the investment to enhance its user experience and scale its marketing as it announces its partnerships with organisations such as Starling Bank and Simply Business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£879,204
Infinity Circle (IC) is a digital wealth creation platform that aims to create an ecosystem where wealth management meets social media in a way that is cyber secure, respects a user's privacy, and complies with the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) rules. IC intends to vet and distribute the best-in-class products for each asset class on its platform that is planned to be partly automated and partly operated by specialists who can guide a user. IC asserts that its CEO Elisabeth Dana has worked with the likes of Barclays Private Wealth, handling average accounts of £50 million while its CTO, Ashley Adkins, is a coding expert who has put his talent at the service of the UK Government before starting his private practice. It will use 40% of the investment for technology innovation, 30% for upgrading operations, and 30% to market the platform's launch.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£335,390
Wedding Planner is an online wedding-planning marketplace that provides an easy way to plan and book a wedding. Around 20,000 couples are using this platform to plan their dream weddings. Besides being a pre-COVID profitable business in the UK, it is the UK's number one ranked site for 'Wedding Planner' as per Google. The website has been created by combining a digital wedding booking system, curated venues, planning tools, and supplier search options. The platform generates 8,500+ leads for venues and suppliers per quarter and has a registered base of 3,000+ venues and other suppliers. With the investment, the company will use 25% to update their booking system catering to couples and suppliers, 12% in creating new and tested standardised contract templates between the couple and the supplier, 13% in developing a partnership with a wedding insurance provider, 30% as substitution funds for supplier and venue subscriptions frozen during COVID-19, 13% in continuing the platform's growth in Sweden, and 7% in costs associated with fund-raising.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£25,010
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
Thyngs is a touch-free instant payment platform for businesses and charities. It has around 20 active re-seller partners for new sectors and markets. The company is working with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as part of its raise programme and actively engaging with several Series A Venture Capitalist (VC) funds intending to raise £4-5 million in late 2021 to scale its business. Thyngs aggregates various payment partners including PayPal, Worldpay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. The company was the cashless donation platform for 210,000 fundraising events for Macmillan's 'World's Biggest Coffee Morning', which raised £27 million in 2019. Many reputed organisations such as Warner Bros, Royal British Legion, Wasabi, National Geographic, and ANZ Bank are working with Thyngs. The company will use the investment to enhance its marketing campaign, bolster its sales team, work on data security and integrations on its platform, and expand the account management team to boost its business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£329,591
