Gively is an online marketplace where users can give and get secondhand items for free. The secondhand clothing market will double in value to £50 billion annually by 2023, and the company finds itself as a suitable contender in this domain. They aim to lower greenhouse gas emissions and minimise landfill sites through its portal. The company has reached over 5,000 users, 70% of which came from unpaid channels. Gively won an SME (Small and medium enterprises) grant worth £10,000 of television advertising and has received rave reviews from its users through the App Store, social media, and in person. They will use 50% of the investment for marketing purposes, 25% for technology up-gradation, and 25% for hiring human resources.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£105,207
Homemidwife is an on-demand private midwifery service for mothers during and after pregnancy. Homemidwife cites data arguing that the National Health Service (NHS) in England is short of almost 2,500 full-time midwives. The company also asserts that the freelance midwifery market is still old-fashioned, with NHS midwives struggling for time to advertise their private midwifery service. HomeMidwife aims to change this by making it easier for mums to look for professional and experienced midwives. The company allows users to make appointments for a teleclinic or home visit through its website or app. It will use the funds to improve the functionality of its web portal, scale-up its app coverage in London, and increase recruitment of midwives to 200.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£61,339
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
Nexus is a digital platform that empowers users to take control of their health and wellbeing. It states that long-term health conditions like diabetes and cancer will account for over 50% of global health spending by the end of 2021 with depression becoming the leading cause of disability. Nexus aims to address this situation via its app. It argues that its app will offer users health coaching, telemental health, products, and services to transform their lifestyle. Nexus claims that the app can track progress via self-entered user data and is being designed to connect with apps and wearables to inspire life-long behavioural change. Nexus has prepared a pilot for an NHS Trust endorsed by Boston Scientific with a collaboration agreement to roll out the app to 30,000 NHS users. Nexus was one of 100 startups chosen to pitch at the World Business Angels Forum 2020. The Company says that it will use the investment to support Phase 2 of its tech build, grow further in the UK, and start its expansion in the UAE.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£280,360
NOQ aims to solve the issue of queuing at events by digitising the process and bringing increased sales and profit for event management companies, coupled with data-driven insights. It aspires to capture the UK market share through partnerships with event management companies, food concession groups, PoS (Point of Sale) systems, and WiFi providers. NOQ offers a three-step solution for event-goers namely, pre-order ahead of time, click and collect or deliver to a location within the event. The company also claims that it provides a bespoke solution specific to suit the needs of each event and ensure seamless execution of the same. NOQ has overseen transactions worth £275,000+ on its platform, onboarded 13,000+ active users across iOS and Android, and covered 190+ events in 2020. It will use the investment for hiring key personnel, marketing and operational expenditures.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£214,393
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
The Wild Curl (TWC) makes custom-formulated and plant-based curly hair products. The company chooses its ingredients based on research that centers around the composition of curly hair across different demographics. TWC argues that it supports and fights for inclusive beauty standards by empowering women to adopt their naturally curly hair since 65% of women in the world have textured hair. The company claims to have changed the hair journey of 5000 customers globally. TWC has 5,000 customers, 5,600 email contacts and 6,000 followers on social media. The company has earned £100,000 in revenue since its launch and shipped over 5,000 orders to customer’s doorsteps worldwide. TWC will use the investment to expand its product range focused on conditioners.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£95,689
Algarve Rock Brewery manufactures Portuguese craft beer. The company aims to put Portuguese craft beer on the map with flavoursome beers that embody local ingredients. They have won Best Stout award in Trujillo Festival 2018- Spain. They supply to major Portuguese outlets including Emprodalbe distributors, Apolonia supermarkets, prestigious Quinta do Lago resort and 'house' beers to Casa do Frango group in London. The proceeds will be used to start its themed Brewbars and Brew kiosks, to increase exports to the UK and USA, strengthen brand identity, team expansion and expansion of brewery to cope with increased demand.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£205,456
Auto Lease Compare is a company that uses a web-based platform to provide business services of leasing cars in the UK market. The company is on a mission to transform the growing UK car leasing industry. They are currently operating in a leasing & rental market worth £49 billion in the UK alone. Auto Lease Compare have increased their users to 40,000 on the platform and have also partnered with some of the UK’s leading leasing companies. With the investment, the company will grow its business by revamping and upgrading the website, executing a strong marketing strategy and increasing brand awareness.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£111,860
Catipilla designs, manufactures and retails a range of high quality, functional, wall-mounted climbing frames, resting points, and scratchers to create unique living spaces for cats. The company asserts that the cat segment of the pet market is worth an estimated £5 billion in the UK alone. It wants to become a contender in this segment. Catipilla has sold 2,000+ products across 16 countries, listed at retailer Pets at Home, and became a finalist in the PetQuip '2018 Product of the Year' in the past three years. Catipilla's products are situated in vet practices, catteries, and cat rescue centres. The company claims that it is endorsed by International Cat Care and has a partnership with IAMS, a global pet food giant. After a 5.36 times increase in orders during the 2020 lockdown (compared to Q2 and Q3 2019), Catipilla requires investment to scale up sales, distribution, manufacturing, and export capability.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£196,702
