Legal Connection (LC) is on a mission to democratise the $1 trillion legal profession, and enabling networks of legal professionals to compete with large partnership firms. The company asserts that the UK leads the world in being a friendly regulatory environment for freelance lawyers and virtual firms. LC aims to capture this sentiment and provide the aforementioned lawyers with the right technology so that they can group to provide a comparable service to large firms at a fraction of the price. LC argues that its product looks like a social networking tool but functions as a legal case and practise management suite wherein all the work takes place in secure chat rooms. Lawyers are also allowed to leverage third-party managed accounts to hold client money and execute transactions. LC was selected by Antler Venture Capital and given a pre-seed investment of £120,000. LC will use the investment to grow its user base, continue product development, and use technology to power the future of law.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£211,874
The Big Exchange (TBE) is an investment platform and money management app that seeks to build a movement to transform the lives of millions of people by building a fairer financial system. The company aspires to help drive real change to people and the planet, whether it is lowering carbon emissions, contributing to social housing or protecting wildlife. TBE points out that its low-cost investment platform, comprehensive money management tool, and marketplace where people can find products that can have a positive impact on their lives and those of others can help in this regard. TBE has been awarded 'Best Sustainable ISA 2021' by Boring Money, 'Top Sustainable Platform for 2021' by Good with Money, and 'Best Innovation in Investment' by Financial Services Forum Innovation Awards. TBE intends to dominate the estimated £7.1 billion impact investment funds industry. They state they will use the investment received to help build a fairer financial system for everyone.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£404,064
British Pearl is a property investment platform facilitating share & loan investment in property. It is an FCA authorised investment manager which allows fractional international investment in the property without any hassle. British Pearl has won ten award nominations, three speaker engagements and has been featured in over 20 media including the Times, the Daily Mail and the BBC. With the proceeds, the company will grow the sales, increase property sourcing and develop the platform's features.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£910,132
Project Imagine (PI) is a startup focused on financial equitability for all. The company aims to build a financial service that doesn’t profit from short term unsecured debt, but one that grows with its customers and does everything it can to help them achieve their financial dreams. PI launched a current account, smart budgeting, saving tools and access to investment products from the likes of Blackrock and Vanguard in January 2019 in the UK consumer market. It has raised over £18 million to date. The company was named one of the UK’s 'Top 10 Best Banking Apps' by finder.com and recognised alongside Samsung and Apple in the technology section of the Global Brand Awards as the 'Best Innovation in Fintech'. It will use the investment to become the go-to platform for managing a user's money, bring together diverse fintech innovation from around the world into one common standard, and retain the most driven execution talent to boost company profits.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,160,625
epaysecure is a secure payment system, which offers comprehensive payment and benefit options, and allows all the services the consumer demands to be offered in one card and e-account. The prepaid business purchasing in European markets is estimated to be $700 million. The company operates in an e-banking and financial services marketing sector that helps clients by identifying new markets and bringing in new ideas to develop them through reloadable products and e-Wallet platform. The funds will be used for staffing, set up costs, other overheads including property marketing and general office costs.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£168,340
MyT is a cloud-powered subscription-based accounting software designed for small businesses that allows them to submit financial information to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) under the Making Tax Digital initiative, which is mandatory from April 2023. MyT asserts that its app provides businesses with a simple way to keep track of business finances on the go, send and manage invoices and bills, and record expenses and mileage. The company claims that its app is available on App Store and Google Play and has witnessed 1000+ downloads to date. It claims that it has onboarded over 500 users without any extensive marketing spend. MyT will use half of the investment to implement its marketing plan, a third for developing new technology and the remaining for administrative expenses.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£133,543
AxiaFunder is a commercial litigation funding platform that offers investors access to pre-vetted cases. The platform aims to connect eligible investors like sophisticated retail investors, high-net-worth, and typically institutions with claimants seeking funding. Launched in January 2019 with the first case fully funded within seven days and the third in 7 hours; 5 cases financed to date, attracted over 355 registered investors so far including several institutions and has featured in several prominent publications including the Financial Times, Times and City AM. Also, they have won the 'Best Commercial Litigation Crowdfunding Platform 2019' award by Wealth & Finance. AxiaFunder plans to use the proceeds to make key hires particularly to strengthen its case origination, further development of its platform and marketing to build the AxiaFunder brand and grow its investor base.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£256,780
Sol-Gel Materials and Application (SGMA) is a sustainable technology company that is using its new sol-gels to create sustainable solutions to plastic environmental waste. The company has researched and developed a non-plastic, non-toxic coating for products, from food packaging to electronics, that is water and oil resistant yet recyclable. Its product is the world’s only biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable (BCR) solution. The company's founder and CEO, Dr Fanya Ismail, has won the award 'Women in Innovation 2019' by Innovate UK and the company's work has been covered by BBC South East Today. The company plans to function as an IP management company, sub-contract manufacturing to chemical firms moving from bulk to advanced materials, and outsource distribution to partners, whose packaging customers serve brand owners.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£611,040
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
Racingbreaks.com is a digital racing and experiential platform enabling users to plan and book every aspect of their racing experience, whether that’s a ticket to a local racecourse or a unique 'Round the World Trip' to the Melbourne Cup. The company intends to offer users a single point of distribution for the fragmented racing sector, allowing customers to book everything in one place. Racingbreaks.com has earned £4.38 million worth of sales in 2019 witnessing a 300% growth in sales between 2017 to 2019. It claims that over 50,000 customers have booked with Racingbreaks.com, with the company having signed key partnerships with over 50 racecourses. The company claims that renowned horse racing jockey Frankie Dettori has invested in the company and is the face of the brand. Racingbreaks.com will use the investment to re-develop its website and platform, create a new racing app, develop new ticketing Application Programming Interfaces with more racecourses, and expand its platform globally.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£375,530
