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
Perfectly Spoken offers English learning courses online for free in response to the global demand for learning the English language. The user base of this company has grown exponentially to 125,000+ users in less than a year and forecasted to grow at the rate of 30,000+ new users in a month. Perfectly Spoken has grown to 65,000 active followers on social media and is likely to attract book subscriptions from companies and higher education institutions. The additional revenue streams on the consideration include advertising and sponsorship, licensing of content, potential joint ventures, white labeling and develop parallel language services starting with Spanish.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£60,750
Learned.Live is an interactive learning platform for adults offering live, online classes taught via Zoom with a unique range of subjects. The company claims that it was born during the first UK lockdown of 2020 to answer a need for useful online classes for adults. Learned.Live provides organisations and their teams with cost-effective ways to acquire new skills, train, engage and unite outside traditional settings with an easily scalable, remote model. It aims to become a contender in the global e-learning market that is predicted to touch $375 billion by 2027. Learned.Live has received press coverage, including a regular column, and a feature interview on ITV Meridien News since January 2021. It claims to have a 95% increase in followers across social media channels year to date. The company will use 30% of the investment towards B2B and B2C Sales and Marketing, 30% towards technology and product innovation, 20% towards teacher recruitment and partnerships, and 20% towards operations.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£146,376
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
Your Favourite Teacher (YFT) is a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) supported online teaching and learning platform that offers students access to high quality and engaging courses. The portal allows students, particularly disadvantaged ones, to navigate through subject areas and courses. Lessons take place through videos, interactive quizzes, development resources, and tested via exam practice sessions. The platform has a pupil dashboard where students can track their progress and celebrate their achievements. In the UK, schools are spending c.£0.9 billion on EdTech per annum. The Covid-19 lockdown is expected to boost the demand for e-learning platforms. YFT offers more than 50 published courses (15 more in production) covering English, English Literature, Maths, and Sciences etc. It has won multiple customers including secondary schools, alternative provision sites and sports academies (including Premier League Football clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal). YFT is seeking an investment of £550,000 to further the growth and reach of the company.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
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
Ziglu is a financial technology entity that allows a user to access both Forex and digital currencies seamlessly. The company permits a user to use any currency via its Mastercard debit card and protects the user's digital currency up to £50,000 against cyber-attacks. Ziglu is authorised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and is one of the first companies involved with digital currencies to be registered under the UK’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (AMLR). The company has achieved a 94% rating on TrustPilot, offers customers the option to send money via cryptocurrency, and previously raised £5.25 million in seed funding. Ziglu has featured in media entities like Coindesk and Yahoo Finance. It will use 30% of the investment in product development, 60% on user acquisition, and 10% on international expansion initiatives.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£3,041,878
Sugi is an app that aims to show everyday investors how green their investments are and help them build a greener portfolio via its app. The company asserts that there are over 3 million Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors in the UK, with over £210 billion of investments and 76% of that number want their investments to have a positive impact. Sugi intends to do just that. Its app combines three key trends namely, ESG investing, Open Finance, and carbon tracking to further green investments. The company has raised £210,000 to date. Sugi connects to a user's existing investment platform, be that an ISA, SIPP, or trading account, and enables them to learn how their investments affect the planet and what they can do to leave an eco-positive impression. Sugi has featured in publications like Reuters, The Times, Good with Money, This is Money, and AltFi, to name a few. Sugi will use the investment to further develop its app, expand its team, and implement its growth strategy.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£406,157
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
B-North intends to revolutionise the business lending industry, which is often outdated, impersonal and slow. The fintech company uses some of the most advanced cloud-based technology, coupled with face-to-face relationship teams to get the best lending solutions for borrowers and their businesses. The company is powered by a team with prior experience in starting and scaling challenger banks, and profitability is its focused goal. B-North has submitted the banking licence application, and the result is expected by 2020.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,135,456
