Auddy is on a mission to build a data-driven podcast publisher for mainstream audio podcasts from top producers. The company points out that 1 in 5 people listen to podcasts in the UK, with over 50 million episodes published each day. Auddy stresses that this creates significant competition and confusion for the podcast producers, with many great podcasts going unnoticed due to a lack of editorial, promotional, and commercial support. Auddy intends to change this. The company guides a creator’s show from birth to distribution and advertising sales, helping creators make money via royalty shares. Auddy claims to use data to research shows that need to be broadcast. It fine-tunes the show for editorial and commercial advantage. Auddy points out that its podcast catalogue witnessed 5.5 million UK downloads. It wants to become a contender in the £7 billion podcast industry and has featured in press such as the Telegraph, Financial Times and The Guardian. The company states it will use the investment to become a data-centric publisher for its producers and customers alike globally.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£681,371
SKOOT is a platform that connects friends who need lifts or errands, with friends who can help. The app auto-calculates fares for lifts taken and splits the costs. It also permits users to organise, request and arrange errands or simple favours from friends for free or a £5 tip. SKOOT claims to be the only carbon negative green navigation app for drivers. The company argues that it has also taken up the '1 Million Tree Challenge' and plants a tree for every journey on the platform. SKOOT is live on the Apple App Store and Google Playstore, with more than 18,000 users. It aims to become a contender in the ride-hailing industry that is worth $85.8 billion. SKOOT states it has raised £3.1 million from investors, won £75,000 from Innovate UK, and completed over 1,200 tasks to date using its 'Errands' feature launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. SKOOT states they will use the investment to extend its product, create more revenue streams and increase user activation across the EU, USA, Australia and Canada by early 2022.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£409,913
HairFare is an end-to-end hair and beauty chair rental platform that connects beauty professionals to salons, studios and barbershops across the UK. It asserts that the hair and beauty industry was worth £10 billion in 2018 and is set to increase. HairFare aims to be a contender in this segment. HairFare asserts that it has expanded to five cities within the UK with no marketing budget. The platform has featured in media platforms including The Barber Magazine, Islington Gazette, Startups of London, Business Daily, ITProPortal, ExBulletin, Compsmag, and LinkedIn News, to name a few. It will use 40% of the investment for creating its proprietary app, 40% towards marketing to increase the number of business owners and beauty professionals on the platform, 10% towards setting up its merchandise line, and 10% towards establishing the HairFare Academy.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£57,736
SleepCogni combines a handheld device and a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to help users wind down by collecting physiological, behavioural and environmental data. The company points out that 1 million people in the UK take sleeping pills for insomnia. SleepCogni intends to change this with its product. It claims that its device receives data from fifteen different sensors, providing detailed insights into a user’s sleep struggle to further assist in clinical intervention, including procedures such as CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia). The company's initial target sleep clinics are the UK and the US, with the US sleep clinic market estimated to be worth $9 billion in 2020. SleepCogni has eleven granted and four pending patents in various territories, a trademark on the logo and protection of specific handheld trigger hardware. They state they will use the investment received to commercialise their product.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£577,270
Particity is a platform that allows researchers to hire participants for a research project, collaborate with them, and approve participant incentives all on a single portal. The company argues that its portal automates what is currently a tedious and manual process and brings operational costs of a project down to a viable level. Particity claims that its model allows entities from Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to marketing and research agencies, witness business growth. It has received enquiries from enterprises such as Oxford University, Discovery INC and PPD. Particity endeavours to become a contender in the $345 billion logistics and efficiency market and deliver an end-to-end solution to its clients. The potential exit opportunities for Particity would be to a player in the research industry, consultancy, software and digital or private equity.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
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
Expend helps businesses by simplifying and automating the process of expense management. The company provides optional contactless payment cards, receipt and invoice management, mileage tracking, spending approvals and expense reimbursements through its mobile app and web platform. It aims to become a contender in the global travel and expense management software market that is expected to reach $17.4 billion by 2027. The company argues that 96% of its customers are happy and recommend its services. It has onboarded notable clients such as Amazon, Capitalise, Bumble, and Jimmy's. The company will use 40% of the investment on sales and marketing to further target the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and corporate markets, 40% to open up market opportunities via further product enhancements along with partner products, and 20% to expand its services to international users.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£926,610
Elute Intelligence is an online platform that makes searching documents fast, simple, and accurate. The platform is optimised to handle a variety of tasks such as plagiarism detection, patent searching, fraud detection, governance and compliance, and e-discovery to name a few. Using a unique AI-based system, users can upload long-form documentation, and the system will analyse, tag, and find related articles across a wide range of academic journals and data sources. The company is looking to engage in partnerships: with government and commercial R&D teams to help accelerate research into Covid-19, with development partners to help expand the system into other research areas, and with investors interested in an AI and big data platform that can transform scientific research processes.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
Donr is an online fundraising platform intending to revolutionise access to donation solutions for welfares and charities of all sizes. The company has served over 1,450 charities to raise £500,000 in the first year from launch. The Northstar Ventures has invested £300k, who are following on. Donr was on #33 in BusinessCloud's 100 FinTech Disrupters of 2019. The funds will be used for powerful fundraising tools, team expansion and team growth.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£249,740
Genomes.io is a safe and private DNA data storage application resolving the problem of DNA data breach and exploitation. It helps the users to store, manage, promote and arrange their genomic data in order. The company is a member of Consensys Labs Tachyon II Accelerator 2019. It has also signed MOU with TenX Health VC for lead investment and board position and, it is in discussions with Pharma & Biotech co for establishing partnerships. The company is seeking funds to bring its B2B and B2C products to market.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,035,370
