what3words is a company whose mission is to make finding and sharing exact locations a simplified task. It has divided the world into 3m squares and given each square a unique combination of three words. what3words is backed by organisations such as Mercedes-Benz, Intel Capital and Sony Innovation Fund. The company's app provides a precise location to drones, driverless cars and voice-controlled devices, in turn, boosting businesses. Emergency services and NGOs are also using what3words for critical services and saving lives. Till date, the company has received over £50 million of funding and was the 'App of the Day' in 143 countries. The company will use the investment to become a global standard for communicating location.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£7,155,716
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
GoBubble is a child-centered content moderation software that aims to create a safer, healthier, and kinder digital community for schools. GoBubble asserts that its technology can check all content before it appears such as text, emojis, photos, and videos. The company argues that this reduces the industry's over-reliance on traditional human moderation. The global moderation industry was valued at £3.74 billion in 2019. GoBubble aims to be a significant contender in this segment. The company has successfully launched its app in 68 countries across 1700 schools. Its new at-home child-messenger application, GoBubbleKids, is available on iOS and Android. The company has featured in publications like The Times, ITV, Evening Standard, and BBC. GoBubble has recorded a nearly 9x YTD increase in engagement and has a presence in the UK, USA, and UAE. The company will use the investment to scale its business globally.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£345,699
URocked is a service platform that allows users to tip any worker in any industry, anywhere via its app. The latter will receive cashless gratuities into their account. URocked asserts that a tip can be sent via its app in 10 seconds with 100% reaching its intended recipient, at no cost to them. It aims to become a contender in the est. £5.2 billion tipping industry in the UK. URocked points out that its app allows business and venue owners to use one account as their ethical cashless tipping system, eliminate the costs and administration of distributing tips, and create a transparent audit trail. The company will send 20 pence for every transaction done on its portal to 'The Trussell Trust' to help end world hunger. It will use the investment to transform the tipping industry whilst aiding in the fight to end world hunger.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£117,602
EV Hub plans to offer fast charging for fleets of electric cars, vans, and couriers at sites with 15-30 bays each. The company uses the latest stable technology that needs only c.30 minutes per charge in comparison to 1-2 hours ‘Fast’ chargers and overnight for ‘Slow’ home/work charging. EV Hub's goal is to start with London’s 3,000 electric taxis, and it will expand quickly to serve vans, hire cars, minicabs, and couriers. With the proceeds, the company will lease and run two first flagship, high-traffic sites, King’s Cross and Heathrow Airport, which will help boost the working capital to profitability.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
Withheld
Lux is a premium alternative that rewards high-spending customers, without devaluing restaurants’ brands. Powered by the latest card-linking technology, LUX offers premium reward schemes that give users up to 10% of their restaurant spend back as luxury rewards. So far, Lux has attracted more than 50 restaurants including JKS & Mews of Mayfair and Browns. Moreover, accountants, banks, law firms and consulting firms have accepted to distribute LUX. The company will use the funds to grow the customer base and the business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£241,580
Howbout is a millennial-focused social calendar and planning application. The app allows a group of individuals to instantly find when they’re all free, easily organise any social plan & quickly manage what they’ve got on. The company soft-launched in December 2019 and after strong early traction raised £100,000 – co-led by mobile heavyweight Claire Valoti – to refine the product ahead of its full launch in July 2020. Howbout argues that its app downloads have grown >500% since then. The company has been featured 3x by Apple and >75,000 events have been organised by users in >100 countries, despite 100% UK marketing focus. Howbout was also named in TechRound’s 2020 list of top 100 startups. Howbout sees a socialising boom waiting to happen and believes itself uniquely positioned to capitalise on overdue drinks, catchups and holidays in a post-pandemic world. It will use the investment to focus on company growth and begin monetising.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£505,010
Fortu Wealth is a Business-to-Business (B2B) Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for private banks, wealth managers, external asset managers & multi-family offices. The company aims to be a segment leader in the $158.3 trillion personal wealth market. It has developed and launched the beta version of its Fortu Wealth mobile app and a desktop version of the application with essential features during the first three quarters of 2020. It has also signed partnership agreements with top service providers to provide facilities like Foreign Exchange, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Know Your Client (KYC). Fortu Wealth will use the investment to enable further product development, manage operating expenses, and invest in customer acquisition.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£500,045
Magnetto intends to challenge the traditional retail business by automating the checkout process and eliminating long queues via its app. The company allows shoppers to scan and pay for goods with their smartphones and skip queues using smart gates. The app also claims to facilitate indoor navigation with product locators and allows users to avail loyalty schemes. Magnetto asserts that the commercial rollout of its app has begun with the company planning to develop fully automated stores for one customer with its hardware partner, Modern Expo. Magnetto was nominated for an award at the London Smart Retail Tech Expo. The company intends to become a contender in the retail automation market that is projected to reach $23.58 billion by 2026. Magnetto aspires to connect fully with retail giants like Amazon and Sainsbury's and help them experience automated retail sales seamlessly. The company state it will use the investment to develop new features, grow its team and acquire more customers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£220,431
Aloha is a barrier-free WiFi hotspot and data-sharing platform. The company estimates that 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide pay to access the web with many unable to access the internet daily due to technical or financial constraints. Conversely, 67% of smartphone users do not consume all of their mobile phone data available to them each month. Aloha aims to change this scenario. It enables users to get paid for sharing unused data and be rewarded with 'Aloha Tokens' that can be exchanged for cash, bitcoins and exclusive offers from Aloha's partner companies. Business users and advertisers can use the advertising tools in the Aloha application and broadcast offers and promotions directly to a targeted audience within the Aloha community. The company will use 20% of the investment to list the Aloha Token with one or more key Crypto exchange platforms, 15% to expand the application development team, 17% to complete development of the Aloha Marketplace, 20% for marketing and PR, 16% for running monthly costs, 3% for Aloha app upgradation, and 10% as contingency funds.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£307,707
