Black Young Professionals (BYP) Network is a company that empowers black professionals around the world to solve the problems they face through economic empowerment and connectivity. The company has grown from side hustle to a 6-figure revenue-generating company with over 40,000 members. BYP allows both members and corporate partners to avail a variety of offerings including webinars/events, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, a social networking app, and job board alerts. The company has about 60 corporate partners including Accenture, Facebook and Soho House. It has featured in publications including BBC, Roc Nation, and Forbes. BYP Network has won the Maserati Top 100 Most Innovative Companies and a place on The Mayor of London’s International Business Programme and London Stock Exchange Elite Program. The company will use the investment to have a user base of over 500,000 black professionals with 2% on its premium model in the next 18 months through marketing, scale its leadership, sales, and content teams, and improve its current technology platform to make it more intuitive.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£853,982
WhatsInStore is the best way to shop for deals to save time, money and energy. It is the world’s first AI engine (patent pending) that empowers shoppers to make buying decisions by sending information to the user’s phone about the products they are interested in. WhatsInStore will focus specifically on the UK grocery market, which has a potential of 28 million shoppers. There are 87,041 physical outlets selling groceries in the UK and the company has signed up with 23 retail stores so far. The complete system has been built and is fully operational. The company has approval for SEIS and EIS tax scheme for the investors. The money invested will be used to grow the user base, secure more retailers, promote via predominantly social media and sell subscriptions to retailers
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£51,500
Outfts is a fashion marketplace that serves retailers, influencers, and consumers merging the traditional marketplace concept with expanding social features. Users can shop via storefront, creator profiles, shoppable social feed, or search and product listings. Outfts is focused on 'Female First' creators. Outfts claims to bring together a growing collection of more than 55 retailers, combining over 3000 brands and over 1 million products. The company live tested its private beta, with three carefully selected clients namely, H&M, Urban Outfitters and MATCHESFASHION, and multiple influencers. It has acquired over 50 more high-profile clients, including Coach, Kenzo, MANGO, Harvey and many more. Outfts says it will use the investment to hire key personnel, manage operational expenses, manage marketing initiatives, oversee its app development, and expand outside of the European market, beginning with the US.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£198,047
vFloorplan creates innovative, interactive Meeting and 3D event floorplans making it easy for potential customers and booking agents to explore venue layouts. The Kia Oval, QEII Centre and National Conference Centre (National Motorcycle Museum) are a few customers already using vFloorplan 3D, with recurring revenue and great feedback. Till now, the company has achieved a waiting list of 100+ venues, contractual relationships with 3 major partners and they are also the finalists in the National Entrepreneur Awards. They are seeking funding for a rollout to almost 200 UK venues including key Premiership Football Clubs, major UK tourist attractions and notable hotel brands.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£54,700
Freetrade is an award-winning, commission-free investing application. In the investment industry, high commissions and clunky products can make it complicated for people to start their investment journeys. This is where Freetrade comes in by offering a simple, transparent freemium pricing model where the user can pay for the premium features they want. The company is an FCA-regulated stockbroker and a member of the London Stock Exchange. Its new proprietary brokerage platform, Invest by Freetrade, has scaled smoothly while keeping costs low. It also consists of new features such as free Instant Orders & real-time deposits compatible with Apple Pay/Google Pay. The company has also shipped fractional shares, breaking down another barrier to investing. 150,000+ customers are enrolled in the ecosystem with a 500% growth Year-on-Year (YoY). The company's app won the Best Online Trading Platform at the British Bank Awards 2019 and 2020. With the investment, the company aims to grow engineering & marketing and continue expansion into Europe.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£7,015,011
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
Founded by Glen Elliot, 2005 in the early days of the professional video gaming industry, Esports Gaming League (EGL) has since helped shape esports into a fast-growing phenomenon. The brand aims to be at the forefront of esports starting in Europe before expanding globally into Asia, South America, and the Middle East. It has worked with clients such as KFC, Science Museum, Activision among other brands. The esports industry is valued at $1.1 billion globally for 2019, and EGL has positioned itself to be at the heart of it. The platform has 315,000 registered users engaging in regular tournaments online. With the funds raised, EGL aims to enhance its tournament platform and make the process of playing and competing easier. It will also work with major game developers across multiple platforms and make their titles esportable.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£189,540
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
Muniy makes banking easy for everyone, spreading a digital banking revolution with a focus on improving user experience, not only for familiar banking functions, but extending into other areas, such as retail experience, where people spend money. With Muniy's recently launched personal mobile money application as well as Muniy contactless card in the UK and Europe, the company aims to be at the forefront of banking innovation. The application can be used to pay via QR code, Mastercard, or for P2P transactions. By paying with Muniy, customers connect with merchants anonymously allowing the latter to profit from lower transaction processing costs. The company aims to introduce personalised rewards to its customers and soon launch the application in the Middle East. The company will utilise the investments to run a pilot in the UK and the European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member, and leverage a mature market to establish a foundation quickly in order to introduce their core financial services to key markets in the Middle East.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£207,510
Common Objective is a global B2B sourcing and information platform that rewards sustainable business through higher search rankings. The company aims at disrupting the $2trillion fashion industry as it has already used by 23k+ fashion professionals who work at leading brands and 1000’s of SME’s, from over 150 countries. The company’s online platform uses personalisation and matching technology to connect buyers with suppliers and provides them with targeted content and tools supporting best practice. The site is used by individuals and teams who work at world-leading brands backed by industry leaders including Roland Mouret, PDS Multinational, and Plexus Cotton.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£462,260
