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
Total Be wants to bring an internationally recognised model of car insurance to the UK. It provides insurance for the car, not just for an individual driver. Additionally, it does not take crime data into account that is not specific to vehicles. Thus, this insurance is estimated to provide up to 25% cheaper cover in comparison to UK insurance. Moreover, a UK Government Petition for this insurance model has gained over 60,000+ signatures, which further validates the demand of this model. Total Be believes that it will be able to disrupt the UK market with this car insurance model.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£150,760
The Bottled Bartender is a manufacturer of premium RTD cocktails. The company manufactures, markets, and distributes single-serve premium cocktails to the trade, events and home markets. The cocktails are designed with the same recipes as a high-end bar, by using only branded spirits, garden-fresh ingredients made by the experienced staff. The company wants Trade and Events to benefit from the speed of service and logistical ease and not hire specialist staff. The Bottled Bartender anticipates in using a 24-hour courier service.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£61,150
VINEX is a digital Business-To-Business (B2B) trading platform that connects buyers and sellers to source, sample, negotiate and execute contracts related to wine. The company has traded more than 115 million bottles of wine across 26 countries since 2016. It has also witnessed 3,200 monthly visitors on its platform with an average of 80 million litres of wine traded each month, from 16 countries. The company recently launched VINPay, an industry-first financial technology service customised for the wine industry, providing wineries with guaranteed payment and increased access to capital liquidity. VINEX argues that VINPay pays wineries in 3 days from dispatch, rather than them waiting for 90+ days, and removes non-payment risk. The company points out that it has already started processing invoices, making and receiving payments from 7 countries. VINEX aims to become a contender in the wholesale wine market that is set to exceed US$381 billion in 2021. It will use the investment to help wineries invest and flourish.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£159,720
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
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
Recap is a cryptocurrency portfolio tracking, analytics and tax reporting platform. The company claims that market participants engaging in cryptocurrency have to deal with complex issues such as tracking all of their transactions, valuing cryptocurrency transactions in their tax currency and understanding capital gains tax legislation laws. Recap aims to solve this issue by enabling said participants to calculate any tax they owe on their cryptocurrency trading activity in a matter of seconds on its portal. The company has plans to launch a mobile application enabling investors to track their portfolio on the move. It also intends to come up with a Business-to-business (B2B) offering which Recap asserts will enable crypto native companies to account for their cryptocurrency activity with automatic accounts reconciliation to accounting software like Xero and Quickbooks. The company’s exit strategy is a trade sale within 3-5 years to a cryptocurrency exchange or accounting software provider.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£120,472
Kroo Bank Ltd, a fully licensed UK bank, began with a bold vision to be the first bank that people trust and genuinely enjoy. Offering current accounts and personal loans, the company has successfully opened 145,000 current accounts and accumulated £765 million in deposits, achieving this with an average customer acquisition cost of £38. Kroo's revenue model hinges on transaction fees and net interest margins from both deposits and loans, ensuring efficient and cost-effective customer acquisition. Looking ahead, the company has exciting plans to expand its product range, introduce new features, and expand its personal loan services.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,010,954
Chip is a savings and investment portal. The company has over 250,000 registered users, processed over £165 million in savings, achieved Financial Conduct Authority (FSA) authorisation and launched Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) eligible interest accounts with market-leading rates. It aims to be the go to investment platform for the mobile generation that consists of 100 million customers and 30 trillion assets across Europe. Chip started with autosaving and seamless access to market-leading saving accounts. With its premium account ChipX, the company is venturing into investment funds, savings accounts, and pensions. It will use the investment to open up its investor community to new and existing investors to participate in this convertible round. It will also initiate discussions with venture capitalists to secure a follow up investment.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£11,403,860
Viritech is a clean technology engineering company that is using F1-derived engineering to develop hydrogen powertrain solutions and related technologies for the automotive, aerospace, marine and distributed power industries. Viritech asserts that the Hydrogen Council forecasts that hydrogen will meet 18% of global energy demand by 2050. It aims to capture this demand through its technologies. Viritech argues that its location in MIRA Technology Park allows it access to R&D facilities used by many of the world's major automotive manufacturers, allowing it to scale its resources to meet the demands of every type of project. Viritech will use the investment to produce test hydrogen tanks, build the Apricale hypercar, complete designs for a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and a power generator, plan a larger raise and listing on AQuis Stock Exchange (AQSE) in 2022, and eventually commercialise its technology with its partner.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£726,807
