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
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
Kwikpay is the first app in the UK to make it easy to top up your prepaid mobiles and prepaid services. Kwikpay have relationships with all major UK mobile operators, as well as mobile operators for another 100 countries.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£168,821
Smartlands is a blockchain-based digital finance and investment ecosystem. It allows asset owners to turn an ownership right to a share of any asset, into a tradable digital token attributing it almost unlimited liquidity. In the UK, Smartlands is the first platform for crowdfunding investments that allows investors to use digital currencies alongside fiat currencies to raise capital. The platform boasts of a 16,000 strong community following with over 11,000 wallets opened since its inception. It has a reputed list of partners including Colliers International, CMS, Archax, UK Sotheby’s, and many more. They have been awarded the 'Best Crowdfunding Platform' at the 2020 FinTech Breakthrough Awards and have been featured in Yahoo Finance, Forbes, Coindesk, Benzinga, and Investors Chronicle to name a few. With the investment, the company will grow its internal engineering team and obtain the necessary licenses to move its business forward across Europe.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£379,183
Currently, the self-employed have fewer admissions to financial services than their employed counterparts do. Hatch aims to give sole traders free-to-use access to real-time credit scores that will allow lenders to make more informed decisions when invoice funding. The company also offers digitising of tax files, one of the most time-consuming admin burdens. Revenue is generated via affiliate fees to those who wish to introduce and facilitate Hatch on their platforms. A beta for 5k users will be launching soon, with half the slots already filled.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£115,000
Smart Trade App is a software-based payment app that accepts card payments directly from the phone. It helps small business owners all over the UK. The app further includes features in it such as invoicing, light CRM, team management, reporting as well as the ability to delegate jobs. Smart Trade App has got the most Disruptive Payments Tech award 2019 and has processed transaction volumes worth £1.5 million. Large high street banks in the UK have approached the company for their business accounts. They have also signed an agreement with CardOne banking and has formed a strategic partnership with MasterCard.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£268,152
Bitstocks is a financial technology application built entirely on blockchain. The company intends to bring to customers the benefits of bitcoin in a simple & accessible personal account format. It asserts that 76% of UK adults use online banking. Its product, Gravity, currently offers BSV, BTC, GBP & EUR pairings, with investment accounts for customers to buy, sell & store bitcoin. The company is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and integrated with Faster Payment System & Single Euro Payments Area provider. Bitstocks has 1,800+ registered customers, with 650+ joining through referrals. It will use the investment to scale & develop the next phase of Gravity, bring forth stablecoin to enable tokenised global micropayments, and introduce personal accounts, debit cards, savings & loans.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,105,596
B-North is creating an SME business bank that will deliver fast decisions with loans being given in two weeks. Its model is formed around strong relationships with both brokers and customers. B-North is in a positive conversation with the British Business Bank for Tier 2 debt, and its FinTech enabled lending platform is excellent. The funds will be used to expand the team and develop the platform. The company also aims at assembling a highly-experienced and ambitious management team supported by a heavyweight board.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,815,350
LONDCAP is a mobile app that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance a customer's credit profile and make borrowing more accessible. The company aims to enable credit cards access to customers without credit history or national insurance number. It also endeavours to facilitate loan and mortgage approvals via its app. LONDCAP provides a live exchange money service at inter-bank rates as an approved licensee under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) laws. It has a network of over 30,000 companies and over 40,000 investors as of March 2020. The company will use the investment to achieve 50,000 monthly active users, prepare the business for the Series A fundraising round, build its team across different specialities, and launch a comprehensive app on the App Store and Google Playstore in partnership with financial entities like IBAN, SWIFT and SEPA.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£108,373
Hiro is an insurance technology company aiming to be a contender in the $6.9 trillion insurance industry. The company claims that conventional home insurance does nothing until the damage is already done. Hiro aims to change this scenario. It gives users access to smart technology to protect their property and rewards them accordingly by giving discounts on their insurance quote. The company has signed partnerships with 30+ leading device manufacturers towards this objective for example, Honeywell Home, Philips, and Lightwave, to name few. Hiro asserts that its platform, mobile apps, feature sets, and designs have been validated through an intensive insider's programme. Hiro is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company has featured in publications like Forbes, the Guardian and the Evening Standard. Hiro will use the investment to develop Research and Development (R&D), furnish legal and compliance documents, and boost marketing and operations.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£2,069,251
