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
Vizopay aims to combine financial technology and environmental sustainability in the payments space. Its mission is to become the world's leading carbon offsetting payment platform to help reverse the effects of climate change before it’s too late. The company claims that the total online retail sector is worth $4.1 trillion in sales today. Vizopay argues that if its services were to be used for just 0.1% of these purchases, the company can plant 500 million trees, capturing up to 6 million tonnes of CO2 every year. Vizopay, once fully launched, will allow consumers a checkout option to plant trees at no extra cost and track their impact in real-time and help businesses to increase sales, improve brand loyalty and showcase their ESG efforts through accredited carbon offset programmes. The company is targeting a potential UK market size of 20 million consumers. It will use the investment to launch its Beta product in Q3 of 2021 and grow its business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£148,120
Numerous is a company that aims to establish a new data-sharing economy by ensuring profits to brands and consumers. On the Numerous app, consumers create a data profile filling in the appropriate information. The Numerous AI technology leverages this consensually-shared personal data to connect the right users to the right brands. It also incentivises its members to share their data by sharing some of the revenue with them that Numerous, in turn, generates from brands. Personal data is worth £30 billion in the UK, and $200 billion in the US. Numerous aims to be a strong contender in this segment. It currently has 1,300 users sharing over 130,000 pieces of data. The company's app is live for iOS and Android. It aims to grow to 50,000 users, 7.5 million pieces of data and 60 brand partners in the next 12 months. It will use the investment to pioneer a new model for the data economy and grow its business.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£352,502
Yacht Sentinel is a pioneer in the market for offering intelligent boat monitoring security systems to boat owners. A trusted name in the sector, their monitoring system enables boat owners to remotely check their boat’s status through their dedicated mobile app or online web app. Yacht Sentinel acts as a virtual crew member, keeping an eye on your boat 24/7. They are in advanced discussions with several shipyards, including Princess Yachts & Fountaine Pajot. Their latest product YS6 was released in 2018 and is sold in over 130 shops across a dozen countries. With the proceeds, the company is planning for research and development, an increase in brand awareness and for new hires of personnel.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£150,000
DelivrMe aims to be a delivery app that makes it easy, fast and safe for users to order anything, anytime, anywhere. The company acts as the user’s shopper by equipping all its riders with a pre-paid card who then shop, pick up or drop off the user's items within 30-45 minutes at the user's specified location. The company plans to charge a delivery fee and a one-time service fee to the customer for placing an order. DeliverMe was awarded a £50,000 grant by the UK Government’s innovation agency and aims to be a contender in the food on-demand delivery industry that is projected to reach £61 billion in 2021. It was also a 'Young Start-up' Talent finalist. The company's iOS and Android apps are developed and ready to launch. It will use the investment to complete its technology development and fund its service roll-out plan.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£249,994
Honcho is the UK’s first reverse auction marketplace for financial services that is revolutionising the car insurance market. In a reverse auction, the company works by inviting insurance providers to bid against one another. For just £1 a bid, insurance providers can go head to head to give the customer their best price and helping the latter to avoid any hidden charges and commission. Honcho's first major £830,000 funding round closed in March 2018 with support from crowd investors plus Maven Capital Partners. The company has just launched its first partner integrations, bringing its services to consumers of two major employee benefits platforms plus a major affiliate network. Honcho was selected for the 'Tech Nation Fintech programme 2019.' Honcho will use the investment to diversify its investor base and bring itself to a platform with support for Insurtech businesses, launch offers in other sectors, evolve its role as Platform as a Service (PaaS), and enhance marketing initiatives.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£1,433,325
Atom Universe (AU) is an established virtual world, available on PC and consoles that allows players to create their avatars, explore a vast 3D universe, and meet like-minded individuals from all over the world to chat and play with. The company asserts that its game has seen over 2 million downloads with an average of 20,000 unique players registering every month. AU claims that the revenue from in-game purchases added up to over £500,000 since the company's launch in 2016. The company has partnered with Crash Media providing players access to over 100 Kung-fu movies to play in its Kung Fu Theatre, signed up with Valiant Comics to open its comics store, and plans to run an NBA 2K eSports event, with a virtual rap battle lined up. It will use 60% of the investment to develop the mobile version of its game, 30% to grow its team, and 10% for marketing.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£94,518
DocuChain has developed a customisable SaaS platform designed for Risk, Process, Asset and Compliance Management, providing Chain of Custody solution to the enterprise. The global market of content collaboration market is about to reach $18.78 billion by 2025. The industry is growing at a CAGR of 17.8%. DocuChain has 13 Non-Disclosure Agreements for knowledge sharing: FTSE, NYSE, NASDAQ and Big4 audit companies. It has also received a pilot request from an FTSE100 packaging company for a pharma application demo. With the proceeds, the company is planning to support demos, hire two technical support members and for product enhancements.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£119,620
AirSensa is a proprietary globally-scalable cloud platform developed with the aim to avert air pollution globally. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 7 million die prematurely every year because of air pollution. Lack of poor data coupled with unreliable systems makes tracking air pollution a major task. Better data can help city authorities to make effective interventions, help businesses to improve operations, and help citizens avoid the worst of pollution. The company's unique big data platform (STORRM) can scale to run hundreds of thousands of sensors and serve any number of users simultaneously while providing reliable air pollution data. AirSensa's technology can also be used to understand the impact of Covid-19, to tackle the post-Covid complications due to air pollution by providing hyperlocal, real-time information to those people as well as the existing vulnerable groups like asthmatics and heart disease patients. The company will utilise the investment to drive business development, build a post-COVID product that will lead to potentially lesser fatalities due to risk from polluted air, and ensure more people join its ecosystem.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£763,890
Groubook is a social bookings platform that allows a group of users to pre-book nights out on its platform, letting themselves avail of discounts and earn rewards. The company claims that its focus groups are millennials who go out twice a week and spend £6589 a year, and students who avail of discounts, coupons and rewards on expenses. The company stresses that it offers its partners a non-contract service with no upfront fees. The company further points out that it sold 178 tickets for a local Nottingham bar event during the COVID pandemic, earning its partners £890 in pre-booking revenue. Groubook has featured in press entities such as Real Business, BBC, Venue Insight, and Sage amongst others. It has also partnered with 330+ venues nationally, including Olivias, Las Iguanas, Bella Italia, Revolution, and Bedlam paintball, to name a few. The company states it will use 65% of the investment towards hiring personnel, 22.9% towards promoting marketing campaigns, 7% towards overseeing location expenses, and 5.1% towards managing administrative expenses.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£81,660
