Plerith works with high growth start-ups and scaling companies to plan for and deliver growth. The company asserts that it helps companies promote their business to potential funders, through its network of angel and venture capital investors depending on the stage and sector of the said business. Plerith is partnering with Newable and Bristol Private Equity Club to deliver the fund in the South West London (SWL) area and identify and invest in the most exciting high growth companies in the region. Plerith argues that its deep knowledge of fundraising, sales, strategy, finance and technology would help SWL businesses flourish. Plerith aims to provide investors access to the highest quality local companies in the SWL region.
days to go:
Stretch
investment:
Withheld
A compliance service allowing financial organisations to benchmark their businesses against legal regulations. Model Office integrates with existing infrastructures to identify issues in a firm's due diligence records. The service then offers guidance, strategies, solutions and resources to ensure the business is fully compliant with regulations. In addition, firms can also run the software on clients to confirm they also meet FCA and ICO rules as a safety and insurance measure.
Model Office offers multiple versions of their products for customers with particular needs for a recurring monthly subscription. A full version consists of the benchmarking and audit tools, whilst an Enterprise adds an AI chat bot for further assistance, amongst many other features.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£150,000
Green Wallet (GW) aims to promote conscious spending by allowing users to buy sustainable products and earn rewards in the process from its app-based marketplace. GW gives users £5 free in green coins upon registering on the portal. Users also earn 1 green coin for every £1 they spend and 2 green coins for advocating for their favourite shops and sharing products on Instagram based on the number of likes or comments their posts receive. GW has also launched a bio-degradable debit card. The company has onboarded 4000+ social media followers, hosted 100 merchants with 1500+ products on its platform, and hit the target of 1,000 early user signups in its closed beta round. They intend to onboard up to 25,000 users and plant up to 250,000 trees in 2021. GW will use the investment to boost merchant outreach, promote marketing initiatives, acquire key personnel across departments, and optimise infrastructure and compliance regularities.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£261,770
QFinds is a purpose-built hiring tool that enables employers to easily and efficiently pre-screen candidates, conduct interviews and generate employment contracts. The company asserts that it is a UK government vetted 'Kickstart Scheme' representative and can get small businesses grants to hire interns having already processed over 100 job applications. QFinds claims that its app has been downloaded 2 million+ times garnering 24,000 reviews averaging 4.8/5 stars. QFinds also points out that bad hirings cost the UK up to £6.7 billion in turnover, productivity, and training. It seeks to change this and disrupt the £39 billion recruitment market. The company has partnered with notable entities like University College London, Kings College London and Brunel University London, intending to use them as strategic partners to increase job seekers signing up to and using its app. QFinds will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£222,866
An app to help local independent businesses gain more exposure on the High Street. Sizzl will create bespoke marketing by using cinematography to tell stories for locals in the area to view on their smartphones. Investment will provide Sizzl with the infrastructure for a monthly subscription payment system and initial marketing to attract small businesses.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£25,490
Projekt Rising (PR) is an automated project management Software as a Service (SaaS) portal that delivers projects to clients by replacing freelance teams and project managers with intelligent automation. The platform provides services such as video production, web and print content, and e-learning projects. It asserts that its model in the interactive and pharmaceutical industries has led to delivery times being cut in half, costs reduced by >50%, with the highest industry quality standards being maintained throughout. PR aims to be a contender in the £57 billion Project Management Professional (PMP) market. It will use the investment to grow its business across different verticals.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£51,060
Bippit is a wellbeing platform that provides employees with financial consultancy from a professional with zero cost to the employees themselves. The company asserts that COVID-19 has made financial consultancy services difficult to access for employees. Bippit aims to resolve this situation. It is available in mobile and desktop formats and integrates with an employees’ entire financial life through 'Open Banking'. Bippit argues that this helps staff members receive all the tools they need to learn, plan, and take action concerning their finances. It also helps companies save time and money, ensures that employees receive an impartial support system, and allows financial experts to get an extra revenue stream. The company will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) likely within 5 years if it moves beyond strategic acquisition.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£73,000
TransferGuru is a money transfer comparison site that aims to get the best deal possible for people transfering money abroad. The user simply inputs the amount they want to send and where they want it to go and they will then be shown all the options, displaying the best price, the best ratings and the fastest way to make the transfer.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£82,593
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
The Pension Lab offers an interative platform for employees and individuals, helping them reconnect and engage with their pensions. Its mission is to provide the customers with better knowledge of pensions and promote long-term financial decision making. The company has reached the finals of 'Pitchfest' competition held at the NEC as a component of “Venturefest”, and it is also a finalist in the “Innovation in Business” category. Some of the best Fintech solutions providers and pension services such as Yodlee and Origo are in partnership with the Pension Lab. With the proceeds, the company will develop its working capital, infrastructure development, and customer acquisition.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£38,024
