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
InvestMyCommunity, trading under Karadoo, offers digital fundraising services to 1.5 million community organisations in the UK. The company argues that organisations need to urgently digitise donations they receive in cash each year in the face of rapid cash decline. Karadoo asserts that its digital services solve this situation. The company is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised, offers donation fundraising, and plans to shortly offer micro-loan and micro-equity options on its platform. Karadoo has invested over £400,000 in highly automated platforms with low risk. It asserts that its hybrid operating model offers easy scalability as well as efficiency. The company claims that the introduction of contactless donation terminals in 2021 will strengthen the company's credibility. Karadoo intends to exit via a trade sale to a competitor or a software provider.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£200,000
Infinity Circle (IC) is a digital wealth creation platform that aims to create an ecosystem where wealth management meets social media in a way that is cyber secure, respects a user's privacy, and complies with the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) rules. IC intends to vet and distribute the best-in-class products for each asset class on its platform that is planned to be partly automated and partly operated by specialists who can guide a user. IC asserts that its CEO Elisabeth Dana has worked with the likes of Barclays Private Wealth, handling average accounts of £50 million while its CTO, Ashley Adkins, is a coding expert who has put his talent at the service of the UK Government before starting his private practice. It will use 40% of the investment for technology innovation, 30% for upgrading operations, and 30% to market the platform's launch.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£335,390
DMALINK aims to create a transparent and accessible currency market for banks, funds, and corporations. The company asserts that the Foreign Exchange (FX) market is the world's largest and most liquid financial market, recording an average daily trading volume of $6.6 Trillion but is fraught with imperfect price movements. DMALINK aims to address this situation. Its portal utilises big data and analytics solutions to enable users to make better trading decisions. It also offers users access to 63 currency pair combinations. DMALINK also points out that its clients have chosen its services over 316,000 times with the company witnessing an average deal size of $585,000 and earning revenue worth $3,140,000. The company has featured in Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, and FX Markets to name a few. DMALINK will use 60% of the investment on salaries for existing and new team members allowing global growth, 20% towards marketing and sales efforts, and 20% towards technology expansion.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£425,903
Saurus is a digital banking platform that aims to make all banking services accessible to its users from the convenience of their smartphones. The company aims to develop a current account facility and contactless payments between their users' smartphones, and eventually venture into saving accounts, Automatic A.I Loans, P2P Loans, Investment account, Instant transfers, and Personalized Debit Cards. The company has a growing online presence with 133,000+ YouTube and 700+ Instagram followers with 1500 users registering on the portal with negligible marketing activities. In February 2020, more than a 1000 people showed interest in opening a Saurus account. With the investment, the company aims to launch the Saurus App with 'Current Accounts' features during Q3 2020, hire qualified professionals to expand the brand, and sign appropriate contracts with its providers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£943,540
Qardus is an ethical and Sharia-compliant financing platform for social impact Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and investors. Qardus asserts that the 3.8 million Muslim community in the UK, and 25 million in Europe, is massively underserved when it comes to accessing interest-free (Sharia-compliant) structures. It intends to change this. Qardus offers up to £200,000 in innovative interest-free business financing to eligible SMEs for tenors of up to 24 months and is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved. Qardus points out that it has provided over £250,000 in financing to some high social impact SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic, maintained a 100% track record with a 0% default rate to date, and featured in media entities like Sifted, Islamic Finance News, Peer-to-Peer Finance News, and Fintech Futures amongst others. It will use 30% of the investment on marketing costs for acquiring SMEs and investors on its platform, 60% on growing its team, and 10% on obtaining additional licenses to expand its services.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£313,009
Kestrl is a mobile app based on the principles of Islamic banking. It aims to cater to the over 1.9 million British Muslim community to invest in the UK in line with their religious beliefs. Consumers can avail a host of financial services from finding interest-free savings accounts to taking out a mortgage. The company raised a £135,000 pre-seed round from C-level Islamic banking professionals in January 2020. It also launched its application on Google Playstore and App store in September 2020. Kestrl is working on launching an equity-based home purchase product soon. It also aspires to expand to Malaysia/Indonesia by white labelling with established retail banks and utilising its 'inside knowledge' of the region. It will use 39% of the investment towards platform up-gradation and tech team expansion, 20% towards hiring personnel across various departments, 19% for maintaining agency license fees and acquiring its own regulatory permissions, 8% in marketing, and 14% towards ancillary costs.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£194,502
Ziglu is a financial technology entity that allows a user to access both Forex and digital currencies seamlessly. The company permits a user to use any currency via its Mastercard debit card and protects the user's digital currency up to £50,000 against cyber-attacks. Ziglu is authorised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and is one of the first companies involved with digital currencies to be registered under the UK’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (AMLR). The company has achieved a 94% rating on TrustPilot, offers customers the option to send money via cryptocurrency, and previously raised £5.25 million in seed funding. Ziglu has featured in media entities like Coindesk and Yahoo Finance. It will use 30% of the investment in product development, 60% on user acquisition, and 10% on international expansion initiatives.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£3,041,878
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
Husky is the UK’s only open, SaaS platform for workplace pensions. For employers, the platform deals with legal and compliance burdens of auto-enrolment while helping reduce pension costs. For individuals and company directors, the app is instrumental in bringing profitable and responsible investments with the Husky for Everyone app. And for advisers and accountants, it ensures strong client relationships amidst transparency and efficiency. Close to 1.4 million employers & 22.6 million workers are affected by the UK’s automatic enrolment (AE) legislation. Within this market, a conservative estimate of fees charged on employees by pension providers is £2 billion a year; Husky aims to disrupt this market & is ready to scale. Its method of operation has led to it achieving important milestones. With more than 1000 firms onboarded, a 92% renewal rate, and an average annual fee of £438, Husky charges its onboarded firms (including Crowdcube) with monthly recurring fees laid out as part of a 3-year subscription model. With the funds received, the company aims to disrupt the relatively stagnant workplace pensions industry with innovative products and empower its customers.
days to go:
Expired
investment:
£417,338
