The East London Liquor Company has launched a Crowdcube investment campaign to raise £750,000. The funding will drive key growth pillars, including English whisky production and domestic sales channels, leading to global sales opportunities in emerging markets such as China.

Frustrated by the lack of accessibly-priced spirits in the market place, East London Liquor Company was the brainchild of entrepreneur and ex-bartender, Alex Wolpert.

Wolpert launched the distillery to fill this gap in the drinks market, simultaneously leading the historic revival of distilling in East London. Over the three years since its start in 2014, East London Liquor Company has sold 327,764 bottles of spirits in the UK, delivering £4.25m in sales revenue.

“We have been overwhelmed by the level of interest from the UK and global markets for our honestly-priced spirits and our straightforward approach to distilling,” says Alex Wolpert. “Together, both established and emerging markets represent a massive opportunity for British brands. Brexit poses a challenge to our industry, but the funds raised through this campaign will help us to tear down these barriers.”

East London Liquor Company is currently valued at £15m and will build annual bottle sales to 46,000 9L cases (592,000 bottles) in 2022, delivering sales revenue of £9.8m. The company’s Five-Year Plan forecasts a total of 1.8m bottle sales over that period driven by 30 per cent yoy growth. Total sales revenues for the five-year period will be £28.7m.

This growth will be driven primarily by English whisky and gin sales across the USA, Canada and China. While gin is still booming, global appetite for whisky is growing. Scotch whisky exports rose 9% in 2017 to £4.36bn, driven by increased demand from Russia and China.

The demand for American whiskey, including rye, is growing in China, with the country importing $9m worth of whiskey in 2017.

East London Liquor Company already exports to 20 countries, including Japan, Germany, Australia and Sweden, but capital raised during its Crowdcube campaign will help to capitalise on global sales opportunities.

Competitively-priced classic British spirits

East London Liquor Company has taken classic British spirits and turned them on their head. The company’s challenger brand market position means it is not afraid to take on the over-priced premium brands in the international market (East London Liquor Company London Dry Gin £21.50 versus Sipsmith £25.00). Accessibility and transparency in pricing and product ingredients have proved to be a compelling point of difference for on-trade and off-trade buyers and bartenders, the gatekeepers to consumers.

Rewriting east London’s distilling history

East London Liquor Company found its home in the disused industrial space of a former glue factory in Bow Wharf, on the corner of the capital’s Victoria’s Park in the East End. The site now boasts a stunning distillery cocktail bar, an Italian-inspired restaurant and a bottle shop showcasing some of the best spirits from around the world.

Before the end of 2018, East London Liquor Company will be releasing the first whisky to be produced in East London since the Lea Valley Distillery closed over 100 years ago – the inaugural East London Liquor Company London Rye® Whisky.

Entrepreneurial team

East London Liquor Company’s entrepreneurial management team is made up of passionate drinks and bar industry professionals, boasting four distillers and an established team of seven sales professionals. All, including Founder Alex Wolpert, are under the age of 37.

The team is backed by the executive team behind Barworks, Camden Town Brewery and Thomson & Scott, made up of Andreas Akerlund, Jasper Cuppaidge, Marc Francis-Baum, Patrik Franzen and Scott Chillery. Alex Wolpert has been profiled as a thought leader in drinks innovation around the world including: Bar Convent Berlin, Forbes, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, Monocle, SKY News, Mr Porter and London Evening Standard.

Read more:
East London Liquor Company launches £750,000 Crowdcube fundraising campaign for China push

Hiver Beers Ltd, The Honey Beer, one of the UK’s most exciting and critically acclaimed craft beer brands has just launched a crowdfunding round.

Hiver is looking to raise £350,000 on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The company is offering 8.0 per cent equity to accelerate the growth of the business through investment in a second retail site; a new annual marketing campaign including funding new community based beehives and planting days; and its sales and marketing team.

Founder, Hannah Rhodes (named ’35 under 35 to watch’ by The Sunday Times and Management Today 2014), and her team have successfully built the business since its 2013 launch with turnover approaching £500,000, growing almost 100% in the last year, with the brand now stocked in over 1,000 outlets across the UK.

Hiver’s range of beers uses honey in the fermentation process (rather than as a sweetener at the end) delivering a distinctively refreshing character which makes Hiver so drinkable. The range comprises Hiver The Honey Beer, a 4.5% ABV Blonde Beer; Hiver The Honey Ale, a 4.5% ABV Brown Ale; and Hiver The Honey IPA, a 4.9% ABV IPA.

In 2016, Hiver launched Hiver, The Experience, a two hour, hands-on beekeeping and beer-tasting session, currently hosted in London, where budding bee and beer lovers can get up close to the bees and find out more about their fascinating lives and the valuable ecological role they play. This is followed by a tutored beer and food matching session, where the full Hiver range can be sampled. This year the company has already taken 2,500 bookings and is nearing capacity. The funds raised will, in part contribute to securing a flagship retail and experience site to meet the growing demand.

Commenting on the crowdfunding campaign, Hannah Rhodes says: “We’ve accomplished so much in such a short time. If you had asked me four years ago, I would never have imagined we would be stocked in over 1,000 sites across the UK, exporting to international buyers and now looking to open a new retail site to meet the insatiable appetite from consumers for the Beer and the Experience!

She adds: “Crucially, as we grow the business in building a truly authentic premium honey beer brand, we are committed to supporting the British Beekeeping community, including funding planting days to support 100 community-based hives planned for Hiver stockists.”

Amongst Hiver’s famous fans is Tom Kerridge, Chef Patron of the critically acclaimed Hand & Flowers in Marlow. He was partly responsible for naming Hannah Ocado’s Britain’s Next Top Supplier back in 2014 and uses the beer in his recipe for beer braised ham and star anise.

Hiver’s crowdfunding campaign opens on 12^th September 2017. To find out more click here.

Read more:
Putting the bee into beer

Service Octopus, the UK’s first price comparison and online booking platform for professional cleaning services, has launched an equity crowdfunding round on Crowdcube to fast track its ambitious growth plans.

The platform enables customers to source quotes and reviews from a range of companies and then book the one they want in just a few clicks. This way they can save both time and money by being able to find the best offer without the need for extensive Google searching or having to ring around multiple providers.

The cleaning companies who partner with Service Octopus benefit from their team’s online marketing expertise, giving them access to a wider audience, and the ability to offer their customers the convenient online booking experience that they have now come to expect. Service Octopus is already working with more than a dozen cleaning partners in the Greater London area, generating over £50,000 in sales since operations began in April this year.

The Service Octopus team are hoping to build on this early success by crowdfunding an initial £125,000 in exchange for 10% equity. More than a third of this total has already been pledged thanks to strong early interest in the campaign. The additional investment will be used fund the company’s expansion across the UK and to broaden its offer into complementary service areas such as house removals and handyman services.

Co-founders Roberto Garritano (CEO) and Filip Mijatov (Operations Director) gained more than six years of combined experience running their own professional cleaning businesses in London before they spotted an opportunity to further disrupt the market and launched Service Octopus earlier this year.

“Technology has helped to transform so many industries, and that’s what we’re bringing to the multi-billion pound UK domestic services market,” Service Octopus’ CEO Roberto Garritano concludes. “Today’s consumer expects to be able to book online wherever and whenever they wish and Service Octopus is a hassle free way for them to do just that. We’re really excited about the opportunities ahead.”

Service Octopus’ Crowdcube page is live until 28th September – https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/serviceoctopus-com-limited/pitches/lGyXYb#

Read more:
Online cleaning services Octopus seeks investment for UK expansion

Bagnall Energy Limited, a UK renewable energy generation and storage company, is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise a maximum of £10 million through a new ‘Regular Access’ Bond provided by crowdfunding platform, Downing Crowd.

Bagnall Energy has contributed over £100 million to UK renewable energy developments since the firm was launched in 2013. The business currently has a portfolio of over 30 operational projects extending right across the UK renewable energy sector, from solar to hydro power.

Bagnall has been developing a particular specialism in reserve power infrastructure for the renewable energy sector, an area which it expects to grow in the coming years as more energy suppliers look to move away from fossil fuels. The firm currently has net assets of £95million.

Downing Crowd is an FCA-authorised platform offering access to Crowd Bonds, a type of investment-based crowdfunding. It is part of experienced London-based investment manager Downing LLP, which has funded over 100 renewable energy projects totalling more than £400 million since 2010 including solar power, onshore wind and biomass.

The Bond itself is one of the first of its kind in the crowdfunding market designed to offer crowdfunding investors attractive returns, without having to lock away their money for a fixed period of time.

Instead investors can access their money with sufficient notice (subject to liquidity) during the maximum 10-year term of the bond. The Bond works by issuing a fixed funding target, known as a ‘Tranche’ or ‘portion’ of the total £10 million bond, to investors which are intended to be on a regular basis, although there is no obligation for investors in the Regular Access Bond to participate in every fundraise. The initial interest rate for the bond is 3% p.a. Interest rates will be fixed for each Tranche.

Downing LLP Partner and Head of Crowdfunding, Julia Groves, said: “The renewable energy sector presents a really interesting investment opportunity. Income streams from energy generation are well established, which can provide our investors with predictable revenue, while the proven technologies used by Bagnall’s projects allow energy production to be forecast with a good level of accuracy. Bagnall’s work across a wide range of energy sectors also reassures us that the company is not overly reliant or exposed to one set of government subsidies.”

“Our new Regular Access Bond fills a neglected gap in the savings and investment market, particularly given the flexibility to hold the Bond in an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) which shelters it from tax too. We would never suggest that this type of Bond is directly comparable with cash savings. But it could prove an attractive option for those ‘extra pots of money’ that people often start building to meet certain types of financial goals, if investors are willing to take on additional risk.”

Read more:
Downing Crowd launches new £10M renewables ‘regular access’ crowd bond

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London cycling startup launches 4th crowdfunding campaign

Banyers House is managed by multi-award winning Oakman Inns & Restaurants and also comprises nine modern and luxurious guest bedrooms. The new pub is now trading, having opened its doors in December 2016.
Hedderwick owns another Grade II listed premises dating back to 1611 in Olney, which is to be converted into another brand-new pub restaurant, also managed by the Oakman Inn team.

The new site, which faces onto the picturesque central market square in Olney, is expected to open its doors by the end of 2017, subject to planning permission. Downing Crowd already has a strong relationship with Oakman Inns, having previously raised £2.6m through crowdfunding for other Oakman sites, including The Akeman in Tring, Hertfordshire.

Downing Crowd Bonds are a type of investment-based crowdfunding* that allow investors to lend directly to a wide range of UK businesses via bonds that are secured against a firm’s operational assets. This security seeks to reduce investor risk by enabling Downing, as Security Trustee, to sell these assets if the borrower defaults on the bond.

Investors in this latest £1.87m raise, known as the Hedderwick Pub Bond, can potentially earn up to 6.25% p.a. interest over 12 months (364 days). The Hedderwick Pub Bond will soon be available through Downing Crowd’s new Innovative Finance ISA tax wrapper, which allows investors to earn tax-free interest.

Peter Borg-Neal, Founder and CEO of Oakman Inns and Director of Hedderwick Ltd, commented: “Both Royston and Olney really capture the Oakman ethos that a good pub should be part of a community. It’s a privilege to be able to bring a new lease of life to beautiful buildings at the heart of these market towns, creating local jobs along the way and helping with the communities’ wider sustainability efforts, highlighted by our top rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Crowdfunding investors have helped us turn this vision into a reality and we are excited to be working with Downing Crowd in this latest project.

“It’s true that there have been some headwinds for the wider pub sector. But our food-led approach, which offers people the chance to enjoy a combination of restaurant quality food in relaxed pub surroundings, has allowed Oakman to perform strongly in terms of like for like sales, giving us great confidence in the future.”

Julia Groves, Head of Crowdfunding, said: “At Downing Crowd we only invest in established UK businesses, making our Crowd Bonds a great way to see your money make an impact in your local area. Downing already has expertise investing in the UK pub sector, having provided a total of £85m funding support for 60 pub restaurants and bars across the UK over the last 15-years. Over the last five years in particular Downing has seen a huge improvement in the quality of pubs in the market and it’s the wealth of sector experience that Oakman Inns brings to the company, which really sets this particular business apart.”

“Over a million people have now invested through a crowdfunding platform in the UK but, despite its growing popularity, the different kinds of crowdfunding tend to all get labelled as ‘extremely risky’. In fact, Crowd Bonds are a simple type of securitised investment and, provided investors fully understand the relevant risks compared to savings accounts, they can potentially offer attractive returns in the current climate of low interest rates and rising inflation.”

Read more:
£1.9Million crowdfunding campaign launched for Grade II Hertfordshire pub restaurant

Biscuiteers is an award-winning online retailer of hand-made hand-iced biscuits.  Launched in 2007 with the mission statement ‘why send flowers when you can send Biscuiteers instead?’ Biscuiteers was the first company in the UK to offer luxurious collections of hand-iced biscuits to send as gifts.

With exceptional packaging and range of constantly changing seasonal collections, it has established itself as a leading player in the premium gifting market.

By focusing online the company has been able to scale quickly to sales of around £3 million per annum and now boasts over a million followers across social networks.  The company has grown and been profitable every year and currently has 100,000 customers in 99 countries.  In addition to the online sales direct to customers, the Company’s products are also stocked by leading retailers including John Lewis, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason.

Biscuiteers also has a growing corporate business and makes bespoke branded biscuits for prestigious brands including Cartier, Burberry, Mulberry and Net a Porter.

The Company has two biscuit icing cafes in London; one in Notting Hill and another in Battersea.  Online sales account currently for 53 per cent of turnover and direct sales is the main focus for future growth.  The Company operates out of two industrial bakeries in South London where the biscuits are manufactured and iced by their team of biscuit artists.

Founder and MD, Harriet Hastings comments, “We are fundraising now because we believe this is the right time to invest for accelerated growth into a proven model.  Our aim was to disrupt the premium gifting sector and we believe that biscuits are a unique and more personalised alternative to flowers and chocolates.”

She continues, “We decided to crowd fund as our customers are very much at the heart of our business and we wanted to give them a chance to be part of our biscuit journey.  The funds raised will be used to invest in international expansion, manufacturing improvements and marketing.”

Full details can be found at www.biscuiteers.com/crowdfunding.

Read more:
Biscuiteers to launch crowd funding campaign with Crowdcube

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Gustare Honey launches Crowdcube campaign

Founder and CEO of Train My Athlete, Liam Hayes, has bridged the gaps between professional athletes and the fitness teams behind them. The app is a central hub for sports scientists and medical professionals to manage their athletes when they’re training independently or competing overseas, and face-to-face contact isn’t feasible.

Whilst working in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, Liam identified a noticeable breakdown in the communications of exercise plans between professional athletes and the wider team that contribute to their training, rehabilitation and medical treatment.

Liam says: “Whilst working with elite athletes I was surprised to see medical departments resorting to paper plans or whatsapp messenger groups to communicate their plans, which seemed time consuming, confusing and unprofessional for the athlete. It made it impossible for the whole medical team to work together for the athlete. Train My Athlete gives medical professionals just that, by connecting the Physio, the S&C coach, the medic and the athlete all in one place”

Train My Athlete is a real game changer. It offers 24/7 organised and reliable communications, something that has never been accessible before, and is described as “the future of elite training and rehabilitation”.

The app includes many features such as a diet and workout planner, training analytics, team branding and more uniquely, a two-way messenger allowing athletes to send their own pictures/videos to the professional; allowing injuries or training issues to be addressed early and optimise the care the athlete receives.

Having already been used by a plethora of professional football teams including Chelsea, Sunderland and Newcastle, the timely equity crowdfunding campaign goes live on Seedrs in conjunction with the start of the Barclays Premier League 2016/17 season.

In addition, Train My Athlete caters to the Personal Trainers and keen gym goers of the sporting world. Riding off the back of Team GB’s incredibly successful Olympics, gyms and sports clubs are anticipating increased membership.

Users can gain access to the platform on an annual or monthly subscription. Purchase allows them to use the platform via a website link whereas the app itself will be downloaded by athletes/patients for free.

The Elite Sports Market is currently worth round £400 billion, £20 billion in the UK alone. In 2014 the US market was $60.4bn with a projected worth of $73.5bn by 2019. The personal trainer industry in the UK is worth £626m showing a 3.4 per cent growth in 2015. There are 22,927 independent personal trainers registered in the UK. In the US, the sector is estimated at 10billion with an annual 2.5 per cent growth.

Read more:
Train My Athlete app, favoured by Premier League stars, announces crowdfunding campaign

The service works by enabling Airbnb guests to have a truly ‘at home’ experience, with personalised YourWelcome tablets left out for guests along with the keys to the property, allowing them to access services from trusted, premium providers such as, Addison Lee.

The service enables hosts to monetise the recommendations they leave for guests as they are paid a percentage of revenue made from each on-demand booking. In addition, the YourWelcome tablets learn through guest usage, giving hosts a unique insight into why guests are booking their property and what services they want during their stay allowing them to optimise their listings.

The guests currently using the service are averaging an hour’s usage time of YourWelcome.

Henry Bennett, Co-Founder said: “As occasional Airbnb hosts ourselves, we knew there had to be a way to simplify the way hosts communicate with guests, especially if they are unable to greet them in person. We also thought there should be a way for the hosts to monetise their guests through offering high quality on-demand services.”

YourWelcome already has corporate deals in place with global serviced apartment company Skyline and numerous Airbnb Management companies including Easy Rental Services, and this year is branching out into Paris and into the longer-term student and wider property market.

Aurelie Ruiz, Founder of Easy Rental Services, a leading Airbnb management company using YourWelcome commented:

“Our guests are pleasantly surprised when they discover the tablet and everything they can do with it! This has improved our service and the guests’ experience which helps us to have good reviews!”

With £1m of funding offered on their Pi Labs Demo day leading to being seven times oversubscribed for their £400k round, the future is looking bright for this property duo.

Read more:
Property technology newcomer YourWelcome raises £400k with a valuation of £2m

Read more:
Children’s Bookcase Company Crowdfunds for £150,000

Deborah Meaden, who initially invested £80,000 in August 2015, has since provided a further £900,000 to fund growth but keen to get the wider public involved, Daykin has taken the decision to raise additional, vital working capital through crowdfunding, which will be used to obtain the industrial machinery required to keep up with international demand and in particular large orders from the US and Australia.

GripIt Fixings – featured on Dragon’s Den Pitches to Riches on Sunday – manufactures a revolutionary design of universal fixing designed for use with all types of plasterboard installation, holding loads of up to 225kg for everything from curtains to radiators.

Daykin came up with the idea for GripIt in 2008 while installing curtain rails with his then 74 year-old grandfather. It took the pair just a matter of days to come up with a prototype for the fixing and the patent was granted in 2009, when Daykin was 14.

The product is now sold in over 3,000 stores across the UK – including B&Q, Wickes, Screwfix and Currys – and is available in 33 countries.

Since filming took place prior to Christmas for Dragon’s Den Pitches to Riches, the business has grown considerably and in just the first two months of 2016, GripIt Fixings has already exceeded its 2015 annual turnover, making it well on track for its target of a £2.5m turnover this year.

GripIt Fixings employs 20 members of staff at its 9,000 ft² warehouse in Melksham, Wiltshire, and aims to recruit a further 10 people in 2016.

MD Jordan Daykin said: “This is a new round of financing to fund additional growth, following Deborah’s hugely successful backing in the Den, which has been paramount in our rapid development.

“We are extremely excited about bringing an even greater offering to the market and I’m delighted to be able to invite new investors, large and small, to join us on this journey to worldwide expansion.”

Investor Deborah Meaden said: “GripIt is a rare combination of a great solution-led product driven by a truly smart entrepreneur. I am not surprised by the success but the speed at which the market has adopted GripIt speaks volumes about the opportunity for further growth.”

Read more:
Dragon’s Den’s biggest success story GripIt Fixings launches £1.5m crowdfunding campaign

Pact Coffee, the fresh coffee delivery startup that sends coffee through the post roasted, ground and shipped within 7 days, today launches an equity crowdfunding campaign on the platform Crowdcube (www.crowdcube.com/pact).

“We want to change the coffee industry for the better and to do that we aim to grow to a thousand times our current size. Investment from the crowd is going to help take us there. We are supremely excited about customer ownership and the co-creation of Pact going forward. I’m delighted that we are offering investors the same rights regardless of how much they choose to invest”, said Stephen Rapoport, Founder and CEO of Pact Coffee.

Positioned to take advantage of a growing “at-home” coffee market worth over £1.1bn in the UK alone, Pact has already built the logistics and technology to deliver a smooth and flexible service, with a customer base of thousands of coffee-drinkers across the UK. Now for the first time, Pact is allowing these customers and the general public to invest in the business from as little as £10.

With the investment, Pact plans to expand into at least two European markets, supply offices and launch further products that will make the service even more relevant to coffee lovers. Rewards for top investors include a lifetime of free coffee, expert coffee classes and limited edition coffees.

As Robin Klein of LocalGlobe, and existing investor in Pact, said: “I think this is the right time to invest in Pact because a lot of the hard work has been done in laying the foundations of what could be a large company. The team, the product and the market make this the right time.”

Earlier this month, Pact launched Nespresso®-compatible pods on PactCoffee.com, sent through the post in packaging that will fit through a letterbox. As with the current flexible Pact service, you can amend orders, or pause or cancel your account at any time. Through a Direct Trade supply chain, Pact pay a higher price than Fairtrade for premium beans, working with farmers to help them invest in quality and people.

Pact has previously received over £5.6million in institutional funds from the likes of MMC Ventures, Connect Ventures and angel investors Taavet Hinrikus (TransferWise), Ian Hogarth (Songkick) and Rowan Gormley (Naked Wines).

Read more:
Pact Coffee gives people the chance to invest in the future of the coffee industry

The Aussie brand and inventors of sports compression is working with Seedrs (and partner company, Equitise in Australia and New Zealand) to launch the £2 million fundraising campaign inviting potential investors to join the brand on its journey.

SKINS, which was founded in 1996 and currently sells products in 43 countries, has become famous in recent years for a number of activist initiatives in the world of sport, including, most notably, its role in calling for reform in FIFA last year. The crowdfunding campaign goes live to the public on Monday 15^th February 2016.

Executive Chairman, Jaimie Fuller, said of the crowdfunding initiative: “SKINS began life making sportswear that enabled athletes to improve their performance.  Over the years, our mission has transcended the field of play and we have become increasingly concerned with making a difference in the world of sport.  We see crowdfunding as a fantastic opportunity for like-minded people to become part of our journey.”

Jeff Lynn, CEO & Co-Founder, Seedrs, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be working with SKINS.  Not only does it have great products, but it has a unique brand purpose that really makes it different. This is a really exciting opportunity for people to invest in a business they believe in and share in its success.”

Visit the SKINS crowdfunding campaign page at www.seedrs.com/skins to find out more about the opportunity.

Read more:
Sportswear icon, SKINS, launches £2 million equity crowdfunding campaign

U.K.-based Virgin will probably buy nine of the twin-engine planes directly from Airbus and take three from leasing firms, said the people, who asked not to be named because negotiations are private. Both the carrier and the manufacturer declined immediate comment on the matter, reports Bloomberg Business.

Virgin Atlantic has said it’s evaluating both the A350 and Boeing Co.’s 777 to replace the four-engine Boeing 747s jumbos that form the heart of its long-haul leisure operations at London Gatwick airport with more fuel-efficient jets.

The company returned to profit in 2014, bolstered by a partnership with 49 percent shareholder Delta Air Lines Inc. that’s seen it refocus on trans-Atlantic routes after years of global expansion. The U.S. carrier in November ordered 25 A350-900s worth $7.4 billion to replace some of its own 747s.

Virgin Atlantic wants to take new jets from late 2018 or early 2019, Erik Varwijk, its executive vice president, commercial, said in November. While Airbus began A350 deliveries in 2014, the -1000 model isn’t due until 2017. Varwijk said the 777 was also in the running, most likely current version, since which the upgraded won’t be available until 2020.

Virgin is eliminating other four-engine planes to trim costs, ceasing operations with Airbus’s A340-300 last year and working on an exit plan for the A340-600. The last 747s based at its London Heathrow hub will exit the fleet this month.

The carrier has outstanding orders for Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner, with eight delivered, and remains on Airbus’s customer list for the A380 superjumbo, though it has deferred delivery of six planes ordered until 2018 at the earliest.

Read more:
Virgin Atlantic Poised for $4.3 Billion Airbus A350 Deal

Launched in early October 2015, BB Boutique, provides a high quality, unique and stylish digital marketplace for wedding suppliers to promote and sell their products to a readily engaged bridal audience.

Billed as the wedding industry’s answer to Not on the High Street, the platform has successfully secured over 48 unique suppliers in just two months, and is now looking to advance this growth via a crowd funding campaign.

Co-Founder of BB Boutique, Emily Pettiford explained, “Bespoke Bride boasts thousands of unique visitors on a daily basis, looking for wedding ideas and inspiration. In developing BB Boutique we have taken this inspiration one step further – providing an easy to use platform for all members of a wedding party to purchase whatever is required for their big day in one place, from gowns and grooms wear, to favours and stationary.

“To ensure everything falls under the bespoke umbrella, we have also worked extremely hard to source unique suppliers with alternative quality produce, guaranteed to wow all site visitors from their very first click!”

Mike Jackson, BB Boutique’s main investor and Founder of Bristol based firm, Webstart, added, “I first met Emily and Jessica when they scooped the ‘Best Start-Up’ award at the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs in October 2014. I was immediately captivated by the BB Boutique concept and its potential to succeed, given their mass following and true understanding of their target audience.”

“Having worked with the pair closely I have experienced first-hand their advanced business acumen and tenacious spirit, and as a result am certain BB Boutique will become the wedding industry’s go to digital market place for all things bridal.”

The BB Boutique crowd funding campaign is now live and has already received funding from over 40 investors, ranging from small to larger amounts.

For more details or to found out how you can join the BB Boutique party please visit:

www.seedrs.com/bb-boutique

Read more:
The Weddings industry’s answer to Not on the Highstreet launches crowdfunding campaign

Bookatable, with its head office in London, UK, is the European leader in the online restaurant reservation market with more than 15,000 establishments using its service, and more than 34 million covers booked online and dined in 2015 in Europe.

Michelin commenced a multi-year partnership with Bookatable in March 2013, which allowed it to incorporate Bookatable solutions into the MICHELIN Restaurants offer – both via the web and through mobile applications. In addition to giving it a presence in many European countries where Bookatable is already established, this acquisition strengthens and accelerates the development of Michelin’s technology platform for online restaurant reservations. It will enable it to develop both the quality of service offered to customers and new services in the future.

With this acquisition Michelin is able to capitalise on its traditional experience in the restaurant industry and become the leader in the online restaurant reservation market in Europe. Michelin will be able to roll out its offering in new countries in the future – in particular in the Nordics.

With its focus on mobility, Michelin is now speeding up its growth in travel assistance services by offering customers a unique mobility experience with high added value products and services. The association between Michelin, the world restaurant guide leader with its MICHELIN guides, and Bookatable, the European leader in the online restaurant reservations market, helps restaurateurs develop their business by offering new solutions and makes it easier for consumers to book.

Read more:
Michelin Acquires Bookatable

The Investment Fund

The LAM Sun Global ZyFin India Sovereign Enterprise Bond UCITS ETF (the Fund) offers British and international investors exposure to a basket of Indian public sector corporate bonds. The fixed income ETF will be Europe’s first physically replicating Indian ETF backed by real underlying securities as opposed to notional securities or derivatives.

The Fund tracks the performance of the ZyFin India Sovereign Owned Enterprise Bond Index based on cutting edge research and contains bonds from companies of national interest that are majority-owned by the Government of India, so-called Sovereign Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The corporate bonds are denominated in Indian rupees, have an AAA rating and a residual maturity between 4 to 20 years with current average maturity of 8.97 years. Although partly state owned, the average yield of the portfolio is close to 8.23 per cent (in INR) which is higher than the yield of Indian sovereign bonds. All the bonds in the Index are equally weighted, and no more than one bond from a company is included.

While ‘Masala Bonds’ provide exposure to a single corporate issuer, the Fund will offer exposure to a basket of securities with the highest credit rating through a SOEs only portfolio. In addition, investors will benefit from a larger market size and enhanced liquidity through listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Sanjay Sachdev, Executive Chairman at ZyFin, commented:

“We are excited to be launching the world’s first Indian fixed income ETF today as part of our product line of innovative ETFs intended to give investors cost-effective and transparent access to investment opportunities in emerging markets. The launch of the Fund will give international investors the ability to invest in these difficult to access but well researched AAA rated Indian Sovereign Owned Enterprises. Building on our many years of macro analytical research expertise in this field, we see our task as offering investors around the world attractive investment opportunities.”

Mihir Kapadia CEO of Sun Global Investments Limited said:

“We’re pleased to be able to provide global investors access to high quality bonds via this new, innovative ETF at attractive yields at a time when developed bond market yields are at very low levels and in fact negative in Germany or Switzerland. The listing reflects our view that Indian nominal yields are among the highest in the world and the macroeconomic fundamentals for India remain very attractive with India expected to overtake China next year as the world’s fastest economy”.

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New Investment Fund: World’s First “Curry Bond” Listed in London

Described as “London’s hottest new fast food chain”, Chilango is today launching its second investment round on Crowdcube in the form of an equity crowdfund that aims to raise £1 million from investors in return for a 3.26 per cent stake in the business. This money will kick start the next expansion phase that expects to see five-fold growth in the next five years. Details of the pitch are at www.crowdcube.com/chilango.

This is different to its highly successful bond offer last summer where investors put in a minimum of £500 in return for an 8% p.a. interest payment over the four years of the bond. The Burrito Bond overfunded to secure a record-breaking £2.1 million on Crowdcube.

Eric Partaker, co-founder of Chilango explains why the company has opted for equity investment this time: “Our guests can’t get enough of our burritos and tacos and we love how equity crowdfunding means they can, literally, buy into a brand they love for as little as £10. Investors make fantastic brand evangelists so we want to have as many on board as possible. With the bond the entry bar was £500 so it was accessible to fewer people, although we still attracted over 700 who are all very happy with the return on their investment following two dividends.”

Luke Lang of Crowdcube adds: “Chilango pioneered our bond proposition back in June last year and we’re delighted to welcome them back for an equity raise this time.”

The Burrito Bond has already paid out £130k to its investors in its first two interest payments. The £2m capital raised has allowed Chilango to grow rapidly in 12 months, creating around 40 more jobs and financing three additional sites, with London Bridge and Camden High Street open, and Soho on the way, taking the group up to 10 restaurants. Across the chain Chilango serves fresh, vibrant Mexican food to over 20,000 enthusiastic hungry guests every single week.

With the help of the new equity round, founders Eric Partaker and Dan Houghton are gearing up to reach over 50 locations over the next 5 years. To support this five-fold increase, Chilango is looking at potential sites in over 20 cities throughout the country, as well as introducing international franchises, with an initial focus on Dubai in the Middle East. As a first step in this plan, the £1 million will fund the launch of three UK restaurants.

To strengthen the management team, three industry heavyweights and existing investors have been appointed as non-executive directors:

• Simon Kossoff, chairman of Carluccio’s Italian restaurants
• Dan Henshall, former CEO of Krispy Kreme UK and current CEO with Farrow & Ball
• Chris Moore, former CEO of Domino’s Pizza UK.

Chris Moore explains why he is a fan of Chilango: “I always look for passion in the entrepreneurs I invest in, and Eric Partaker and Dan Houghton have it in spades, and they also get the importance of building a brand. Creating a company that engenders loyalty is part of that, and Chilango’s staff, investors and guests all become advocates, so that’s why crowdfunding works perfectly for these guys.”

Read more:
Chilango plans five-fold expansion

The company was founded back in 2012 by Nick Hussey to fill a gaping hole in the cycling clothing market. His vision was clear; to produce sartorial masterpieces that look great off the bike, with performance to match.

Hussey turned down private equity investment in favour of crowd-funding to offer Vulpine customers and the wider public the chance to invest and become part of the #VulpineStory.

Over the past three years, Vulpine has won the hearts of British cyclists. The company has since more than doubled their sales year on year. They now have 86 products across three separate ranges. Turnover in Vulpine first three years was £199K, £416K and £996K.

Vulpine will use the money to fund:

• International expansion in the USA & Asia (especially Japan & South Korea).
• A Made in Britain range, constructed in Blackburn, to give these International markets higher end products with a clear British feel.
• HOY Vulpine expansion. Revenue is £350K so far this year, having launched in February.

Currently 70 per cent of Vulpine’s revenue is from vulpine.cc, with an additional 88 retail locations, mostly in the UK. Hussey’s longer-term vision is to establish Vulpine as an international lifestyle brand, bringing stylish casual apparel to enthusiasts and casual cyclists alike.

“I am so excited to offer everyone the opportunity to become part of #VulpineStory. I am looking forward to even more fun, with brand advocates who actually own part of vulpine! What better to help grow your business?” Nick Hussey said.

He continued: “Cycling is growing as a lifestyle choice for so many people and we’re determined to show them just how good stylish cycle clothing can be. We’re committed to build on our success, we believe in Vulpine, and we love hearing that so many other people do too.”

This year Vulpine beat seven clothing competitors in forming a partnership with Britain most decorated Olympic athlete, Sir Chris Hoy. The HOY Vulpine range features simple, stylish road performance wear that is accessible and understated.

Sir Chris Hoy said: “Vulpine is a brand that shares the same values as me, focused on quality and with an inherent attention to detail, they were exactly what we were looking for and that’s why the partnership works so well.”

Investors will receive the following rewards:

• Invest £100: Membership to Vulpine CrowdCube Investor’s Forum.
• Invest £500: Membership to The First Chance Club. Get 10% discount.
• Invest £1,000: Membership to The First Chance Club. Get 10% discount. Plus invitation to key Vulpine event.
• Invest £2,500: Membership to The R&D Club. Get 15% discount.
• Invest £5,000: All of the above, plus invitation to the Annual Investor’s Ride. Get 20% discount.
• Invest £10,000: All of the above, plus free garment for testing. Get 25% discount.
• Invest £25,000: As above with opportunity to be further involved. Get 30% discount.
• Invest £50,000: Membership to Vulpinati. As above, with access to management. Receive a full outfit. Get 40% discount.

Vulpine customers were offered the opportunity to invest 24 hours before being officially opened to the public.

For more information on Vulpine’s Crowdcube campaign please visit: www.crowdcube.com/Vulpine

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Vulpine, stylish cycling clothing to raise £500k on Crowdcube

But even Kickstarter and reality combined cannot keep a good idea down: the laser is already back — on Indiegogo, reports Wired.

The Skarp Laser Razor raised more than $4 million (£2.6m) in its initial Kickstarter funding drive, easily surpassing its initial goal of just $160,000, on the promise of providing a laser capable of “an irritation free, incredibly close shave”.

The prototype of the laser — as presented on the Kickstarter page — looked just like a cheap disposable razor, but with a shining red edge instead of a steel blade. The laser would cut the hairs instead of the steel razor edge, reducing irritation — in theory, at least. “The Skarp razor is powered by a small laser which cuts through hair for an incredibly close shave,” the project promised. “Without irritating or damaging the skin.”

For just $89 the project offered backers the chance to “join the shaving revolution” and own their own laser-powered hair removal device, with an estimated shipping date of March 2016. And the world’s press was duly stunned, receiving coverage from Business Insider, Mental Floss and Buzzfeed.

Unfortunately, Kickstarter wasn’t impressed, for the simple reason that there is no public evidence that the laser-based razor actually exists in the form described — or anticipated — in its marketing materials.

One video of the laser system at work does exist (above), but shows a red light just barely managing to cut a few hairs at a time — hardly enough to function as a usable razor.

And given that Kickstarter requires projects to have working prototypes in order to accept funding, that wasn’t enough for the campaign to be successfully completed on the platform. The site declared the project was “in violation of our rule requiring working prototypes of physical products that are offered as rewards” and promptly cancelled the page.

Of course, this is the internet — and Skarp is adamant that their product is workable. So within hours of the Kickstarter campaign being cancelled, it had already launched a new page on Indiegogo, raising more than $20,000 in the first hour of its new 13-day funding push. “[Indiegogo] have been incredibly helpful & they believe in the Skarp Razor as much as we do,” Skarp said on its Facebook page.

Read more:
‘Non-existent’ laser razor hits Indiegogo after Kickstarter boot

The funds will be primarily invested in channel growth & bolstering its R&D for its popular platform, which helps organisations manage the risk of cloud applications in an increasingly mobile work environment. The round was led by Talis Capital, with existing investors and management participating. Vasile Foca has joined the board as investor director.

SMEs and non-profit organisations alike turn to CensorNet to visualise, control and protect all internet activity and the use of cloud applications across all devices. CensorNet solutions give greater visibility to senior management and control to IT departments, allowing organisations to address productivity, security and audit issues associated with the growing use of cloud applications and mobile devices.

“The entire CensorNet team are pleased to be working with Talis Capital and we welcome Vasile to the board. We are confident their experience in SaaS and cyber security will prove invaluable as we continue to grow an exciting business,” comments CEO Ed Macnair.

CensorNet is active globally across multiple industries. Having recently announced distribution partnerships with Blue Solutions and Caretower, CensorNet also provides white-labelled solutions for MSPs, allowing them to add margin generating robust web and email security services to their portfolio.

“CensorNet has developed a market-leading product suite which caters to the needs of SMEs struggling to respond to ever more sophisticated cyber security threats. Their experienced team have a track record of building successful software businesses, so we are delighted to be working with them through the next stage of the company’s development,” explains Vasile Foca, co-founder and director of Talis Capital.

“SMEs generally remain underserved in terms of affordable, high quality cyber security products. CensorNet is well placed to make a significant impact in this market and we are excited to support this growth financing,” adds Matus Maar, co-founded and director of Talis Capital.

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CensorNet raises £2m Series A funding

The fundraising, which values eMoov at £20m, commences on 1st September with a 48 hour preview for existing investors, friends and family and closes on 30th September. Crowdfunding provides a means for anyone to invest in a privately owned business, with a minimum investment of as little as £10.

At the start of the year, eMoov raised over £2m including investment from Simon Murdoch’s venture capital firm Episode 1, and, in December 2013, received seed funding from the former TV dragon James Caan.

Investment funding has provided much need growth capital which has fuelled eMoov’s impressive growth to date. The company’s turnover has increased from £965,619 in 2013 to £2,916,456 (forecast) in 2015. eMoov plans a further raise in early 2016 with an IPO or private sale anticipated thereafter. A £100m+ valuation is expected.

Online estate agency now comprises 8 per cent of the industry having risen from 2 per cent only two years ago. eMoov’s fundraising follows recent multi-million pound fundraisings from Purple Bricks, Estates Direct and easyProperty.

Commenting, Russell Quirk, CEO and Founder of eMoov, said: “When I founded eMoov in early 2010, it was just me sat a desk in a windowless 8’x8’ serviced office. Today, we employ 45 people and have sold over 4,500 homes with a combined value of £1bn.

“Part of our progress has been fuelled by investment partners and advisors who have pumped money, knowledge and time into the business. This latest round of investment will set the scene for even bigger growth, which I believe, as a market leader, will culminate in the online sector taking around 50 per cent of the UK estate agency industry by 2020.

“Over recent years I have been approached by numerous investors, friends, family, customers, staff and business colleagues who ask ‘How can I invest in eMoov?’ This is that opportunity.

“Our target is £1m, but of course we’d be delighted if we raised even more.”

To find out how to invest, visit www.emoov.co.uk/news/invest

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eMoov seeks £1M from crowdfunding

The total investment LightwaveRF plc was seeking was £1.5m, of which Committed Capital has invested £1.1m.

LightwaveRF plc, which enables households and businesses to remotely operate and control lighting, power, heating and security using smartphones, tablets, PC and MAC applications, is continuing to develop its markets in the UK and internationally and has also made significant progress with its technology. It plans to use the investment to accelerate market awareness, product sales and technology development, and will focus on the domestic consumer and the commercial building solutions market.

LightwaveRF plc will join other fast growing, tech-focused, companies within Committed Capital’s client portfolio, including TradeRiver Finance, an online supply chain funding solution, and Cloudhouse, a market-leading provider of cloud computing software that allows old Windows applications to run on modern operating systems.

Steven Harris, CEO of Committed Capita, believes that the connected home market has the ability to change : “The Connected Home market is potentially the next big technology revolution and could dramatically change many aspects of our daily lives. With estimated global revenues of $125bn (£3bn in the UK) and adoption worldwide in around 160 million homes by 2017*, it also represents an exciting investment opportunity. We believe LightwaveRF, with its unique range of products, will create significant value for our investors, and provide an interesting addition to our already diverse client portfolio.”

Mike Lord currently Chairman and CEO will take up a full time role of CEO in the business following this successful investment. As a result of this change, Barry Gamble, currently Non-Executive Director will take up the role of Non-Executive Chairman.

Mike Lord, Chairman and CEO of LightwaveRF, commented: “We now have a broad range of proven products in the market giving us a unique position in the Connected Home market. We will continue to invest in product development but now is the time to push more aggressively on sales and marketing to drive growth.”

Read more:
Committed Capital invests into AIM-listed smart home technology provider

Devon-based tech start-up, Powered Now, announces the launch of its second investment pitch on Crowdcube, the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platform. Aiming to raise £350,000 from the crowd, the pitch is open to anyone interested in supporting Powered Now’s disruptive technology. It will use the capital for marketing and further development of its award-winning mobile business administration apps for small firms of trades people, such as builders, plumbers and electricians.

The pitch

Powered Now is looking to secure a minimum of £350,000 on Crowdcube in return for 10.8 per cent equity. The money will both scale up the already successful marketing strategy and allow further product development. This is the second round on Crowdcube after a highly successful raise of £585,000 in the summer of 2014.

The team of ten people are based in the UK and Hungary and has been developing the technology for the past three years.

“We chose Crowdcube because it’s very accessible, being open to anyone who wants to get involved with innovative and disruptive businesses like ours,” says Chris Barling, Powered Now’s co-founder. “Like last time, we think the public will be keen on investing as so many use tradesmen and know how they can struggle to get quotes out quickly. The campaign will also help Powered Now get the message out through a crowd of enthusiastic ambassadors, so it’s all very exciting for us.”

The app

Powered Now is a mobile admin application aimed at sole traders and small firms of plumbers, electricians, builders, and the like, who are mostly in the field at customers’ premises and working from vans rather than offices. They often struggle with paperwork and payment which wastes time, and therefore money.

The app runs on iPads, iPhones and Android smartphones and tablets. It computerises administrative tasks including customer communication, diary management, quoting, invoicing and taking payment by card or PayPal. It works for both independent tradesmen and companies with employees. All information is held in one place and automatically backed up to the cloud whenever there is a connection, so even if you damage or lose your device, you can download the data to the replacement.

In 2013, it won Microsoft Bizspark best mobile app; in 2014 Powered Now was Crowdcube’s Start-up of the Year; and in 2015 it has been featured as an Apple best new business app.

Over 30,000 users worldwide have downloaded and registered their details with the app.

“The field trade industry is one of the last to see the real benefits of the computer revolution,” says Benjamin Dyer, CEO and co-founder of Powered Now. “And this is despite the fact that there are around 950,000 such businesses operating in the UK alone. By providing our apps to help these companies and individuals manage their paperwork we have already demonstrated that we can make them more productive and profitable.”

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Powered Now turns to Crowdcube for second time to raise £350k

Jetsmarter, an app built by 27-year-old entrepreneur Sergey Petrossev, will make members pay almost £6,000 a year to get access to private flights.

Having attracted a few high profile investors, including Jay-Z and the Saudi Royal Family, Jetsmarter will use the money which has been raised to expand routes and buy up more flights.

Although the amount raised by individual investors remains undisclosed, the app managed to reach its funding target of $20 million.

According to The Daily Mail, the company has three different products; JetDeals, JetShuttle and JetCharter.

JetDeals allows you to book a one-way private flight on demand, whereas JetShuttle will get anyone a seat on a pre-scheduled private flight.

JetCharter, meanwhile, lets customers pick out private, customers travel packages that can be completely customised by route and aircraft.

The initial signing on fee of $9,000 dollars will see members have access to wholesale rates on charters, free JetDeals and a free seat on JetShuttle flights.

Speaking to Business Insider, Jetsmarter owner, Sergey Petrossev, explained the app was designed out of frustration with the vehicle-hiring industry.

“I started the company out of a frustration with the process. I kept thinking to myself, ‘Why hasn’t this service been brought into the digital world?”

‘There are more than 3,000 aeroplanes on our app; it’s literally as easy as putting in your itinerary, you pick the exact aircraft that you want, you see real photographs all amenities, insurance information and safety history,” Petrossev. told Bloomberg TV last year.

Some of the most popular routes include the ‘Golden Triangle’ between Miami, New York and Los Angeles, and the app even offers a helicopter from the airport to take you to your hotel.

Read more:
Jetsmarter to become the ‘Uber for private jets’ following Jay-Z investment

Martin Dewey founded Square Pie after he became so frustrated at not being able to find a pie he liked he decided to make his own.

Square Pie started in Old Spitalfields Market in London’s East End and are now a leading name for gourmet pies in the UK. They have a fast growing restaurant and grocery business and last year over 700,000 people enjoyed their food.

Obsessed by quality they don’t believe in cutting corners, winning 7 awards at the most recent Great Taste Awards and on track to hit sales of £5 million in FY2015.

Martin Dewey said: “In simple terms we want to open more restaurants, grow our grocery business and invest where we need to, in order to ensure that as we grow we keep making pies as good as they have always been and let more people know how good they are.”

“Sounds nice and easy but of course it isn’t and we will be using the money raised not only to open restaurants but also to make sure we have the best people across the business to develop and run our business and the best equipment to make more pies to our quality.  We also plan a bigger sales team and to invest more in marketing and PR to grow awareness across the country.”

For an initial investment of £500 or more, Square Pie Bonds PLC will provide registered holders of Square Pie Bonds (“Bondholders”) with a fixed-rate return of 8 per cent gross interest per annum over the course of an initial four year term payable in cash.

Square Pie Bonds are issued on a first come, first served basis so for more information visit Crowdcube to find out more.

Read more:
Square Pie: a tasty investment opportunity?

With Chinese cuisine contributing to 25 per cent of Britain’s takeaway market, Hotcha are aiming to expand and become a national chain over the next five years.

Founded in 2011, Hotcha is a fast growing company operating across the South West of England. Co-founders James Liang and Andy Chan opened the restaurants after realising there was a gap in the market for a national branded Chinese takeaway and delivery chain, and since then, Hotcha has turned over around about £4 million in the financial year ending in March this year.

Hotcha currently has 10 sites and, having launched a new Crowdcube mini-bond programme, plans to open another 22 sites over the next four years.

The Chinese food chain are aiming to raise £1 million over 4 years, and Mini-bonds are a way for more established businesses to borrow large sums of money from investors to help the issuing company grow.

For more information visit crowdcube

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Chinese food chain Hotcha launch new Crowdcube mini-bond

Sophos, the cyber security firm, has become London’s latest unicorn after being valued at over £1bn in its stock market listing, reports The Telegraph.

The company priced its flotation at 225p-a-share, valuing the business at £1.01bn, making it the biggest ever software company to debut on the London Stock Exchange.

Sophos will join a shrinking pool of home-grown FTSE technology firms which include Arm Holdings and Sage Group.

London has been enjoying a rise of so-called “unicorn” technology companies and start ups with valuations of $1bn or more. There are now 17 UK start-ups whose valuations have surpassed the $1bn (£635m) mark, according to data from tech-focused investment bank GP Bullhound.

The internet security firm’s listing is seen as a small victory for the London stock market over New York’s Nasdaq, which has historically lured technology companies and had previously been the destination of choice when Sophos’ founders attempted to list the business in 2009.

The Oxford-based company, which offers IT protection to medium-sized firms, also raised $125m of proceeds in the offer, higher than the $100m orginially targeted. The company has said that it will use the funds to reduce its net debt, which tood at $318m at the end of April.

The two scientists who started the business 30 years ago will have made around £40m from selling around 6 per cent of their stakes in the flotation.

Oxford graduates Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer will continue to own 18.9 per cent of the business, putting them on a paper fortune of over £180m, while private equity firm Apax will own 40.1 per cent of the business after listing.

The company’s directors also own 1.7 per cent of London’s biggest listed software company.

Apax bought a 70 per cent stake in Sophos in 2010 for £372m following Mr Hruska and Mr Lammer’s failed attempt to take the company public in New York in 2009.

The founders had previously tried to list the business in London in 2007 as the recession set in.

“Today marks a significant milestone for all of us at Sophos. We are proud to be part of Britain’s growing tech economy as a listed business and a leading global provider in the cyber security sector,” said Kris Hagerman, chief executive of Sophos.

“Working with our 15,000 channel partners worldwide, we look forward to the next stage of our development as a public company – and to continuing to deliver ‘complete IT security made simple’ for enterprises of any size.”

Sophos’ listing comes on the back of a report by PwC showing that the number of online security breaches in the UK is continuing to rise.

Read more:
Sophos listing creates London’s latest unicorn

Award winning bespoke jeweller and Virgin Media Business Pitch to Rich semi finalists, Rare Pink, is raising up to £1m investment through crowdfunding.

Launched in 2013, online retailer Rare Pink is changing the way people shop for engagement rings.

Within the fast growing online jewellery market, Rare Pink has a hybrid business model that merges the best of the high street and online; an advisory, in-person approach to service with the ability to design one-of-a-kind, bespoke products, combined with the value and convenience of shopping online.

Having raised £195,000 in 2014 through crowdfunding platform, Seedrs, Rare Pink used their first investment to develop systems and build a scalable manufacturing and diamond supply foundation.

In a year they grew sales seven-fold from £100,000 to over £750,000.

“This year, we are raising up to £1 million investment and we plan to further expand our business into the US and China and grow our sales and marketing teams.” – Nikolay Piriankov, CEO

The opportunity to invest is now live on Seedrs for a 2 month period. Click here to find out more about the current crowdfunding investment campaign.

By combining their online mass marketing capabilities with a bespoke product and intimate experience, Rare Pink is changing, improving and refining the way people shop for jewellery.

Read more:
Bespoke jeweller Rare Pink seeks £1m through crowdfunding

With an initial target of £1 million, the money will be used to support the company’s rapid global expansion.

Invented in 2003 by Irish art student, Jane ni Dhulchaointigh, Sugru is an adhesive that moulds like play dough, sticks to almost anything and turns into a strong flexible rubber overnight. Forbes described this cool British brand as “21st century Duct Tape” and it has now sold 5 million packs in over 160 countries worldwide. Over 1 million customers use it for all kinds of projects from DIY repairs at home through to making small improvements to gadgets, appliances and even toys.

The capital will be used to build consumer awareness of Sugru and support its fast-moving retail expansion in the UK, Scandinavia and the USA. An extensive roll out of the unique product is already underway across 4,000 stores at major US retailers including Lowe’s Home Improvement and Target.

The rapid retail expansion has been in response to increasing demand from US consumers, who make up 50 per cent of Sugru’s customer base and have previously only been able to buy the product online. Tapping into growing DIY markets around the world, the company is expected to double its retail presence by year end to 10,000 stores further helping to position the brand as an essential piece of kit for every kitchen drawer.

Jane ni Dhulchaointigh comments: “We’ve now got over a million users around the world who regularly get in touch to share videos and pictures of their latest triumph, however small. These people have helped us perfect the product and build the brand so it makes complete sense to let them share in the future success of Sugru.”

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube adds: “With its huge community of fans, Sugru is a natural fit for crowdfunding; it’s great to give these followers the chance to become shareholders and product evangelists.”

The public will have the opportunity to invest as little as £10 to stake a claim in the company’s future growth. People can find more details here.

Read more:
Sugru, the innovative mouldable glue, seeks investment from the crowd

Brainchild of two former corporate financiers, Michelle Songy and Charlotte Kohlmann, Cake’s mobile payment app is used to share and pay bar and restaurant bills. In a Cake-registered restaurant or bar, users can access the easy-to-navigate app to allocate drinks or food to friends in the group and pay or split the bill as they choose. There’s no need to leave a card with the venue. Payment is fast, easy and secure.

Kohlmann, 29, co-founder and CEO, said: “We saw a gap in the food and drink service market when we launched with faster and easier way for friends to share and then pay their restaurant or bar bills. When people can pay faster, they are happier. And restaurants can serve more customers and build a reputation for fast and efficient service.”

Cake is live in more than 20 restaurants and bars so far, including Comptoir Libanais and The Rum Kitchen in Soho. The service will expand to more than 100 sites by the end of the year. Company headcount will bloom from 16 to 50 by the end of 2017.

The company is also offering deals for investors:

For investors snapping up £1,000 or more of equity in the company, £50 of credit will be provided on the Cake app to spend at any registered venue

Investors at £10,000 enjoy a year’s supply of champagne plus other benefits

More sophisticated investors at £100,000 get £2,000 of Cake credit in addition to all of the previous rewards

Investors at £250,000 can choose between the world’s most extravagant dinner party or dinner out every week for five years

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: ‘More businesses are coming onto Crowdcube for their second or third funding rounds, which represents a real shift in the size of business funding on our site. Investors now have a choice of innovative start-ups and more established, growing businesses run by seasoned entrepreneurs. Three quarters of our funded businesses are growth or early-stage.”

Read more:
Cake launches funding round to bake up UK & LA expansion plans

Pavegen’s current flooring product can be used indoors or outdoors in high traffic areas, and generates electricity from pedestrian footfall using an electromagnetic induction process.

The company claims that the surface is also sensitive to where people are walking, and how many pedestrians are in a given area, so they are also hoping to create a data-analytics software business to go with its high tech underfoot hardware — hardware which could, for instance, tell train travellers where to stand on a platform to get into the least busy carriage before the train arrives.

The technology is patented and the company has just done its hundredth installation, according to founder and CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook.

Today the company is launching a campaign on Crowdcube with the aim of raising £750,000 or more to keep scaling a business that has been beavering away for several years, with plans to ramp up its headcount and operations.

“We’re sitting right at the middle of the hardware space. I started the idea as a sketch. I guess we’re creating an industry. We had no blueprints or market to follow — we had to create it, so… there was a lot of figuring out to do and core engineering behind the product,” Kemball-Cook tells Get Funded “We’ve had to figure out each market and make it fit for that. It was a tremendous challenge.”

“Right now today we’ve got a team of 25 in the U.K. We’ve got operations set up in nine different regions in the world… And we’ve deployed [Pavegen] in 30 countries so we’ve got a bit of scale already.”

The product is best suited to transport hubs where a large flow of people will pass over it. The largest deployment the company has done so far is in a (non-standard sized) football pitch in a Favela in Rio de Janiro to help power the floodlights around the pitch. Other installations include in Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, and at London’s Heathrow airport.

It’s also today put up a temporary installation outside London’s Canary Wharf station (pictured above) powering two streetlights with the aim of raising awareness about the technology and its crowdfunding campaign.

Pavegen was founded back in 2009, beginning as a concept bootstrapped by Kemball-Cook in his bedroom before he took in a friends and family round of around £100,000 in late 2010. That was followed by a £450,000 seed in 2012. The startup has been generating revenue since then — taking in more than £2.5 million in total to date — and was even profitable in 2013. But now plans to expand operations and headcount to scale the business to meet demand for its energy-generating tiles.

The goal is to reduce the cost of the kinetic flooring until it’s the same price as “normal flooring”, as Kemball-Cook puts it. Whereas the price per unit now is currently around the same price as high end train station flooring (so circa £300 per unit).

How exactly does Pavegen generate substantial amounts of energy from footfall? Kemball-Cook says it’s a combination of electromagnetic induction and flywheel energy storage technology which maximizes the energy generated — allowing for a system that generates watts of energy per footstep.

“Storing energy within the inertia of a flywheel is a highly efficient way to take maximum power out of things,” he says. “So we’re really maximizing the amount [of energy] we can get. And we’re getting up to 7 watts per footstep… We’ve combined several engineering principles in a way that’s never been done before. That allows us to capture all the energy from a footstep and then to maintain momentum in a flywheel through the duration of the footsteps.”

“If we put around 20 metres of Pavegen on Oxford Street we would generate more than enough power that’s needed for all the street lighting along that stretch. So A 20 metre array could kick out in the region of 1,500 watts. And we have systems that can do megawatts, so we’re getting into that space of what solar can do,” he adds.

“Next for us will be road technology. We know it’s harder but we’ve learnt a lot in deploying it in so many different countries,” says Kemball-Cook.

The startup has serious ambitions — gunning for mass global adoption of its kinetic flooring product, and becoming part of a renewable energy mix in urban centers where there is, after all, no shortage of footfall. The next pedestrian is ever just around the corner.

Read more:
Pavegen steps up Crowdcube campaign to power its kinetic flooring business

LendInvest launched from short-term bridging lender Montello back in 2013 and has now a leading peer-to-peer marketplace for mortgages.

Co-founder and CEO Christian Faes admitted that when LendInvest was set up they didn’t really know how it would be received.

“However, it became clear pretty quickly that investors are looking for alternative investments, and LendInvest provides investors with a great return that is secured against property,” said Christian.

“LendInvest offers investors the ability to ‘invest in a mortgage’ and another way to gain exposure to the UK property market. This is understandably exciting and is being extremely well received by investors.

The news comes as LendInvest launched its new feature, Auto-Invest, which allows investors to select a criteria of loans they are comfortable with and when a loan comes onto the platform that meets their criteria, they are then set up to automatically invest in it.

“LendInvest is now one of the largest P2P platforms in the UK, and one of the fastest growing platforms globally,” added Christian.

“We are widely recognised as being part of the leading pack in this new industry, which is hugely exciting.”

Read more:
LendInvest hits £300m as automatic investing takes off

Fuel.Ventures, a newly formed venture capital fund led by one of Europe’s leading technology entrepreneurs and investors, Mark Pearson, has partnered with Europe’s leading equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

The partnership  has formed an innovative crowd funded investment vehicle aimed at democratising access to high growth European e-commerce venture capital investments.

Aiming to raise £500K or more from investments of as little as £100, Fuel.Ventures will open up traditionally exclusive technology venture capital investment opportunities to everyday investors.

Mark Pearson becomes the first successfully exited entrepreneur and angel investor to set up an investment fund and open it up to the crowds.

The Fuel.Ventures team has a proven record of finding, vetting and nurturing high growth very early stage e-commerce business that possess the ability to scale quickly; opportunities that will now be available to the crowd.

As such, by partnering with Seedrs, Fuel.Ventures plans to give members of the public the chance to benefit from e-commerce venture capital investment opportunities for the first time.

Fuel.Ventures invests in a vetted and diversified portfolio of EIS/SEIS eligible European e-commerce companies. The fund will focus on high-growth technology-based transactional businesses from incubation and inception (super-early seed), to seed and post launch (late seed), as well as series A businesses showing exceptional signs of growth.

The fund will be led by Mark Pearson, a serial e-commerce entrepreneur who started Markco Media, the parent company of discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk for just £300 from his bedroom. It grew to be a multi-national company which sold in 2014 in a deal worth up to £55m.

Mark’s 10 personal investments (including as an early investor in Ve interactive, an e-commerce SAAS provider now valued at £1.25bn) have significantly outperformed European Venture Capital, which has delivered returns of just 2.1 per cent a year since 1990, according to Thompson Reuters.

From today investors can access the Fuel.Ventures e-commerce investment pipeline, available on the Seedrs platform

Commenting on the launch Mark Pearson said: “Seedrs mentioned that they’d had other funds raised by accelerator programmes, but this is the first time that someone with my entrepreneurial and investment background has opened up access to a highly curated, exclusive network of deal flow for the crowds to have access to.

“The e-commerce sector is thriving and Fuel.Ventures will be investing in the most ambitious and scalable opportunities. Our mission is to create, invest and grow companies. We will build products people want and need and we will invest in some of Europe’s most exciting early stage companies. Ultimately, we will help grow and build companies with great potential and take them to the next level.”

Jeff Lynn, CEO of Seedrs commented: “The Fuel.Ventures equity crowdfunding campaign marks a unique milestone in the evolution of venture capital. For a highly successful entrepreneur and angel investor to build a highly curated fund with crowd participation is an interesting opportunity for investors large and small.”

“By making it possible for people to invest directly into a fund carefully curated and managed by such an experienced team, Seedrs and Fuel.Ventures are stepping one step closer to truly democratising finance and breaking down the barriers between crowd investors and traditional City gatekeepers.”

Read more:
Leading entrepreneur asks investors to join in world-first crowd investment fund

888 Holdings, which recently rebuffed a takeover bid from William Hill, had long been tipped as a buyer for Bwin, which was put up for sale in November, but until now was reluctant to declare its hand. Other bidders are believed to include Amaya Gaming Group, the Canadian owner of PokerStars, reports The Times.

Bwin, the company behind partypoker, had a market value of £813 million at the close of trading on Friday after the offer by the Isle of Man-based GVC was made public. 888 Holdings was valued at £601 million.

The interest of 888 has surprised some, given that in February its board said that it was minded to recommend a £720 million offer from William Hill, only for the deal to be vetoed by Avi Shaked, its biggest shareholder, as being too low. The Gibraltar-based 888 has already been the subject of interest from Ladbrokes, and analysts had questioned what the company’s plan B was after the William Hill rebuttal.

It is understood that 888 shareholders are in favour of the tilt at Bwin. 888 will probably argue that it can extract more synergies out of a tie-up with Bwin than GVC can, owing to the complementary nature of the businesses, particularly in sports betting. 888 declined to comment.

Bwin is the product of an earlier merger between the Austrian company of that name and the former London gaming stalwart PartyGaming. The Bwin brand is well known courtesy of a shirt sponsorship deal with Real Madrid. 888 has sponsored the shirts of Sevilla. Hopes that the marriage would create a world leader in online gambling have been frustrated by poor trading, regulatory problems in Europe and the slow pace of internet gambling regulation in the United States. Deutsche Bank is advising Bwin.

Read more:
888 comes to the £1bn online party

The deal gives SABMiller a foothold in the “fastest-growing segment of the UK beer market”, the company said in a statement.

SABMiller plans to grow sales of Meantime’s beers nationally and possibly export to Europe.
The acquisition of the 15-year-old company is expected to be completed in June 2015, reports The BBC.

Volumes of beer sales at Meantime grew by 58 per cent in 2014, outpacing the UK beer market’s 1 per cent growth, according to SABMiller.

“They see the opportunity, and believe in the longevity, of modern craft beer in the UK,” said Meantime’s chief executive, Nick Miller.

Meantime’s beers, which include London Porter, India Pale Ale and Yakima Red, will join SABMiller’s beer brands such as Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell.

“We love local variety, and carefully nurture our 200 local and heritage beers,” said Sue Clark, managing director of SABMiller Europe.

“In the context of SABMiller, [the acquisition] is immaterial,” says Andrew Holland, a drinks analyst at Societe Generale. “The UK is less than 1 per cent of the business.”

SABMiller’s small presence in the UK has so far been an asset, says Mr Holland, as competition is high and profitability low in the UK.

But there are good opportunities in some specialist areas of the market, says Mr Holland. “If they could find something similar, I wouldn’t rule [another acquisition] out.”

Read more:
SABMiller buys London craft brewer Meantime

Kelly Hoppen has launched a £1.1 million crowdfunding raise through Crowdcube.

Investors are being offered the opportunity to invest in Kelly Hoppen London, the online affordable luxury homewares retail business focused on products conceived by Kelly Hoppen MBE, the award-winning English interior designer, author and businesswoman.

Kelly Hoppen, having run a successful product and interior design business for many years, formed a new business, Kelly Hoppen London, with three other shareholders to sell her range of beautifully designed products online and in store. The company began trading in January 2014 at www.kellyhoppen.com. Its ranges currently include: furniture, bed linen, candles and fragrances, soft furnishings, tableware and home jewellery – the term used for items such as vases and decorative pieces.

From launch in January 2014 to February 2015, the website attracted circa 1 million visits which led to over 5,000 customers purchasing Kelly Hoppen London products. Sales for Q1 2015 were over £500,000 compared to £125,000 in Q1 2014. The business has created 27 jobs and expects this to rise to 45 within the next three years. In October 2014, Kelly Hoppen London launched its first trial pop-up stores in mid-mall locations in Bluewater and Westfield London.

The Kelly Hoppen board is made up of individuals with successful track records. Kelly is the Creative Director and the other board members and shareholders are John Gardiner (Managing Director), Nick Young (Brand and Marketing Director), Paul Althasen (Non Executive Director) and Jamie Robertson (IT Director and General Manager). Each has previously formed start-ups and has grown them into substantial businesses before selling and realising significant shareholder value; these include marketing, retail, telecoms and distribution businesses.

Since the conception of the business in early 2013, the founding shareholders have invested approximately £2.1 million of share capital, and £780,000 of loan notes, to prove the business model prior to seeking external funding. The financial plan shows profits from year 2 onwards which will support the global expansion of the business from there on.

The company is now seeking £1.1 million, through Crowdcube, for 11 per cent of the company’s equity to support its initial growth plan with these funds being used to support significant additional marketing. Investors will also benefit from a 10% discount off Kelly Hoppen London products for an investment of £1,000 or more.

The company aims to generate substantial returns for shareholders within five to ten years, although will remain flexible in order to maximise value. Similarly the Board will consider a trade sale or stock market listing depending on the business and market conditions.

On the decision to use crowdfunding, Kelly Hoppen, Creative Director, said: “The internet has changed the dynamics of the way that business gets done and now crowd funding, and Crowdcube in particular, enables exciting new companies to source capital to fund growth. Kelly Hoppen London is a retail product business with four major shareholders and it seemed natural to invite further investors, many of whom will be our customers or potential customers, to be part of our journey for as little as £10.”

Commenting on the investment opportunity, John Gardiner, Managing Director, added: “Over the last year or so we have proved that there is a demand for our products, tested the business model, built a platform that is scalable and robust, curated a portfolio of gorgeous affordable luxury products and attracted a good customer base. Since the start of this year we have increased our customer base by an average of 9% month on month. Our aim now is to make Kelly Hoppen London a premium global brand by fully leveraging Kelly’s widely recognised name as well as her position as one of the world’s leading, trend setting designers. There is, we believe, a clear gap in the market for ‘mass-pirational’ homewares and this fundraising will help us to exploit this.”

The crowdfunding opportunity closes on Friday 26 June, potential investors can find more information here.

Read more:
Kelly Hoppen launches £1.1 million crowdfunding campaign

Chirp today announces a major platform upgrade and the launch of a new crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.

Chirp creates sonic links through its unique, patent-pending technology. This enables devices to ‘sing’ data to each other via a tiny audio clip called a chirp.

By removing the need for typing addresses, entering passwords or pairing devices, Chirp makes sharing data incredibly easy. The technology requires no mobile or wireless network to send audio links, which can then be downloaded from the cloud or opened from local storage.

The latest version of the app for iOS is free to download allowing users to share pictures, videos and text from anything that carries sound – including radios, TV’s, ATM’s, mobile devices and toys.

Also announced today is the launch of Chirp’s SDK for mobile developers. This program provides technical access to Chirp’s platform and opens up the potential for the technology to be used by any app for content sharing, media campaigns, payments, ticketing, gaming and more.

Chirp’s crowdfunding campaign opens today and runs until 30th June, with the company expecting to raise over £400k to support the commercial expansion of the company and further platform development.

The London Co-Investment Fund (LCIF) proposes to invest £100,000, subject to contract and a minimum fund raise of £400,000. Existing investors including UCL Business (the technology commercialisation company of University College London) and Red Gate Software will also participate.

Chirp Founder and Creator, Patrick Bergel commented: “We’re a small company with big ambitions – we’re building an internet made of sound. We’re delighted how people have embraced Chirp to share information. It’s even more exciting to have a long waiting list of developers wanting to get their hands on our SDK, so their apps can sing too.”

Patrick continued: “We have recently expanded the technical and commercial team and brought in Richard Mann, the former COO of Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) to take over the reins as CEO. Richard has taken mobile businesses from startup to exit, and his experience has already been a significant boost to the company.”

Richard Mann, Chirp’s CEO added: “With so many new products on the horizon, great progress with trial partners and a compelling commercial model, we have a lot of things to shout about. Crowdfunding is the perfect vehicle for us, because of the hugely positive response our apps have had so far. I am delighted that we are able to work with Crowdcube, especially with match-funding proposed by the LCIF, so that investors can share in the future success of Chirp.”

Chirp’s funding page can be found here.

Read more:
Chirp hatches major update and launches crowdfunding drive

Echo is now offering an opportunity to invest in this ground-breaking new tech company – and be the first to own their range of products.

Shares in Echo are for sale on CrowdCube from Tuesday 28th April 2015.

Echo’s Connect charge-key recently achieved substantial success on Indiegogo, raising over $56,000 in pre-sales doubling its $10,000 target in the first 72 hours, and attracting over 30 potential distributors in 20 countries.

The Connect Key is the first ever Apple certified dual connector. It is every micro USB and Apple lightning cable condensed down to one small key-sized connector. Charge your smartphone, android, iPhone, tablets, cameras, and more with one device.

This is the first time Apple has ever licensed a connector that is sat directly next to that of their competitors (micro-USB).

Echo’s PowerSound portable speaker with an integrated power bank, smashed their Indiegogo crowd funding target in two days, raising over $21k.

Echo has partnered with BassBuds to expand its audio range and they have celebrity endorsements from Sam Smith, Blonde, Olly Murs, Eton Messy, Rudimental, and many more.

Investors now have the opportunity to join Echo on CrowdCube and be part of these successes.
Echo has proved demand with its two previous crowd-funding campaigns – generating pre-sales and attracting distributors. Echo is offering 15% of the company for £100K. The investment, which is SEIS approved, will be used to meet the high production demands and boost the marketing – helping Echo become an internationally renowned brand.

Echo’s mission is to push boundaries and find solutions to the growing demand of mobility in our electronic devices. And you can help them do it – and benefit at the same time, by investing in this small company with a big future.

For more information see the opportunity on CrowdCube

Read more:
With orders totalling $2.7million Echo launches on CrowdCube today

Since its launch in 2012, CaféPod has seen growth of over 700 per cent in value terms. The start-up, which was the first to introduce Nespresso compatible capsules into UK supermarkets when Nespresso’s patent expired in 2011, has already secured £2 million in investment and is backed by a number of industry heavyweights from Steve Kurland, the European CEO of Dermalogica and Peter Roberts, CEO and Founder of Pure Gym to James Averdieck, the Founder of Gü.

Hadfield said: “We’re incredibly proud of the growth we’ve achieved over the past three years. It’s an exciting time for us and with additional funding we hope to sustain this rate of growth by boosting our presence overseas.”

Grainger added: “We want to give coffee lovers like us easy access to great tasting coffee whether they’re shopping online or topping up on their groceries in their local supermarket. Our pods have proved incredibly popular in the UK and we want to take it one step further and bring CaféPod to overseas customers so that they too can get their hands on CaféPod and the great quality coffee we make.”

As demand for quality coffee increases, sales of capsules are expected to be the biggest coffee segment in value in the UK by 2017. Sales of coffee capsules in the UK, which are now at over £100 million, are expected to grow in value to £885 million over the next ten years. Globally, sales of pods have trebled over the past five years.

CaféPod is stocked in Waitrose, Tesco, Ocado, Booths, Selfridges and Whole Foods. The pods are also available online through Amazon and on CaféPod.com

Read more:
Cafepod launches next funding round to brew up global expansion

Within three days the company has already raised £170,000 from 62 investors and anticipates that it will exceed the target by a considerable amount.

This follows Loyalzoo’s initial April 2014 crowdfunding campaign, which raised £204,000 in less than two weeks.

Loyalzoo’s appeal can be readily explained as its innovative technology enables independent merchants to compete in an increasingly mobile world. The company’s loyalty app replaces traditional loyalty cards and as well as giving independents the power to connect with customers, it enables those customers to keep their favourite shops’ loyalty programmes in one place. It is marketed as a local app that can be used by anyone anywhere in the world. On average, merchants using Loyalzoo see a sales increase of 8 percent from existing customers without reducing margins.

In March this year Loyalzoo became the first loyalty app to offer direct POS integration for independent retailers and the app is soon to be released on First Data’s Clover system, where it will be available to over 35,000 merchants across the US and UK.

Explaining the thinking behind the second round of crowdfunding, Loyalzoo CEO Massimo Sirolla said “This is a business with tremendous potential. We have grown steadily since completing our first funding round with Seedrs in April last year. Much has been achieved, both in terms of product development, product placement and moves to expand the potential market via commercial arrangements with merchant service providers. We are now raising a further round which will help us implement our marketing strategy.”

Why is the crowdfunding campaign proving such a success? Mr Sirolla explained “People can see the logic and potential in what we’re trying to achieve and there is also a great deal of empathy with a solution that improves the lot of local retailers in local communities. It’s a win-win situation – a good investment opportunity that helps improve local communities.”

Read more:
Loyalzoo raises over £170,000 in first three days

Fuel.Ventures EIS Fund 1 will target super-early seed, seed and A-stage investments in the rapidly growing European e-commerce sector.

A number of seed investors are already confirmed with the view to raise up to £150m over the next two years.

Alongside the Fuel Ventures Fund, Mark Pearson and the Fuel team will be creating a London-based start-up incubation studio, which will create, build and grow the next wave of fast growing, disruptive and globally scalable UK-based tech businesses.

With european mobile commerce sales expected to grow from €17.3bn to €113.3bn between 2013 and 2018. Fuel.Ventures is saying that it will invest in a variety of high-growth, sector-agnostic technology based transactional businesses from incubation and super-early seed, to seed and post launch, as well as series A businesses showing exceptional signs of growth.

Pearson is an award winning digital entrepreneur and investor who, in 1998 won a national cookery competition and joined Gordon Ramsey’s internationally renowned restaurant at Claridges.

In 2006 Mark began his career in e-commerce starting a business, Markco Media, the parent company of discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk from a back bedroom business to a multi-national company, which sold in 2014 in a deal worth up to £55m.

To date Pearson has invested in 10 e-commerce businesses, achieving an average 70X return on initial investment, significantly outperforming venture capital in Europe, which has delivered returns of just 2.1 per cent a year since 1990, according to Thomson Reuters. In October 2010 Mark became an early investor in Ve interactive, an e-commerce SAAS provider now valued at £1.2bn, generating a 125X return on investment. Drawing on Mark’s high profile and extensive network of alumni from previous investments, Fuel.Ventures is guaranteed early-stage or exclusive access to start-ups both in the UK and Europe.

Co-founding the business with Mark, is Paul Rous, a corporate financier and serial entrepreneur. Paul has over 10 years of experience in early stage investing and finance, with roles at Goldman Sachs, UBS, Generation Asset Management and a number of corporate finance boutiques.

Talking about Mark Pearson’s contribution in growing Ve Interactive to become a £1bn plus business, David-Joseph Brown, Co-founder and CEO of Ve Interactive said, “Mark was a key individual investor in Ve right at the beginning of the company’s journey five years ago. His insight and experience in the performance space was and continues to be highly valued by Ve’s management.”

Mark Pearson, Co-Founder of Fuel.Ventures commented, “The e-commerce sector is booming and Fuel.Ventures will be investing in the most ambitious and scalable opportunities. Increased e-commerce user adoption, the proliferation of mobile handsets and tablets and the opportunities opened up by 4G have created huge potential for investors with the right investment approach and exclusive access to the highest quality deals. Our mission is to create, invest and grow companies; we will build products people want and need, we will invest in some of Europe’s most exciting early stage companies, and we will help grow and build companies with great potential and take them to the next level.”

Paul Rous, Co-Founder of Fuel.Ventures said, “The EIS fund is a great opportunity for investors to access high quality deals in such a fast growing sector. Mark has a winning mentality, having delivered on average an outstanding 70X return on his investments over an 8 year period and has an unrivalled knowledge and network in the European e-commerce sector. Fuel.Ventures will continue Mark’s highly successful and thorough investment process, evaluating investment opportunities against up to 30 key criteria, to ensure that investments are made in the highest quality ventures.”

Read more:
After $55M exit Mark Pearson launches Fuel. Ventures & 70x investor return aim

Pi Labs, Europe’s first property tech accelerator, jointly created by Juliette Morgan of Cushman & Wakefield and Faisal Butt of venture capital firm Spire Ventures, is currently raising a £500,000 fund on Seedrs.

The sum will go towards funding the start-ups selected to be invested in by the Pi Labs fund.  To date, just 5 businesses were selected out of over 250 applications.

Faisal Butt, Pi Labs Founder and CEO said: “We are honoured to have this investment from James, whom I have seen first hand support British small businesses over many years. He also has a great deal of knowledge about the property industry and so his backing means a lot.”

“The support of investors both big and small is crucial to Pi Labs’ success. Our aim is to empower prop-tech startups requiring space, access to capital and support and help spawn the next wave of tech company success stories in the UK.”

The investment from James Caan CBE follows a £250,000 investment into the Pi Labs fund earlier this month from Countrywide plc, the UK’s largest property services company.

The Pi Labs fund has already raised £400,000 on Seedrs. Five property technology start-ups are currently going through the programme: AirSorted, Land Technologies, OfficeR&D, Rialto, and Wilde Rooms.

Read more:
James Caan CBE invests in Property Tech Fund, Pi Labs

Pocket is a pioneering private property developer delivering affordable homes in London. The demand for affordable homes in London far outstrips supply and with the Greater London Authority providing a £21.7m loan facility for 10 years their is clearly belief in the product.

Pocket homes are compact and designed to maximise space, comfort and sustainability. They are sold at a discount of at least 20 per cent to the open market, residents own them outright and they stay affordable in perpetuity.

Pocket is 10 years old and is now working across 11 London boroughs with the aim of delivering against a target of 4,000 homes by 2023.

Marc Vlessing, Co-founder & CEO. Marc has a background in City corporate finance, company management and venture capital. Marc brings management, marketing and strategic direction to Pocket. Marc is also chairman of ProVen Growth & Income VCT PLC. Paul Harbard, Co-founder & Finance Director. Paul is a Chartered Accountant and was Finance Director of Peabody Trust for 12 years. Paul has a wealth of experience in public sector housing and brings a strong operational and practical construction perspective to Pocket.

Read more:
Pocket Living launch £1M mini bond on Crowdcube

Cauli Rice is a low calorie and low GI Rice Replacement. It has 80 per cent fewer calories but with the same taste and satisfaction as ordinary white rice and is already being supported by industry experts. It is protected by a trademark, has had a successful patent search completed and is believed to be the first product of its kind.

Having completed their first round of funding in September 2014 Cauli Rice is now looking for second round funding to expand the business.

Since their first funding round Cauli Rice have:

1) Submitted UK Patent application & Trademark protection on the product and name ‘Cauli Rice’

2) Been awarded one of the biggest Government Grants in the UK, the Agri-tech Grant, because of their belief that Cauli Rice will significantly improve the cauliflower farming in the UK (cauliflower sales have declined by 60 per cent since the 80’s). This will allow us to own our production line rather than leasing from a manufacturer – giving us greater control and lower costs.

3) Received interest from Waitrose (200 stores), Sainsburys (300+ stores) and Holland and Barrett (200 physical stores & online which is equivalent to 400 stores) who are looking to launch Cauli Rice around May/June 2015.

Found and MD Gem Misa-Harris has 14 years experience in building and marketing FMCG brands. She spent 8 years in Unilever, as a Regional Brand Manager in Asia & Africa before working on one of the company’s biggest brands, (£1.1 billion revenue), as a global brand manager. She left to start food brand, Righteous Ltd, which was mentioned by Sir Allan Sugar in Series 8 of the Apprentice as an example of “An innovative new brand carving a niche in the market place”. Within 4 years, Righteous had products listed in over 1,000 UK supermarkets (including Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Ocado, Whole Foods Market, Booths etc.) and Major US Supermarkets (including Costco, Whole Foods Market & Albertsons).

For more information on Cauli Rice click here.

Read more:
Cauli Rice smashes funding target

Entrepreneurs can enter gadgets, home gizmos or wearable tech products, at any stage of development and the winning gadget idea will receive up to £120,000 of crowdfunded investment into their business as well as £100,000 worth of TV advertising from Channel 5.

Two runners up will each receive up to £100,000 of seed investment. All three winners will then enter into a two-year mentoring programme with Worth Capital to help launch their businesses.

The competition is open to UK resident’s aged 18 and over and Worth Capital will be receiving entries until midnight on Monday 23rd March 2015.

A panel of sector experts will then help distil the applications down to just 12 semi-finalists who will all be invited to exhibit at the Gadget Show Live from 7th – 12th April 2015.

The show’s 80,000 gadget-enthused visitors will then have the chance to vote for their favourite idea, giving one of the semi-finalists a “free pass” to the competition finals.

Following the Gadget Show Live, the contestants will be whittled down to just 6 finalists who will all attend a day of face-to-face pitches with the panel of judges in London at the end of April 2015. The three winners will then be chosen and The Gadget Show wants to reveal them on the show at the end of May 2015.

Worth Capital have assembled an expert panel of judges, calling upon their skills and experience in the industry to ensure only the very best businesses make it through.

The judging panel includes:
• Jason Bradbury and Jon Bentley, Gadget Show TV presenters
• Nick Bampton, Commercial Director, Channel 5
• Mark Champkins, Serial Entrepreneur & Inventor in Residence at the London Science Museum and successful Dragon’s Den contestant
• Jon Fisher, Director of Marketing, Intelligent Energy, with over 20 years’ experience in innovation, consumer products and technology
• Nick Schneider, Design Engineer, Dyson
• Morten Warren, Founder and CEO of Native Design, an international design firm behind some of the world’s most iconic pieces of physical and digital design for clients such as Audi, Bang & Olufsen & Bentley
• Alex Johns and Matthew Cushen, Co-Founders, Worth Capital

Worth Capital Co-Founder, Paul Ephremsen said: “The gadget industry has never been more exciting. We’re delighted North One and Channel 5 have joined the hunt and contributed towards a truly exceptional prize package and we’re certain that we’ll be able to find some brilliant businesses to invest in within this space.”

Neil Duncanson, CEO at North One Television, said “This is not only a genuinely positive contribution to the creative and editorial of The Gadget Show, but also an authentic, credible and frankly exciting way of helping the future gadget makers of the UK. It’s a complete win-win and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Nick Bampton, Commercial Director at Channel 5 said, “Channel 5 is an entrepreneurial company with an innovative business approach, so providing an opportunity for the inventor of the winning gadget to advertise on terrestrial TV is a natural fit for us and one that we believe will be of enormous value.”

Crowd investors wishing to invest in Future Gadget can do so from today as the fund is now live on Seedrs. The fund is seeking to raise £320,000 for three winning businesses. Each investor will receive a share of the fund’s holdings, which will include a share in each of the three winners.

Future Gadget is the latest competition run by Worth Capital to unearth the very best new businesses across multiple sectors.

Previous competitions in the retail and app sectors have seen the London based company collaborate with media giants such as Facebook and Metro to find & and launch some exceptional start-up businesses.

Worth Capital work closely with crowdfunding partners Seedrs & have raised a total of £620,000 of seed investment to fund the winners so far. With the addition of Future Gadget, the company hope it will have raised close to £1m across its first three competitions.

Worth Capital’s mentoring division, headed up by Co-Founder Matthew Cushen, works closely with each of the competitions’ winning businesses for a 24 month period to help guide the entrepreneurs to success.

For more details on the competition and details of how to enter and invest visit www.worthcapitallondon.com/futuregadget

Read more:
Worth Capital & Channel 5’s The Gadget Show join hunt for UK’s next great gadget

Read more:
Pi Labs launches crowdfunding campaign

The San Francisco-based company has made an official filing to US authorities to bump up its current investment by $1 billion. That would bring the total in the round, known as the Series E round, to $2.8 billion.

The company, led by CEO Travis Kalanick, raised $1.2 billion in financing in December, which valued the startup at $40 billion, one of the highest valuations for a closely held technology startup.

Last month, Uber also closed $1.6 billion in convertible debt from Goldman Sachs’ wealth management clients.

“The participation we have seen in Uber’s Series E underscores the confidence investors have in Uber’s growth,” said Nairi Hourdajian, Uber’s head of global communication.

The car-booking company plans to use the new money to roll out its service in more cities internationally, to invest in research and development and improving safety, and to expand its UberPool carpooling service, people familiar with the situation said last month. UberPool is currently available in San Francisco, New York and Paris.

Uber, founded in 2009 by Kalanick and Garrett Camp, has expanded to more than 277 cities in 54 countries and has said it was opening in a new town every other day.

The service has disrupted established taxi operators, many of whom like the London Licensed Hackney Carriage Operators, or black cab drivers as they are known, have often responded with demonstrations and protests.

Uber has also upset regulators, who have brought legal action or banned the company from California to Brazil, but neither the complaints nor regulatory issues seems to be affecting demand from investors.

Read more:
Uber seeks further $1 Billion in latest funding round

Inn Style, an online booking system for hoteliers, campsites and bed and breakfast owners, raised £150,000 using crowdfunding.

The system, a simple and effective way to finance a business which differs from the traditional funding resources of banks, insurance, stock markets and charitable donations – helped the company smash it’s two-week target in just 11 days.

It used equity crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom and attracted lead investors Mark Aldridge, chief executive of Better Capital, and Henry Catchpole, who ran Suffolk Life for 13 years before its sale to Legal and General for £68 million and now runs Inform Direct.

CEO of Inn Style and co-founder Adrian Melrose said: ” We were – and are – incredibly fortunate to have Mark and Henry as our lead investors. We are incredibly grateful for their unwavering belief in Inn Style.

“Going live on SyndicateRoom with a two-week funding window felt ambitious so we are delighted to have closed with a full week to spare.

“It has been extremely useful way of introducing many seasoned Investors who have now taken a meaningful stake in Inn Style.

“Fundraising for a travel tech startup is inevitably a time consuming process and closing quickly means we can now concentrate on building value.”

Inn Style launched in May 2014, pitching itself as a “blissfully simple” alternative for smaller accommodation owners wanting to take online bookings.

The company saw explosive growth in last quarter after The Pop Up Hotel – an ultra-chic glamping experience found at Glastonbury and other notable events – used Inn Style to sell £100k of availability in just a few hours.

Mr Melrose, who will also fulfill the role of finance director, said: “At Inn Style we have a small but incredibly focused team who will deliver a valuable feature-set that our global customers are telling us they need.”

The Inn Style round was closed on Sunday, February 8, the very same day Inn Style was featured on Product Hunt – Silicon Valley’s favourite site for new products.

Chris Waters, co-founder and head of product said: “To have our idea validated by the startup and crowd-funding communities on the very same day was brilliant for us.

“But also for Suffolk, the county in which we live. This proves you don’t have to be in London to get noticed by international investors.

“The quality of investors SyndicateRoom has brought to Inn Style has been remarkable. We’ve had phone calls and emails from people who are thrilled to be joining us on our journey, and that positivity is priceless in creating a sense of momentum.”

The business said the bulk of the £150,000 investment would be used to pay salaries and third-party technical teams, as well as fund product development and user acquisition.

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Inn Style online booking system exceeds funding target