• WeAre8

  Participated · Series B · Mar 2022

  WeAre8 is a B Corp social platform that pays users and makes donations each time people watch ads. Its core product blends a hate-free social feed called the 8Stage with a self-serve ad manager that lets brands set up and manage campaigns. The company reports average click-through rates above 30% versus a 0.9% industry average, and shares 50% of advertiser spend with users, plus 5% to charities and 5% to a creator fund. Since its 2021 UK launch it has run campaigns for 20+ brands and secured commercial agreements, including a distribution/pre-installation deal with EE/BT and contracts with Cadbury, Heineken, Chip and Clim8, as well as partnerships with agencies Dentsu, GroupM and Publicis. Channel 4 and UKTV have collectively invested over $4M in airtime to support reach. The company says it plans to scale globally, starting with the US and Australia later this year, and the Crowdcube raise reflects a reported pre-money valuation of £35,981,146. WeAre8 is a ground-breaking app that aims to help people reclaim economic power and mobilise millions to drive real-world change. Its core product asks users to watch ads for about two minutes a day, valuing and paying them for their time while directing over 60% of ad spend to people and causes. Celebrities are contributing content and some serve as investors—named backers include Clare Balding and Rio Ferdinand—and other talent partners include Ugo Monye, AJ Pritchard and Harrison Osterfield. The company positions itself as a democratising alternative to traditional social platforms, putting people and the planet at the economic centre of the digital ad ecosystem. WeAre8 has launched a Crowdcube crowdfunding campaign to let the public invest alongside high-profile celebrity and institutional backers. It has also confirmed new Series B participation from UKTV Ventures, which committed $1.2 million in advertising airtime as media-for-equity. WeAre8 operates a hate-free social app that pays users to watch advertisements and offers an ad-buying platform for advertisers focused on ESG and sustainability outcomes. The platform shares 55% of every pound advertisers spend directly with people and charities, with an additional 5% allocated to a creator fund for micro shows and collaborations on the 8Stage. Led by founder and CEO Sue Fennessy, the company emphasizes a hate-free evolution of the social feed and content-driven engagement. WeAre8 has been operating in stealth with a team of 52 employees while developing its technology for a full global launch, now imminent in the UK. The company was certified as a B-Corporation in 2020. It plans to use the new funding to expand operations and marketing and to drive awareness via upcoming TV activity. Led by founder and chairman Sue Fennessy, 8 Enterprises operates a premium content sharing platform that lets creators own, control and profit from everything they upload. The service offers a customizable interface for sharing, monetizing, and allowing direct donations to causes. At launch the company announced a roster of over 250 influential content partners across television, music, film, sports, fashion and philanthropy. Named partners include Usher, Donna Karan, Jamie Oliver, Patricia Arquette and Keep A Child Alive/Alicia Keys. 8 is in closed beta on the web and mobile web, with a native iOS app scheduled for December 2014 and Android plus an ad marketplace planned for early 2015. Financially, the company completed a $4.2M seed funding round to support its launch and product rollouts.

• GetAgent

  Participated · Equity · Mar 2019

  GetAgent is a four‑year‑old proptech firm that provides consumers with estate agent comparison rankings based on sales performance, time taken to sell, and price achieved relative to the original asking price. The site also supplies estate agents with leads that are paid for only if the introductions convert into sales. The company describes its technology as agent‑agnostic while publicly criticizing some online and hybrid agents. GetAgent positions the recent funding as an endorsement for traditional estate agents amid difficulties for online/hybrid competitors. The firm highlights that traditional agents retain a large share of the market and uses its data to benchmark agent performance.

• Festicket

  Participated · Series D · Nov 2018

  Festicket operates an online marketplace for festival tickets and travel packages, letting users buy tickets and book hotels and transfers, discover festivals via Spotify, and search by artist, festival type, or country. Founded in 2012 in the UK, the platform reports more than 2.5 million active users across 100+ countries and partnerships with about 1,200 festivals. Festicket maintains offices in London (headquarters), San Francisco, Amsterdam, Berlin and Porto. The company positions itself as one of the world’s largest festival-ticketing platforms and sells tickets for major Spanish festivals such as Mad Cool, Primavera Sound and FIB. The recent fundraising is intended to support international expansion and to improve the user experience. No financial metrics beyond the fundraising and user/partner counts are disclosed in the article. Festicket operates an online marketplace for festival tickets and travel packages, covering more than 1,200 music festivals globally. The platform works with a network of over 4,000 travel and accommodation suppliers and has served more than 2 million travellers since launching in 2012. Headquartered in London, Festicket also has offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Porto, and San Francisco. The company plans to use its latest capital to fuel expansion into North America and Asia. Financially, Festicket raised $10.5 million in the current round and has raised a total of $24.2 million to date. Board changes tied to the round include the addition of Eyal Malinger of Beringea and Treatwell’s COO Ben Leaver. Festicket operates an online marketplace that enables music fans to discover and book festival tickets and bundled travel packages (tickets, accommodation, travel and add‑ons). The platform lists 500+ music festivals across 40 countries and connects to a network of 1,000 suppliers for accommodation and travel. It reports a community of 900k+ fans, 2M unique monthly visitors and has served 250,000+ travelers from 120 countries. Led by CEO Zack Sabban and CPO Jonathan Younes, Festicket aims to expand its operational and marketing efforts to grow its live music fan community, supplier base and global brand. The company plans to deploy native‑speaking teams and local offices to each market. Festicket has raised $6.3M in the reported round and $9.68M in total to date. Festicket operates a discovery and booking platform that lets users browse a curated directory of music festivals and purchase package deals that include tickets, transport and accommodation. The product combines festival event curation, social features and a festival-related travel booking engine. The company aims to simplify the process of attending festivals and open the market to a wider audience by consolidating multiple providers into a single purchase. Festicket plans to use new capital to accelerate international expansion, grow the team and further develop product features such as inspirational content and recommendation tools. Founders Zacharie Sabban (CEO) and Jonathan Younes (CTO) launched the company in early 2012. In terms of traction, Festicket works with more than 200 music festivals globally—including Tomorrowland, Ultra Europe and Leeds & Reading—and claims over 300,000 festival-goer members. Festicket operates a consumer-facing site that lets users browse a curated directory of music festivals and purchase single-package bookings that include tickets, transport and accommodation. The company also offers a B2B white-label product that powers festival sites, deepening partnerships and enabling sales directly on official festival websites. It partners with more than 40 top music festivals across Europe and generates revenue by taking a 20% commission on each element of the packages it sells. Festicket reports an average basket price of around €290 and says it has 27,000 active members, 73% of whom are from the UK, France and Germany. The startup plans to use the new capital to further develop the platform, extend its product range, bolster sales and marketing (including key hires) and accelerate European expansion. Founded in early 2012, the company is building both consumer and B2B distribution channels to widen access to the festival market.

• Crowdcube

  Participated · Equity · Nov 2018

  Crowdcube is a UK-based crowdfunding platform that enables private-company capital raising by retail and institutional investors. The company has signalled intent to be the first platform to hold both UK and EU licences as it prepares for pan‑European market entry. It reported record activity with £200 million invested (up 21% year-over-year), over 208,000 investments, 174,000 new members and a total community of 1.2 million. Its valuation has risen 57% to £140 million since its last funding round in 2018, and it has raised around £30 million in total from institutional and retail investors. Crowdcube is considering a crowd round to give its investor community the opportunity to participate alongside strategic backers as it expands in Europe. Crowdcube operates an equity crowdfunding platform that enables startup, early- and growth-stage businesses to raise capital from investors. Led by CEO Darren Westlake, the platform has facilitated over £355m invested into more than 600 businesses since 2011 and, through its UK and Spain operations and a partnership with US crowdfunder SeedInvest, has helped over 90 overseas businesses raise. The company plans to use its new funding to accelerate growth and continue its push toward profitability in 2019. Crowdcube is also launching a crowdfunding campaign on 14 November to supplement the institutional investment. The business reported a record quarter with revenue of £1.6m for Q3 2018, a 60% increase year-over-year. Crowdcube is an equity crowdfunding platform co-founded by Darren Westlake (CEO) and Luke Lang (CMO) and is based in Exeter and London, UK. Launched in 2011, the platform has raised over £160m for more than 350 businesses. It enables retail and professional investors to invest alongside venture capital backers via crowdfunded equity campaigns conducted on its platform. Crowdcube is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 650205). Following its recent campaign, the company plans to advance secondary liquidity for investors, focus more on later-stage businesses with potential for faster returns, and develop new software products to help businesses manage investors and improve transparency. Crowdcube is a UK-based crowd equity platform that enables retail investors to invest in startups, bonds, funds and VC rounds. The company says over 200,000 people have made investments on the platform, totalling £100 million since 2011, though critics argue genuinely active investors may be closer to 15,000–20,000. Crowdcube has raised £6 million ($9.3 million) from stockbroker Numis, investor Tim Draper (and his London-based VC firm Draper Esprit) and existing backer Balderton Capital, valuing the company at £51 million. The funding will support adding IPO investment opportunities to the platform, allowing access to companies about to go public alongside its existing offerings. CEO Darren Westlake said the move is intended to 'put the public back into IPO.' The article places the raise in context with competitor Seedrs, which recently raised £10 million and was valued at £30 million. Crowdcube operates an online investment crowdfunding platform that enables equity investments in startups, early-stage and growth businesses. The company was co-founded in 2011 by Darren Westlake (CEO) and Luke Lang (CMO). It has crowdfunded previous rounds on its own site (£320k in 2011 and £1.5m in 2013) and has helped raise over £30m for more than 130 companies. In 2014 it launched the first managed venture fund for crowdfunded equity investments and a Mini Bond product. Crowdcube plans to use the new funds to expand operations in the UK and internationally, double its team to about 50 people, open offices in London and Scotland, and expand its Exeter head office. Tim Bunting from Balderton Capital will join Crowdcube’s board in conjunction with the investment.

• Rated People

  Led · Equity · Sep 2018

  Rated People operates an online matching platform that connects homeowners with local tradespeople using proprietary algorithms and a database of 50,000 registered tradespeople. The service pledges to hook up suitable parties in as little as two minutes. The company reports £2.5bn of work flowing through its platform, representing roughly a 4.5% market share in its cited market. It has partnered with consumer-facing personalities such as Phil Spencer to amplify its offering. Following the new funding, Rated People plans to evolve its technology platform, grow sales and raise brand awareness. Specific near-term projects include enhanced customer support, expanding its commercial team and broadening its audience reach. RatedPeople.com operates an online marketplace connecting homeowners with recommended local tradesmen, covering building, roofing, plumbing, electrical, joinery, painting & decorating and gardening. The company has national coverage and was founded in 2005. It is led by CEO Chris Havemann and Chairman Adrian Cox, and employs 50 staff supported by a team of 30 customer service and support personnel. RatedPeople.com plans to use the new funds for product and technology development and to run a new advertising campaign fronted by property expert Phil Spencer. In conjunction with the financing, Keith Roberts joined the board as Senior Non-Executive Director. The company reported £12m in revenues in 2013. Rated People is an online service that connects homeowners with local, recommended tradesmen using reviews and ratings from its community. Founded in 2005 by CEO Andy Skipwith and based in London, the platform offers homeowners access to more than 30,000 high-quality local tradesmen across 24 trades. Trades represented include bricklayers, builders, carpenters, electricians, painters, plumbers and roofers. The service also helps tradesmen generate more business and find work closer to their preferred locations. The company received a £3m investment from Frog Capital to support recruitment and to invest in its online platform and mobile applications.

No current team members are available.