Crowdcube

Unbound is an award-winning online crowd-funded publisher that enables authors to present their book ideas directly to potential readers. Readers can pledge their support for these ideas, and once a book garners sufficient backing, the author proceeds to write it. Unbound then handles the editing, typesetting, printing, and distribution of the completed work. This innovative model not only allows for the publication of diverse fiction and non-fiction works but also ensures that the names of all subscribers who contributed to the book's success are acknowledged. Through this approach, Unbound aims to create a more engaging and participatory publishing experience for both authors and readers.

GoParity is an online savings and investment platform that uses a P2P business model to simplify investment and allow citizens and companies to get a decent return on their sustainable loans. Citizens and companies invest their funds in projects they believe in to generate economic, social and environmental impact. We are driving the transition towards a more sustainable and inclusive economic system, making investment in sustainable solutions accessible to all, from citizens to small enterprises. Join us @ www.goparity.com

The Octopus Club is an online marketplace focused on facilitating the buying and selling of second-hand products and clothing for maternity, babies, and children. Designed as a peer-to-peer platform for parents, it aims to help families extend the lifespan of products while minimizing waste. The Octopus Club allows parents to easily buy, sell, or donate items related to maternity and child-rearing, thereby providing affordable options for raising children.

JustUs.co is an electronic system in relation to lending.

Ooono is a community-based co-driver that connects drivers.

Crosspay is a UK-based fintech company specializing in international money transfers and digital giving solutions for churches and ministries. The platform allows individuals and businesses to send payments across borders in over 50 currencies, utilizing smartphones, tablets, or computers for convenience. Crosspay is committed to providing competitive rates and personalized service, ensuring that users can efficiently manage their overseas transactions for both personal and business purposes. By offering a dedicated support team, Crosspay enhances the user experience, making the process of remittances straightforward and accessible.

Mintos is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace based in Riga, Latvia, established in 2014. It serves as a leading investment platform in Europe, allowing over 500,000 registered users to earn passive income by investing in loans from non-bank loan originators. With more than €600 million in assets under management, Mintos provides an accessible alternative to traditional banking systems. Investors can create diversified portfolios through both automated and manual investment strategies, with opportunities to invest in various asset types, including mortgage loans, personal unsecured loans, car loans, invoices, and small business loans. Mintos is authorized under MiFID and has received multiple industry awards, including five consecutive AltFi People's Choice Awards, highlighting its reputation and reliability in the financial technology sector.

The web's newest and most exciting peer-to-peer marketplace for boat rentals, "the airbnb of boats". Borrow from a wide selection of high quality boats, for less than you thought possible, quickly and easily. Everything from a rib up to a Superyacht and everything in between is available and can be booked effortlessly with or without a skipper. Boat owners have the opportunity to make extra revenue to cover the cost of boat ownership in a safe and manageable way. www.borrowaboat.com

Unbound is an award-winning online crowd-funded publisher that enables authors to present their book ideas directly to potential readers. Readers can pledge their support for these ideas, and once a book garners sufficient backing, the author proceeds to write it. Unbound then handles the editing, typesetting, printing, and distribution of the completed work. This innovative model not only allows for the publication of diverse fiction and non-fiction works but also ensures that the names of all subscribers who contributed to the book's success are acknowledged. Through this approach, Unbound aims to create a more engaging and participatory publishing experience for both authors and readers.

The web's newest and most exciting peer-to-peer marketplace for boat rentals, "the airbnb of boats". Borrow from a wide selection of high quality boats, for less than you thought possible, quickly and easily. Everything from a rib up to a Superyacht and everything in between is available and can be booked effortlessly with or without a skipper. Boat owners have the opportunity to make extra revenue to cover the cost of boat ownership in a safe and manageable way. www.borrowaboat.com

The first world bank for the micro-economy: a global marketplace for human innovation, financial autonomy and wealth creation. BABB is the trading name of BABB App Ltd, A UK registered Company. BABB App Ltd is an authorised payment institution by the Financial Conduct Authority .

The web's newest and most exciting peer-to-peer marketplace for boat rentals, "the airbnb of boats". Borrow from a wide selection of high quality boats, for less than you thought possible, quickly and easily. Everything from a rib up to a Superyacht and everything in between is available and can be booked effortlessly with or without a skipper. Boat owners have the opportunity to make extra revenue to cover the cost of boat ownership in a safe and manageable way. www.borrowaboat.com

My Friends Room offers rent travel accommodation from friends not strangers. MyFriendsRoom platform allows people to connect with friends and friends of friends to stay with when travelling.

ECrowd is an online peer-to-business crowdfunding platform that facilitates investment in projects with a positive social impact, primarily in the energy efficiency and telecommunications sectors. By connecting project owners with investors seeking alternative investment opportunities, ECrowd enables individuals to earn passive income while contributing to sustainable initiatives. The platform supports collective loan campaigns, allowing clients to raise funds necessary for completing their projects. In doing so, ECrowd promotes the development of energy models and improved telecommunications infrastructure, ultimately fostering community welfare and enhancing access to financing for impactful projects.

My Mate Your Date is a dating application launched in 2013, based in London, England, that focuses on connecting singles through their social networks. The platform facilitates matchmaking by connecting users with friends of friends, enhancing the likelihood of meaningful connections. Each day at 5 p.m., the application presents a curated selection of potential matches, allowing users to discover, message, and meet compatible individuals. If the app does not identify suitable matches within users' social circles, it suggests alternatives based on common interests, education, occupation, and even astrological compatibility. This approach aims to simplify the dating process by ensuring users connect with people who share similar backgrounds and values.

Cat in a Flat is a cat-loving, cat-sitting community that connects cat owners with trusted and insured cat sitters in their neighbourhood. Its mission is to help cats stay in the comforts of their own home while the owner is away. No more stress, no more catteries, no more guilt. Cat in a Flat is a start-up in the sharing economy using geo location search, notification system, online booking calendar and mobile payment. Each sitter can set their own rate and has their own well designed web page as part of our system - like a digital business card. Cat owners can review, rate and share the best sitters and build long-lasting cat-loving relationships. Cat sitters undergo all the checks and are required to write a full, personal profile.

ECrowd is an online peer-to-business crowdfunding platform that facilitates investment in projects with a positive social impact, primarily in the energy efficiency and telecommunications sectors. By connecting project owners with investors seeking alternative investment opportunities, ECrowd enables individuals to earn passive income while contributing to sustainable initiatives. The platform supports collective loan campaigns, allowing clients to raise funds necessary for completing their projects. In doing so, ECrowd promotes the development of energy models and improved telecommunications infrastructure, ultimately fostering community welfare and enhancing access to financing for impactful projects.

MonetaFlex operates as an online crowdfunding platform that facilitates peer-to-peer fundraising, enabling businesses to secure capital for growth and development. The platform allows investors to create personal profiles, launch campaigns, and raise funds from interested parties. Additionally, MonetaFlex generates revenue through various channels, including advertising, cryptocurrency trading, stock market trading, and forex trading. This revenue is then distributed to members, who can withdraw their earnings to bank accounts on a weekly or monthly basis. By offering a combination of fundraising and investment opportunities, MonetaFlex aims to support companies in raising money through the sale of unpaid invoices and other financial collaborations.

Compare and Share aims to open up the Sharing Economy via a one-stop shop for a growing global market who want to access goods on-demand rather than own them. With over £3.5 tn idle assets worldwide and 7,700 sharing sites there was no way to access or compare them. Users had to trawl each site, to find what they needed. 40% of the population say they would trade shared assets, if it were easy. Compare and Share helps these users access a world of Sharing Economy goods and services in one place. The Sharing Economy is valued at $15 bn globally, with 28% of adults participating. 40% say they would if it were easy. The market is driven by 25-34 year olds ‘Gen Share’ an addressable market of 2.68 billion. We have 32 paying car sharing and accommodation affiliates including 90% of the UK car sharing market and an inventory of over 1.4 million properties worldwide. Our Sharing Economy Directory lists 7,700 sharing sites. With minimal marketing spend, we already have 12,000 users per month.

Cashually is a startup company based in London and Barcelona. Cashually is an App for peer-to-peer payments, mainly for payments among friends. Cashually is what mobile payments should be: 100% mobile, fast, simple, secure and free. No bank accounts, codes, complicated processes. The App was launched in Spain in July 2014, and will expand to the rest of EU countries. Cashually is an authorized e-money agent by the FCA. Available in the Spanish AppStore & GooglePlay.

Zank is an online peer-to-peer lending platform established in 2013 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It connects individual borrowers with savers and investors, providing an alternative to traditional banking loans. By facilitating direct loans between users, Zank enables borrowers to access better interest rates while offering investors the opportunity for higher returns on their investments. The platform assesses the risk associated with loans and investments, allowing both parties to make informed financial decisions.

My Mate Your Date is a dating application launched in 2013, based in London, England, that focuses on connecting singles through their social networks. The platform facilitates matchmaking by connecting users with friends of friends, enhancing the likelihood of meaningful connections. Each day at 5 p.m., the application presents a curated selection of potential matches, allowing users to discover, message, and meet compatible individuals. If the app does not identify suitable matches within users' social circles, it suggests alternatives based on common interests, education, occupation, and even astrological compatibility. This approach aims to simplify the dating process by ensuring users connect with people who share similar backgrounds and values.

Uphold, Inc. operates a cloud-based financial platform that facilitates the movement, conversion, and management of money and commodities. Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, the company offers users the ability to add funds via bank transfers, credit and debit cards, or bitcoins, and to send or receive money from various members. Uphold's platform supports the conversion of funds across 84 currencies, including cryptocurrencies, national currencies, commodities, and equities. With a focus on low fees, it allows users to securely hold and transact in their chosen currencies for both personal and business purposes. The platform also features an open API and enables instant peer-to-peer transactions and spending through the Uphold debit MasterCard, which is accepted in over 150 countries. Uphold serves a diverse clientele, including individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations, and connects traditional and digital financial systems through its innovative technology.

London-based HireJungle.co.uk announces the launch out-of-beta of its peer-to-peer renting platform, enabling users to hire out goods and services at no cost. Founded by MBA Marcelo Barreneche, the new eBay-like hire-and-rent platform comes at a time when consumers in the UK are struggling with the nation’s economy. Nonetheless the founder says that the sharing economy “is a more efficient trading model, sustainable either in times of crisis or prosperity”. HireJungle is Barreneche’s answer to the fast-growing and disruptive sharing economy. He believes it was already a fairly developed market but users simply didn’t have the right tools. The serial entrepreneur is confident that if users have widely accessible, reliable platforms, then people would turn to sharing stuff in any circumstances, either to save or the other way round - to earn extra income. “The first ‘Eureka!’ moment,” says Barreneche, “was when I needed a drill for a home refurbishing task and I didn’t have one, but I wasn’t happy with the option of buying a new one only to use it just once a year.” “Then I thought it might be a good idea to hire one drill… But where? From whom? And that started the brainstorming that led to this peer-to-peer platform.” HireJungle’s peer-to-peer platform connects people who own practical stuff and have under-utilized know-how with other people and companies who need it. “Here it is in simple terms: If you were to hire out something, let’s say your TV, which website would you use? If you have no idea, that’s because you’re another one of millions of people out there who could be earning income on things you don’t use,” says the founder. The idea behind HireJungle’s platform is that it doesn’t charge users for renting and hiring, and there is no fee for posting classified ads. Instead, the business model relies on advertising, which is a revolutionary step for users in the sharing economy. In this way HireJungle has managed to attract crowds of people who have already uploaded tens of thousands of products, making it the fastest growing rental marketplace in the UK. “There are no fees attached to listing goods and services classifieds (though businesses have pay options for featured ads), because providing commission-free transactions and publications – empowering the crowd – are among the founders’ core values,” remarks an industry expert. And the technology is top-notch, too. Barreneche’s platform offers a social network and adds value by easy, fast tools that drive the platform’s efficiency. For instance, a one-stop website like HireJungle helps hirers to make informed decisions as they can benchmark prices and compare reviews from companies and individuals alike. Product and Services categories are linked in a way that ensures relevant search results, displaying the services classifieds on the left-hand side and the products classifieds on the right. For example, a search query for “builders in London” will not just display results for the builders’ services available in that area, but also building-related products such as drills, ladders, screwdrivers, just to name but a few. So hirers can assess if it’s worth hiring a skilled workforce or rent the adequate tools for a DIY job. Additionally, HireJungle’s Car Hire Price Comparison Engine allows users to compare car rental prices, and in a matter of seconds, users can see the top 500 car hire firms from over 25.000 locations worldwide displaying the cheapest available rates. The eBay-like sharing platform comes with a serious, educational blog that gets the consumer informed on how to rent out in a strategic way. If the consumer knows how to rent in order to save, everyone wins. HireJungle is positioning itself as a leader in segment of an industry that experts say is about to take off. Martin Varsavsky, founder of Madrid-based wifi-sharing platform Fon, says that one of the next big markets for the sharing economy is renting out “expensive DIY home equipment, appliances, expensive gardening tools” and other assets that get little use in their product lifespan. "We live in a world in which benefits are only accrued through economic growth and the endless consumption of resources,” says Varsavsky. “And that there have to be other ways out there for more people to benefit. Why should everyone have their own car when most of the time they are not using it?” Other startups, like Taskrabbit.com and Rentmyitems.com have recently launched similar platforms. But they have niche focuses: offering exclusively service rentals or exclusively goods rentals – fees apply. HireJungle is one comprehensive solution, letting users rent out their car for the day, or hire a plumber by the hour. Combining goods and services rentals at no cost to the user makes this model a unique one in a market where competition is gaining traction. The sharing economy is booming. Business and Financial magazine Forbes estimated that revenues for the sharing economy could touch $3.5 billion in 2013, growing by more than 25%. HireJungle aims to be at the forefront of that industry in the UK and Europe. And there are plans in the works to expand into India, Canada and the US by 2014. About HireJungle HireJungle’s no-hassle platform is your one-stop-shop for rentals and hiring. And there are no fees to rent and hire out. This project is managed by UK digital agency Join Universe Ltd and is backed by a team of high profile investors.

They provide individuals with spare savings, the opportunity to become personal lenders to screened and profiled borrowers. Unlike other Peer to Peer platforms, our platform is financially inclusive, accepting loan applications from LOW credit score borrowers. If the borrower has a very low credit score, they will need to obtain the backing of a HIGH credit score Personal Guarantor, to boost their chance of obtaining a loan.

Compare and Share aims to open up the Sharing Economy via a one-stop shop for a growing global market who want to access goods on-demand rather than own them. With over £3.5 tn idle assets worldwide and 7,700 sharing sites there was no way to access or compare them. Users had to trawl each site, to find what they needed. 40% of the population say they would trade shared assets, if it were easy. Compare and Share helps these users access a world of Sharing Economy goods and services in one place. The Sharing Economy is valued at $15 bn globally, with 28% of adults participating. 40% say they would if it were easy. The market is driven by 25-34 year olds ‘Gen Share’ an addressable market of 2.68 billion. We have 32 paying car sharing and accommodation affiliates including 90% of the UK car sharing market and an inventory of over 1.4 million properties worldwide. Our Sharing Economy Directory lists 7,700 sharing sites. With minimal marketing spend, we already have 12,000 users per month.

Asset Match operates an online marketplace that facilitates the buying and selling of shares in unlisted UK companies. The platform provides a peer-to-peer trading facility where shareholders can offer their shares for sale, enabling dynamic trading in a transparent and regulated environment. Asset Match conducts due diligence on all client companies and offers comprehensive access to company documentation and historical information for potential investors. The marketplace features ongoing periodic auctions and specialized one-off auctions tailored to market needs, providing liquidity and price discovery for unquoted assets. By allowing direct interactions among shareholders, sellers, buyers, and brokers, Asset Match significantly reduces transaction costs compared to traditional methods.