Wowcher founder chooses BankToTheFuture.com as funding platform for Fabfob venture
BankToTheFuture.com, the crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in start-ups and mature businesses, is providing an investment platform for Fabfob, the latest venture by Wowcher founder, Nick Brummitt, who has chosen crowdfunding over traditional venture capital funding.
Fabfob is designed to tag valuables such as keys, mobile phones, laptops, cameras, iPods and passports. If these items are lost - and subsequently found - Fabfob gets them back to their rightful owner quickly and safely.
Since the pitch went live, it has already raised over £40k. BankToTheFuture.com provides funding through the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money to support the efforts of entrepreneurial people and organisations.
Simon Dixon, CEO of BankToTheFuture.com, says, “Working with high profile entrepreneurs like the founder of Wowcher, is great news for us. We aim to make crowdfinance less alternative and more a first choice for investors seeking credible businesses and credible businesses seeking finance. It is very exciting that now anybody can invest in such an entrepreneur starting from as little as £50, everybody is now a dragon.”
Brummitt recalls numerous problems while raising finance from banks for Wowcher, the UK’s first daily deal site. He said, “It soon became apparent that banks don’t provide support to those who require it. When I read about Simon Dixon and BankToTheFuture.com about a year ago, I began to follow them with interest. I am impressed with Simon’s vision, truthfulness and experience as an investment banker.
“I did not want to be in the same position as I was with Wowcher, where I create a great product with global appeal only to find I am strangled for cash. Banks are no longer an option. They are just a waste of time and a distraction.”
Seeing the potential of Fabfob, BankToTheFuture.com helped Brummitt develop his skills through The Incubator Course which helps delegates write a business plan, prepare financial forecasts and create a slide show and promotional video. This allowed him to develop a strong pitch for investors.
“Simon is an inspirational character with real vision,” says Brummitt. “He says it how it is, how it has been and how it will be in the future. He showed us an alternative to banks and gave us the confidence to go out there and try it.
“The Incubator Course gave me new skills. It was tough, some didn’t make it through and some realised that they were not quite ready to seek investment, but we all learnt a huge amount. I cannot recommend the course highly enough. It should be on the school curriculum for all business-related courses.”
Brummitt strongly believes that BankToFuture.com will be an answer to the issue of funding. “If the government was serious about helping SMEs, it would pump cash into companies like BankToFuture.com. BankToFuture.com is a job creating machine,” he says.
With the funding raised through BankToFuture.com, Brummitt is confident that he will reach his funding target quickly and get his product to a global market. Already, Fabfob is in production and available from its dedicated website, Fabfob.com.
To invest in Fabfob and gain shares in the company, visit: https://banktothefuture.com/pitches/674/_fabfob-is-a-new-and-innovative-way-to-tag-valuables
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BankToTheFuture.com – Backgrounder
BankToTheFuture.com, co-founded in 2012 by former Investment banker Simon Dixon and former Banker Bliss Dixon, offers start-ups and mature businesses a means to secure crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, and crowdloans.
As an investor, BankToTheFuture.com offers two investment options to buy shares and to lend money to private companies:
BanktotheFuture.com is hybrid crowd funding platform which offers the opportunity to contribute and invest in startup and mature businesses. It comprises:
- Crowdinvesting - giving investors the opportunity to secure equity in a business in exchange for their investment
- Crowdfinance – which is most like the crowdfunding model that people currently understand where people donate money in exchange for rewards. However BF allows people to contribute and invest at the same time, or independently.
- Crowdloans - allowing creditworthy businesses to borrow money for their company from the crowd, rather than a bank, paying the interest directly to investors
In the first 6 months from the launch, BankToTheFuture.com helped to secure more than £250,000 for businesses pitching for investment. In order to prove the concept BanktotheFuture.com secured its own funding on its own platform and successfully launched on that basis
Potential investors can read a business plan, view a video from the business and can begin managing an online portfolio of investments from as little as £10.00.
BankToTheFuture.com won British Innovation of The Year 2012 and has been enthusiastically endorsed by Sir Richard Branson. The company works with businesses and investors across a wide variety of industries.
Businesses wishing to pitch for investment using BankToTheFuture.com go through a three-stage process. Each process begins with an online questionnaire outlining the business model and the investment they are looking for. Stage two offers training and risk assessment to businesses to ensure they are in the best position to pitch to investors. The third and final stage of the process sees the pitch going live on the BankToTheFuture.com website. From here, businesses can pitch online or offline to secure the investment they need.
Visitors to BankToTheFuture.com looking to invest simply register their details, log on and search for suitable available pitches.
Simon Dixon, CEO of BankToTheFuture.com says, “We are democratising investing where businesses secure funding not because banks say “yes” or only rich people say “yes”, but because every day people are deciding who gets the money. We’ve taken the best practices which have previously only been used to raise finance for large companies and stripped out the cost and turned it online, so that small and medium businesses can raise the sums they need without the upfront fees.”
Simon Dixon first qualified as an Economist with a degree in business economics from Kingston University, and went on to gain a Masters degree Economics from the University of Manchester in 2004. Simon then joined the ranks of TD Waterhouse as a stock broker, then KBC as a trader and investment banker.
Simon believes that banking can be transformed by alternative investment, educating the general public on sustainable banking and winning the political argument for banking reform.
