In February, three businesses who were fundraising on Seedrs attended our monthly Bitesize Pitches event, selling their visions to a packed house of Seedrs investors. What each business left with, however, went beyond the standard investment that entrepreneurs associate with the events and equity-crowdfunding in general. By the end of the evening, each of these ambitious businesses left with new strategic partners – each other!
After realising the clear synergies between the businesses, the three companies decided to partner with each other to collaborate on cross-marketing activities such as blogs, podcasts, e-books and newsletters, that provide further advisory support in the form of online content.
A growing movement
With the contractor and freelance work movement gaining increasing traction in the UK, and with the self-employed UK working population set to rise to 50% by 2020, iContract, Investly and InMyBag are set to leverage this movement with their platforms:
iContract – A one-stop-shop for contractors providing job matching, networking and third-party support, helps 5,000 plus registered contractors with advice on important contractor matters such as accountancy, mortgages and pensions.
Investly – Helps European businesses finance their 30 to 180-day invoices on an easy to use marketplace that brings them the best price from multiple providers. As a result, businesses are able to take on more customers, speed up their production process, and avoid seasonal cash flow gaps.
InMyBag – Enables users to seamlessly acquire and manage insurance policies for laptops and phones.
Investly successfully funded on Seedrs earlier this year, raising £567,296 from 554 investors and iContract is currently raising with us.
iContract CEO and Co-Founder Amanda Cai was thrilled to have forged these new partnerships, enhancing the platform’s overall offering for contractors.
She commented, “iContract is excited to be partnering with both InMyBag and Investly. Gadget Insurance and Invoicing are both extremely important to contractors and their livelihoods, and InMyBag and Investly’s unique offerings will be seen as valuable to our contractor community.
Our collaboration will also give each partner the platform to share their own unique insight and knowledge on the world of contracting and the self-employed workforce, and simultaneously increase the awareness of our propositions into new communities.”
iContract’s campaign is currently live on Seedrs.
Investing in startups involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. This blog post has been approved as a financial promotion by Seedrs Limited.
