What The Pitch 2021 finalists are up to now

As we prepared for the launch of this year’s The Pitch, we got in touch with last year’s finalists to discover how they have been doing since the final of The Pitch 2021.

It’s coming up to almost six months since the final of The Pitch 2021, and the finalists have all been keeping themselves busy – whether it be fundraising, partaking in more competitions, appearing on TV, or getting some impressive article features.

We thought we would have a bit of a catch-up and learn more about what last year’s finalists have been up to.

Goodloans (Winner)

The winner of The Pitch 2021 was Goodloans, who strive to improve financial inclusion amongst Ghanaian business owners with phone-based loans.

Following the competition, Pitch judge and Impact X Capital Partners Principal Ezechi Britton MBE joined them as a mentor. Here’s what Zak Nason-Giwa (co-founder and CEO) had to say:

“We’ve made quite a bit of progress. First, we closed a $900k pre-seed round. Second, we just closed a six figure, multi-year SaaS deal with a major corporation – announcement coming soon!”

Chu Lo Drinks

The UK’s first sour fizz soft drinks, Chu Lo Drinks are a series of Japanese-inspired soft beverages.

Chu Lo Drinks have been busy since partaking in The Pitch, with their founder Steph featuring in the BBC show Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars. They are also preparing for their upcoming first funding round.

Amplify.link

Amplify.link is a service that empowers artists and creators to grow their audiences and increase their income. It provides them with the tools and knowledge they need to connect and engage with their fans.

Following The Pitch, Amplify.link had a lot of interest from potential investors. They pitched to a VC – and judge at The Pitch Bristol semi-final – who also ran a Web3 music company called Chapel. Chapel acquired Amplify.link in early 2022 and the two merged to create a new company called Amplify.

“We realised our businesses were really aligned and we had similar visions for helping artists. To cut a long story short, they made us an acquisition offer which was too good to turn down.

“Now that we’ve made our Amplify.link tools free for all, we are beginning to integrate our Web3 tools and preparing for the launch of Amplify.live – our Web3 product which will help to reshape the live music economy,” said Sam Bates, co-founder of Amplify.

Hey! Food is Ready

Hey! Food is Ready is an online marketplace for home-cooked meals, connecting approved home cooks from a variety of cultural backgrounds to their hungry neighbours.

Since The Pitch 2021, Hey! Food is Ready have successfully launched their business and participated in several competitions, including the Digital Leaders Impact Awards for Social Impact and Durham University Blueprint Startup Challenge.

Francesca Docker, co-founder and CMO, commends The Pitch as part of their success:

“We would like to thank The Pitch UK for giving us the platform to present our idea, it was such a brilliant opportunity to share our insights with a growing entrepreneurial network.”

Hey! Food is Ready is looking to expand beyond Newcastle into other areas of the country very soon.

Moove.

In an effort to reinvent how students find housing, Moove is an innovative platform that enables you to find and live in rental housing, with trustworthy anonymous reviews from previous tenants for each property listed on their site.

Currently based in Cardiff and Bristol, Moove has plans to go nationwide this year.

Electric Miles

Electric Miles is developing the world’s most intelligent Internet of Energy (IOE) electric vehicle charging solution, to help users save energy costs, be more efficient, and reduce consumption.

Electric Miles just closed a £800,000 round, with a seed investor coming from The Pitch audience.

Financielle

Another finalist who has successfully raised seed funding is Financielle.

Financielle is a financial wellness platform co-founded by sisters, Laura and Holly. The platform is designed to help people take control of their money and be ‘financially well’, through educational content, practical money tools, and a supportive community.

Care Access

Created in response to Covid, Care Access is on a mission to help older people live healthier and happier lives, creating an online care gateway that delivers all your personalised care needs in one place.

The team continues to focus on building the business to have a positive impact on society.

YesRef (People’s Choice Winner)

The People’s Choice winner of The Pitch 2021, YesRef is an app designed to connect multisport referees with leagues, clubs, and businesses. YesRef received investment from one of our Pitch judges and is currently in the middle of a fundraising round.

As well as fundraising, not only are they expanding their work with County football associations, preparing five major partnerships, and been shortlisted for two awards (App of the Year and Innovation award) – they’ve also managed to secure work with the Premier League:

“We are now working with Premier League clubs to pay officials and also working with the Premier League themselves, which is pretty cool”, says Ben Williamson, founder and Chief Operating Officer of YesRef.

Whering

Since their participation in The Pitch, the team at Whering have been very busy. They have participated in Dragons’ Den, been shortlisted as a finalist for Drapers Sustainable Fashion Awards, and been recognised in countless news articles – even featuring in Vogue!

Whering is an app designed to catalogue your clothes, create unlimited outfits, get styling suggestions, and shop more mindfully. The app also features a marketplace of pre-loved goods, sustainable and ethical brands, and rental items.