At the start of 2018, GoDaddy and Crowdfunder launched ‘What’s Your Idea’. The crowdfunding campaign has become one of the UK’s largest funding competitions of the year. In partnership with Crowdfunder, we offered 8 exporting businesses a game-changing opportunity.
We challenged budding business owners with new and innovative ideas to pitch us their ideas. Hundreds of entries later, we have plucked out the top 8 to start them on the path to success – with the added support from Crowdfunder’s experts!
Here are the 8 winning exporting inspired ideas. Why not offer them your support and make a pledge?
1. Know The Origin
In November 2016 Know The Origin started on the journey to make clothing differently, selling affordable, ethical and transparent clothing. They visited over 150 Fairtrade and organic producer groups across Bangladesh and India and now through the transparency of their business, they have been recognised by Ethical Consumer as the most ethical fashion brand.
Know The Origin are creating an online shopping destination to bring together transparent and ethical products that are made differently. The goal, to make it easy to shop ethically and know the impact and origin of the products you buy.
Get ethical
2. Chocolarder
Chocolarder is a very simple concept – one skilled chocolate maker; quality, ethically-sourced ingredients; a from-scratch process with no unnecessary additives; plastic and waste-free; and a person-centred approach.
But at present, Chocolarder still consists of just one man in a cold concrete production space in a Cornish valley. Now, Mike wants to expand his factory space. A headquarters to champion change, creating a real, lasting and sustainable difference in the way we view and consume chocolate. With a café, as well as tours and workshops, the factory will also become a community hub, a place to celebrate chocolate.
Help Mike build a chocolate factory
3. Tea Huggers
Tea Huggers is an award-winning wellness herbal tea brand. Operating on a global scale they have sold over 100,000 boxes of tea in the UK and abroad. Their success to date attributed to a powerful potion of passion, determination and a love of good tea.
In late 2017 Tea Huggers invested in a packaging redesign. Now, they are crowdfunding to raise £10,000 to pay for the production of the new packaging and to invest in their first full-time employee.
This way to award winning tea
4. Little Beau Sheep
Using the best of British wool, lovely lanolin and a fondness for all things natural, Little Beau Sheep is flying the flag for a kinder, gentler and more eco-friendly approach to laundry and body care.
Front and centre of their growing range of goodies are their famous tumble dryer balls. Offering an effective and sustainable alternative to traditional plastic balls, these adorable woolly mascots are a natural alternative to fabric softeners. Handmade in Yorkshire from 100% British wool, the dryer balls are chemical free, relying instead on their native lanolin content to naturally soften clothes. Natural and bio-degradable, they provide a planet-friendly alternative to their plastic prototypes and also do their bit to support native and rare sheep breeds along the way.
Little Beau Sheep are raising funds for a plastic-free re-design of their packaging and postal boxes, aiming to utilise totally recycled cardboard and switching out plastic containers for aluminium.
The fight against plastic
5. Green Sisters
Green sisters was founded by 2 sisters who are mad about food. A company born from the frustrations of dietary limitations, the sisters set out to empower individuals through food, so that they may achieve a lifestyle that is truly free from compromise.
The sisters are now looking to produce a new range aromatic spice combinations which are totally Free-From 14 allergens, as well authentic Indian recipe cards to accompany. The funds will enable them to rent a suitable allergen friendly kitchen to increase production of their Free-From Samosas, new spice spots and chutneys.
Join the Green Sisters Journey
6. Ideal Factory
Ideal Factory is an all-in-one design platform, manufacturing hub and marketplace. It was created to liberate creativity and empower artists and designers by breaking down all the barriers, costs and headaches of traditional product design and creation.
By working with lots of incredible suppliers, they now have a range of base products which includes everything from sofas to shoes ready to be fully customised. Each base product has been turned into a 3D model in the Ideal Factory Editor, where artists can upload their own prints and patterns and modify them to fit the product’s dimensions. Once an artist’s model is ready, it’s uploaded to the Ideal Factory Marketplace.
With a June pre-launch, Ideal Factory is planning on using funds raised to perfect the platform.
Make a pledge in celebration of quality and creativity
7. Secret Projects
Secret Projects is a social enterprise that launched in 2014. Working in India in areas of low employment, Secret Projects works with women to teach them skills and enable them to set up their own microenterprise. The company started by teaching women how to create pillows, but the product range has since expanded to include other homeware items as well as clothing.
Now, they are looking to evolve their Secret Pillow offering by creating a Personalised Secret Pillow range. A range of pillows with different messages, which can then be written on with pens.
Join the social enterprise
8. Swanky Portraits
Swanky portraits specialise in unique, personalised books. The company sold its first book back in 2016 and to date, they have sold over 500 hand-illustrated personalised books.
The company is crowdfunding to automate their illustration process, due to an overwhelming increase in demand for their books. Currently, they are in talks with a company that are exploring methods of creating illustrations that closely resemble the original hand drawings.
