News#other
9 January 2021
Unsplash © Timothy Dykes

Crowdfunding now: low-alcohol beer, new banking & sexual wellness

Every week, Maddyness brings you MaddyCrowd, revealing our selection of projects available on crowdfunding platforms. Here's this week's selection.

Happy Dry January! The worldwide alcohol-free beer market is currently valued at circa $18B. Around 84% of drinkers say they want to reduce or moderate their consumption of alcohol.

The Drop Bear Beer Co. has passed the £250K mark on its mission to make £300K on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. With over 20 days to go, the award-winning specialist brewer of <0.5% craft beers, may well be cheersing its victory in the coming week.

Money raised from loyal and soon-to-be patrons will be channeled towards the creation of a dedicated alcohol-free brewery. Drop Bear has already brewed 160K bottles of beer, and delivers across six global markets. It saw an exponential revenue increase of 1875% during the first Feb-Aug 2020 lockdown.

 

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Bitstocks is crowdfunding on Crowdcube, and it wants your help offering ‘everyday financial services that are truly transparent and consciously connected’. The organisation works with public ledger tech to address some of the challenges that plague legacy banking systems.

Its program Gravity launched in beta last February, and already boasts customers across 25 countries – totalling nearly 2,000. Gravity allows users to manage their investments, buy, sell and buy bitcoin; through blockchain, Bitstocks can quickly guarantee proof of solvency, as well as offering the ability to transact in micropayments and ensuring online payments with the privacy of cash.

Gravity was designed in response to low trust in banks – 62% asked in Bitstocks’ research weren’t sure banks had their best interests at heart – in a simple and accessible way.

 

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If you’re looking to spice up those lockdown hours, and make an investment in the process… meet Pleasy Play – an intimacy app for couples, combined with a subscription box, to make it date night, every night.

With the global sexual wellness market due to come it at around $39B by 2024, Pleasy Play says it can make the honeymoon period of a relationship last forever – for just 30 quid a month. It’s backed by VC Indico and Google for Start-ups Accelerator, and a trial in Portugal suggested that 75% of relationships improved through its use.

Pleasy Play sets fun and personalised challenges for couples, at the same time as delivering a bimonthly box of intimate items, designed to broaden horizons and encourage experimentation.

 

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