The entry deadline in the 2025 BOLD Awards VI for 33 categories of digital industries and the tech that powers them, including a Crowdfunding category, has been extended to January 9.
The Crowdfunding category award will go to a crowdfunding campaign that demonstrates the steps taken to encourage others to support their cause and help raise funding. The award winner will also be a business that used crowdfunding to deliver more than just funding.
Here are five UK equity crowdfunding campaigns that appear to more than adequately meet the two key criteria. I wonder if any of them will enter and have the chance to pick up the award at a gala dinner ceremony on 28th March in Lisbon, Portugal?
Fishy Filaments
This startup is based in Cornwall and recycles plastic materials from discarded fishing nets to use in 3D printing. First, they applied for and received a grant. On the strength of that they were able to get a loan from the British Business Bank. This was adequate finance to cover their basic costs, so then they created a new product and raised money through crowdfunding to accelerate its development.
Along the way they generated an extensive range of media coverage to carry the message of their sustainable mission to potential backers. This included media ranging from local press to a national newspaper; specialist media in electronics, fishing, sustainability and manufacturing; broadcast coverage on BBC tv and radio.
Neurita Tequila
Alternatively, earning industry awards can be an impressive way to instil confidence in potential investors during the build-up to equity crowdfunding to accelerate a company’s growth. Neurita Tequila is a 35% ABV range of naturally flavoured tequila made with female drinkers in mind. It was launched in 2022 by a former Nestle Group Innovation Manager, Lucy Smith, who has top grade experience of the packaged groceries market.
Since its launch, Neurita Tequila has gained 15 industry accolades in under two years, including a Silver Medal at The Tequila & Mezcal Masters 2024. At the time of its equity crowdfunding, which began in October 2024, it was on the shortlist of finalists for The Spirits Business Awards 2024. Neurita Tequila’s crowdfunding closed at 22% over target. Successful crowdfunding is successful marketing, and the news of its recent crowdfunding success will help the brand’s aim to expand globally.
Body Rocket
In 2025, Body Rocket will start to provide serious performance cyclists and triathletes with a system of sensors which attach to different parts of a bike to monitor aerodynamic drag, and allow them to make data-based changes to both their bike and their riding position. Body Rocket have a series of product offers available in a Kickstarter campaign, and those sales provide product validation for their equity crowdfunding which closed 32% overfunded in August 2024.
The company has actually been using rounds of equity crowdfunding since 2020, when its first round closed at 314% of target from 358 investors. Repeated use of crowdfunding gives them an existing investor network to turn to every time. From 2020 to 2022 their share price rose from £16.74 to £36.68. Their last round was based on convertible loans without a specified share price. Body Rocket’s products are expected to be available from May 2025.
She Grows Veg
This marketplace platform went down the well-trodden path of first using reward-based crowdfunding to check the marketplace through their idea of an online platform selling traditional “heirloom” vegetable seeds was viable. This crowdfunding delivered their initial investment target, they were able to start a customer database, and the founders Lucy Hutchings and Kate Cotterill continued growing the company on the back of the public validation of their business idea with a round of equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube.
Co-founder Kate Cotterill (on the right) had previously worked in advertising, and harnessed the power of the media through gaining editorial coverage in media including Ideal Home, The Times, and BBC News which does not carry advertising, to create awareness of them among potential customers and investors. The power of PR also amplified their double Gold Medal wins at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show and the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival for their exhibit featuring heirloom vegetable varieties from their seed range.
Vinterior
Vinterior is an online marketplace for recycled furniture. Switching from a career in finance, Sandrine Zhang Ferron spotted a gap in the e-commerce market for vintage furniture and founded the business in 2015. By 2024, there had been nine years for the business to grow a customer database of potential investors.
As well as trading equity for money through equity crowdfunding in 2024, the platform also traded equity with media owners in exchange for advertising airtime and space. Definite plans for how to promote the platform to its target end-users was an impressive way to encourage retail investors to climb on board and back the business. Production of Vinterior’s first tv commercial began as soon as the crowdfunding closed successfully, and was aired in September 2024.
BOLD Awards VI, 2025
The entry deadline for all 33 categories has been extended to 9th January, and entries can be submitted here. After a first round of public voting, which gives each entrant an opportunity to mobilise support, an expert judge will assess the resulting shortlist, and the winner will be based on an equal 50/50 public and judge scoring system.
Winners will be announced to collect their awards at a gala dinner in Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday March 28th, 2025. This BOLD Awards VI edition is supported in strategic partnerships with APDC (Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications) and Unicorn Factory Lisboa, two prominent organizations dedicated to fostering innovation and entrepreneurial success.
Non-entrants can apply for a VIP Invitation to attend, and be at this unique BOLD Awards VI event to network with some of the world’s finest innovators and the category sponsors.
