Dotforge Impact

Spring Cohort

A brief overview of where the teams are 12 months after their graduation from the Dotforge Impact programme, and their current focus to move forward.

Chummunity - Chummunity have pivoted and are refocussing on writing stories for children’s hospitals. The founder, Jelena Ribic FRSA, is focusing on building and supporting her network and is not currently seeking additional funding.

Deliverd - Working with local restaurants to provide office workers with cold lunch and dinners that they can cook in their office kitchens; all food on the menu meets high food quality standards.

Deliverd are raising £2million and have recently announced their national expansion, delivering to more cities outside of Sheffield.

Learner Lane - a way for parents to find high quality, effective and efficient tutors for their children.

Richard Oki, CEO & Co-Founder, is currently looking at international expansion and is working on launching Learner Lane in China. Learner Lane have a new investment opportunity and are looking to meet people interested in the education sector, particularly in Asia.

Mobile Power - The team address access to power in developing markets.

Having launched their product in The Gambia with good traction and user base. Mobile Power are developing their product and are exploring how they can support more people. The team are looking to raise their seed round at the moment and are looking for connections to investors.

Open Cinema - turns public spaces into private cinemas, supporting the charities and the local community at the same time. 

Open Cinema are currently delivering a 12 week skills agenda as part of the Pre-Apprenticeship Programme and have recently been featured on News UK. Open cinema are looking for introduction to investors to help support their national and international expansion and will soon be launching a CrowdFunder campaign.

OnShowcase - providing a social media platform for schools and education facilities to use to safely promote their institutions and to better connect parents, students and teachers.

OnShowcase are building their sales pipeline at the moment.

PiP Payments - an online payment platform to enable people without bank accounts to make online transactions.

PiP have recently pivoted their business model which has meant that they have increased their client opportunity. They have also been selected by UKTI to attend a trip to East Africa to evaluate their market and are currently raising their seed round.

Polen -  a solution for charities to connect with corporates through social media to gain maximum exposure. 

Polen have recently signed up 3 major corporates in Brazil and are looking at routes for international expansion. Polen are currently looking to raise £250k and are interested in meeting qualified investors.

Winter Cohort

A brief overview of where the teams are 6 months after their graduation from the Dotforge Impact programme, and their current focus to move forward.

Ample - built an easy to use finance management system that equates spending to happiness and encourages ethical spending.

Ample have recently been accepted on to the innovate finance program in London and are currently raising £800k with positive conversations with Angel investors. The team are focused on perfecting their product and gaining traction to secure investment. Josef Wasinski FRSA, Ample Founder, is looking for introductions to investors and users for the beta version of Ample.

Barefoot Lightning - using technology to improve the sustainability of crops and to educate farmers on the quality of their soil in emerging markets.

Simon Holland, CEO, is currently waiting to confirm and close 3 major projects and collaborators across India and Pakistan, working alongside NGO’s and private banks. Simon needs further introductions to funding opportunities and competitions.

Cathartic - an anonymous online platform for people suffering from mental health problems to tell their stories.

Founder, Neil Chandler FRSA, is working on his white label platform for financial institutions and HR departments to fund the public-facing platform. Cathartic have onboarded their first private client to use the software in line with FCA regulations. Neil is currently raising £480,000, needs to build connections with investors and is looking for a co-founder.

Donate Technologies - built a white label solution for charities to make it easier for people to donate and support organisations.

The Sheffield based startup are currently looking to raise their seed round to support international scalability. They are working alongside angel investors and are currently looking to build relationships with more charities across the UK.

Kaini Industries - Using Block Chain technology, Hull Coin incentivizes volunteering through building a community of volunteers, local enterprises and charities who are able to freely exchange Hull Coin.

Hull Coin have recently received follow-on funding from Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Project. They will be launching their product in September and have been featured in the Guardian for the groundbreaking work they have been doing in Hull. 

Kuorum - a political CRM system to help politicians connect more efficiently and effectively with their consitutents. Using smart data, Kuorum is able to provide data analytics to improve their communication strategy. 

Kuorum currently have over 40,000 weekly visits to their platform and 80 politicians signed up and actively using the site. Kuorum are currently looking for connections in the media, to gain exposure for their product and connections to angel investors to aid their expansion and premium product development. 

Limitless Travel - helping people with disabilities travel independently.

Limitless have recently secured funding from the Nominet Trust which has meant they’ve been able to further build their product and gain traction. They’re building traction and their user base at the moment.

Litmus - an AI based educational app, helping provide equal opportunities for children learning Maths.

Litmus have recently secured further funding and have been accepted onto a USA based edtech accelerator as well as the Young Foundation which has given the team more access to investors and networks to get their product into schools. Litmus are looking to build connections with schools. 

School of Code - built a collaborative e-learning platform to address the skills gap in technology.

The team have recently built an interview tool for SME’s and are piloting an e-learning platform in schools in Birmingham. They have also been commissioned by the BBC to run educational programs are currently looking for links into schools and SME’s who are building their development team.

Street Support - addresses homeslessness by building an integrated system that connects councils, charities and volunteers. 

Street Support have received grant funding and have been a key part in launching Manchester City Council’s Homlessness Charter. The team are currently looking at how they can scale their technology into other cities.

Textocracy - an SMS based service for public citizens to provide real-time, anonymous feedback to public services such as GP surgeries, local councils etc.

Textocracy has recently been selected to take part on the Big Venture Challenge programme. Elizabeth Shassere FRSA, Founder and CEO, is focusing on continuing to build traction and has successfully launched her self-service platform and has paying service users. Elizabeth is currently looking for a business mentor and a CTO.

Zazu Africa Zazu (previously FarmFicciency) - an SMS based service that connects farmers with supermarkets to support farmers in developing markets. 

Perseus Mlambo FRSA, Founder, has closed their seed round and will be spending the summer in Zimbabwe to build their pipeline and customer base. The team are currently determining their social impact metrics.