Symvan investee UnderPinned hits £500,000 crowdfunding target
Symvan investee, UnderPinned has hit its £500,000 crowdfunding target. The freelance career platform, launched its crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube less than two years after launching and has so far raised just under £1.5 million.
UnderPinned provides freelancers with a one-stop career management platform, covering everything from building a portfolio and creating watertight contracts to automating invoices and payments. Members are also granted access to partner services through Open Banking, including Digital Risks, which offers self-employed insurance and 24/7 legal counsel.
Last week, UnderPinned announced that it is providing all services included in its essential plan free of charge until September, as it looks to support a freelance workforce that is being hit particularly hard by the coronavirus outbreak, with Digital Risks also including its services in this offer.
The company will use the funding for operations in the short term and to build out its client-side portal, with the long-term ambition to reach 100,000 freelance users in the UK. The company was recently added to the Starling Bank Marketplace, making the platform easily accessible for Starling’s 100,000 business bank customers.
Albert Azis-Clauson, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of UnderPinned, said:“Our mission is to help freelancers find work, manage work and get paid, while building a sustainable and fulfilling career. The UK’s freelance population is growing fast and at the moment, there are a lack of services available to support people with this career choice. We’re here to change that.
“The growth of the UnderPinned community over the past year has demonstrated that there is a real appetite for this amongst freelancers and at the moment we are committed to doing everything we can to help this crucial workforce weather the current storm.”
Nicholas Nicolaides from Symvan Capital, who have invested in UnderPinned, commented: “We have backed UnderPinned from an early stage – the founders, Albert and Jack, have worked hard to provide a much-needed solution to communities in the freelance market. We are impressed with the speed of execution and their focus on the needs of the market.”
