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Early bird
Veiligebuurt
The Netherlands
We make people feel and be safe in their neighborhood
We will grow from 200,000 users today to a (neighborhood) community of 640,000 users in The Netherlands by the end of 2019. The potential for The Netherlands only is over the 3 million users.
We empower communities to make neighborhoods safer. We do this by providing an effective communication tool. One that neighbors use to alert each other and stay informed about safety concerns in the neighborhood.
Leapfunder round
We have a working product with more than two hundred thousand customers. Profitability is in sight and we are ready to scale. Our goal is to raise € 810.000 With these funds we will:
grow from 200 000 to 1 000 000 participants
increase B2C sales
build an even better product
create opportunities to roll out in the US and UK
generate al lot more valuable (big) data
sign deals with many municipalities
We will spend the investment over the course of 18 months and expect to break even in the first half of 2020.
Consumer problem
People do feel unsafe. Even in Europe and The Netherlands, which is one of the safest countries in the world, people do feel unsafe. 35 % of Dutch citizens do feel unsafe sometimes and 16 % do even feel unsafe in their own living environment (neighborhood).High impact crimes, like burglaries, do happen to 1 % of the households in The Netherlands. This has a huge impact on residents. Despite the fear citizens don’t take much prevention measures (better locks, alarm systems). They think they are too costly and don’t want to spend too much time about safety. Except for neighborhood watch groups. This prevention measure from the old days where people patrolled through their own neighborhoods, has made a revival in the digital area. In The Netherlands alone, 10 % of all households are part of a digital neighborhood watch group. Research in Tilburg and various other international studies showed a decrease in crime rate by 30 to 50 % in areas with a digital neighborhood watch group.These success stories are one of the main drivers of the growth of these groups. Research showed that even 64 % of all households do want to participate. But despite the crime reduction and willingness to participate there is still “only” 10 % of all households active. The two main barriers are;
Difficult to set-up digital neighborhood watch group
Too much spam and discussion within the group
As said, people don’t want to spend too much time around safety and currently it is too time intensive too set up a group. There is a “leader” necessary in every neighborhood who decides to set this up. Next he needs to promote the group in his neighborhood and add everyone to the group. This is time intensive for him. Next neighbors are not willing or able to join as they are not aware that there is a group and they can join. Or they just don’t want to share their phone number, photo and personal details with everyone in the neighborhood. The second part is why people leave those groups and/ or “leaders” stop. When there are several neighbors in a group you always have several opinions and needs to serve. This makes it difficult to manage for the “leader”. He needs to decide what is allowed. Is it allowed to give emotional support via “thumbs upp” or “smileys”? Is it allowed to place photos of a suspicious person? Or start a topic on a missing cat? When you have a diverse group of people you can’t do it right. People feel they receive “spam” and others do feel they can make appropriate use of the neighborhood watch group. With these discussions, the “leader” becomes the (unwanted) judge on neighbors become disappointed. One way or another this will result in the end of the neighborhood watch group. Or disappointed neighbors leave the group, or the “leader” decides he don’t want to be the judge and stop the whole group.
Consumer solution: Veiligebuurt App
Veiligebuurt app first tackles all the barriers of current neighborhood watch groups (Telegram, Messenger, WhatsApp). As a neighbor you download the app (iOS, Android) and register yourself by only entering your e-mail, your profile name and your home address. With this information we add you directly in the group with your neighbors. You don’t need to know eachother and you don’t share personal details. Within 30 seconds you are part of your digital neighborhood watch group. About the information you entered in the registration form. Your profile name is the only item which is shared with your neighbors and we use this when we send you a message. The email addres is necessary to validate our account and make sure you are not a bot. The home address is necessary to put you directly in the right neighborhood group with your neighbors. Your home adress will not be shared with anyone and will not be used outside Veiligebuurt.At first you only received messages from your neighbors. We added all the worthwhile information from your neighborhood to the Veiligebuurt app. This way you don’t need all other apps and are always up-to-date with safety information of your neighborhood. We give you updates about missing children (Amber Alert), burglaries (police information) and are also connected with home security systems. When the alarm is triggered, the neighbors will be alerted (if you opt-in). The side effect of this additional feature is that user use or app more often as there is more content and alerts. This increase the awareness of the app and organic growth.In our current version (Neighborhood watch 3.0) government can alert neighbors and just use their own communication channels (like AmberAlert, Burgernet). The next steps which we will take to develop the product further is to make a real cooperation between neighbors and government (4.0). The government should be an integral part of the digital neighborhood watch community (citizen participation). Neighbors can inform and alert the government when they see something or want to report something. The residents have one communication point and don’t need to search where they have to report something. Next they receive feedback from the government and status updates.
Results so far
Successes and proof of consumer solution. Veiligebuurt has grown from 50,000 users in November 2017 to 200,000 users in July 2018. Major towns (Utrecht, Zwolle) in The Netherlands switched completely from the current WhatsApp solution to Veiligebuurt app. Users do see and experience the added value of Veiligebuurt and generate a lot of referrals. >25% of all growth came from referrals.
This video made with the police and neighbors in Bommelerwaard shows how the app is used and what successes it have had (including national TV coverage):
Successes and prove of business solution
As shown in the video, the police says it is “fantastic”. This is one of the biggest compliments possible. Next we won a tender of the Ministery of Justice and Security in The Netherlands and cooperate with them. This shows that government see the potential and are keen to work with us. The next challenge is to generate more revenues from the government as a client. As said we already sell to 0.2 % of our users an alarm system per year. This proves that we can sell products and services to our user base. The insurance product will be launched after the Summer 2018 and is expected to create more than 1 % conversion on our whole base, as we learned that 27 % is open for an insurance offer/ quote and we know that our offer is better priced than 85 % of insurance products in the market. Our data is already shared with SwissRe (world leading reinsurer). They use is for their risk model and for their smart home solution with analytics to sell to their clients (primary insurers). The data has been proven valuable to them and we are now discussing prolongation and terms. We have talks with all major insurers in The Netherlands and expect to close deals before end of this year (2018). They are willing to cooperate, see the projected benefits and are now doing their customer research (including brand fit). Veiligebuurt is not yet profitable and not all revenue streams have been proved by paying clients. But we showed that some of the business model revenue stream already deliver money (data, leads, advertisement) and two others are in pipeline (branding and government).
Civocracy
The Netherlands
Civocracy B.V. is Europe’s leading civic tech platform. Signed customers include: S. Holland, Nice, Sicoval and Monheim Am Rhein.
Update: In the last several weeks
1) DITP tender with Capgemini
Last month we were informed we won a national tender related to the modernization of the public sector in France. We, as part of a consortium with Mazars and Capgemini, won lots 2 and 3 (of 3), which were the most relevant to Civocracy. It is a 4-year tender.
2) Debating Security Plus: a success
We successfully hosted Friend’s of Europe’s annual Debating Security Plus event, which has provided the company with our largest revenue to date (€96,000 deal in 2017, €87,250 deal in 2018). The two-day, online security conference took place 19 and 20 June. In both years we’ve seen over 1,500 people - including national ministers, military generals, international policy makers, and other experts - debating high-level security issues on the Civocracy platform, and developing future-proof policy recommendations. We are now in the process of securing a long-term contract to host online events with Friends of Europe.
3) New customers
In June, we re-signed several of our customers: Ville de Lyon, Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur, and Sicoval. We also signed new contracts with La Rochelle (both the agglomeration and town), Beaupréau-en-Mauges, and the region of Provence-Côte-d’Azur. We are really excited for the new clients, new success cases, and new revenue.
4) Next steps
With the success of the new signings, the national-level tender, and other long-term contracts, we are now well on the road to our Series A, something we have been preparing for for the last couple of months. Our research has shown that there are many more relevant Series A investors, particularly within the CivicTech space, in the US than in Europe, so with this in mind, Nicolas and I are spending the next several weeks in Silicon Valley. We currently have set meetings with Lightspeed Ventures and Wildcat Ventures, among others.
About Civocracy:
We empower local governments to connect with their citizens, by assisting municipalties, cities and territories to make decisions in a more transparent way. The platform allows them to harness the knowledge of their citizens, ultimately better shaping communities through improved city consultations.
We have proven success with our 15 paying clients from four different countries. In 2017, we signed €262,450 in revenue.
We use machine learning and big data to provide actionable insights and analytics on participation.
Government are able to ask for feedback on key issues, gather ideas, and gain public perception on policy.
Citizens can offer their opinion and propose projects, stay informed, and can see when their input has been read.
We’ve empowered our clients to increase their reach, participation levels, and efficiency.
We are raising a bridge round of €165,000, prior to opening our Series A growth round later this year. We’ll use the bridge funding to continue developing our platform’s features, and continue growing our client base.
PROBLEM
71% of people are mad at their government, and apathy is at an all time high. In the 95 elections held across Europe since 2014, on average only 56% of people voted, where as 30 years ago (1983-7), the average turnout was at 77%. The ways people have been able to express themselves - social media, town hall meetings, protests etc. - are insufficient. This has led to widespread disengagement.
SOLUTION
The Civocracy.org platform allows for focused discussion around specific topics. For instance, the city of Lyon has consulted citizens on education reform, and Losser on biodiversity regulation. All comments are analysed by our machine learning algorithm, from which we can create detailed reports with constructive and applicable outcomes that can form policy and local projects. Citizens are also able to create discussions around subjects they wish to see improved in their communities.
Key platform features:
SUCCESSES
“The Civocracy platform is innovative, interesting and brings serious added value to offline citizen consultation. This is the future, I am convinced of it.”
Biel Raphael, Deputy Cabinet (Participatory Democracy), Ville de Lyon
SALES APPROACH
In 2017, we launched our multi-city participation strategy programme, Territoires Fédérateurs, which teaches and empowers governments to more effectively connect with their citizens, learning collaboratively from one another, and through expert trainings. The first cohort features Strasbourg, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Guyane, Sicoval. This year, we will expand the programme to the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.
MAJOR CLIENTS
We additionally hosted the inaugural Debating Security+, an online debate run by Friends of Europe. During the 48-hour conference, we held 77 discussions and received 1750 comments. A number of high-level security officials were in attendance and hosted discussions, including Amina Mohamed, Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gilles De Kerchove, Council of the European Union, Bert Koenders, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Denis Mercier, Supreme Allied Commander at NATO. Many of the ideas have been included in a report that was passed to organisations such as NATO, the European Commission and the EU. They have already resigned for 2018.
*compared to traditional methods such as town hall meetings and written correspondence. Data from a consultation with Ville de Lyon in 2016.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Graduated Startup Bootcamp Amsterdam Smart City, 2015
Signed Strategic Investment with Centric B.V., 2016
Successfully raised strategic and angel funding
Launched First Optimized Version of Civocracy, July 2016
Debating Security+ conference for global security VIPs, September 2017
Designed and Launched Territoires Fédérateurs Programme, 2017
Numerous awards, including: EU Seal of Excellence, European Institute of Innovation and Technology Digital Challenge winner 2016, Le Monde Smart City Innovation Prize 2017, 50 Companies to Invest Challenges.fr, Ashoka Social Entrepreneur to Watch
TESTIMONIALS
(from Paying 2017 Customers)
“Administrations can’t govern like they used to; there’s incredible strength to be gained by associating citizens in the process. Your tool is perfectly adapted to accompany this: it is based on modern, user-friendly practices with ergonomics, and an environment capable of stimulating quality debates. Thank you for making us progress in digital participatory democracy!”
Nathalie Bonfanti, Innovation-Digital Department, Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur
“In the new digital society, we find have to provide citizens with ways to contribute through new methods. In Civocracy, we recognized their added value: the platform is a welcome addition to our existing methods."Marcel Wildschut, Alderman, Municipality of Losser
“We are confronted with a difficulty that traditional tools do not allow us to resolve: limited participation, particularly amongst young people. Civocracy allows us to address this major problem. Easy to take in hand, easy to access, it allows young people who are used to digital technology to participate, and enables us to re-engage the city more generally.”
David Kimelfeld, Mayor of the 4th Arrondissement, Lyon
“Civocracy has enabled us to meet our needs, and to communicate and participate actively on social networks.”Rieneke Kanne, Councilor for Tourism, Culture and Economy of the Province, North Holland
Bundleboon
The Netherlands
Bundleboon launched mid-2017 as the first personal shopping service for kidswear in the Netherlands. We offer young parents, with children between 0-8 years old, a unique and personal shopping experience when buying outfits for their kids online.
The problem
Parents face increasing difficulty when finding time for their children because of work. A 2017 Euromonitor report concluded that parents find shopping for kidswear exhausting and that mothers find it difficult to find unique brands, when dressing their kids. Bundleboon offers parents a unique mix of 1) a personalized shopping experience, 2) smaller and inspirational brands that are not easy to find online and 3) convenience and timesaving shopping journey.
The childrenswear market
The childrenswear market is the fastest growing segment within the EU fashion industry, consisting of €58B with a 9% projected annual growth rate towards 2020*. Specifically the online segment is growing at an annual growth rate of 13% and currently, 16% of all kidswear sales is through online channels. In a recent GFK survey, nearly 40% of consumers signaled to be ready to use curated shopping services for their fashion shopping**. The growth drivers identified for the kidswear market are 1) luxury brand shopping, 2) personalized shopping experience and 3) gifting. Bundleboon's proposition operates exactly at the intersection between all 3 main growth drivers***.
Market traction
Bundleboon has been live for 9 months with more than 450 customers, and a total turnover of €75K, all with having spent a total of less than€2200 on marketing and acquisition. By partnering up with retailers, specialized in kidswear and gaining online traction through actively engaging with our customers, we were able to acquire these customers through word of mouth and referrals from followers on Instagram. Our customers are our biggest fans and love to share their Bundleboon shopping experience with their followers on social media, which in turn delivers us more customers.
Because of the premium proposition and premium brands we use in our service, our customers are between 31-40 years old with mid to high annual income (>€50k annual spendable income). Within the Netherlands 220.000 households match this criteria, with an estimated 375.000 children that Bundleboon aims to style****
Bundleboon works through an online platform where customers can order their box:
Customers fill in our visual style quiz within a few minutes and pay a styling fee
We send a box with 2 stylized outfits (8-10 items)
Parents have 10 days to try the outfits
They can return all the items they don’t like and only pay for the items they wish to keep
The styling process is currently done mostly by our stylists but we are developing an automated styling algorithm that will take over the styling process to improve the return rate and increase margins.
The Business Model
Bundleboon’s revenue model is retail-based: we currently have 6 partnerships with fashion brands and retailers, where we buy inventory with 30- 60% margin. We sell the inventory at full retail-price to our customers and offer our service, shipping and returns for free. We currently offer over 70 unique brands in our boxes - all difficult for consumers to find elsewhere in the market, which adds value to our proposition as well.
The balance between both our deals with retailers and brands offer flexibility in terms of 1) items in our portfolio, 2) active and steerable margin management and 3) pro-active inventory manipulation. Because of the nature of our deals, both with the brands and retailers, we have minimized our risk of inventory waste by not owning all the inventory that we sell. This way, we can continuously update the items that we offer our customers, without the increased capital risk.
Additional opportunity and partners
We’ve identified an opportunity to increase our data gathering capabilities and improving our data efficiency, by offering our styling service to existing fashion retailers, as a B2B proposition. We’ve agreed to a pilot with America Today to offer their customers a personal shopping service, where Bundleboon provides styling advice and America Today does the customer acquisition, fulfillment of the orders and offering the inventory.
The team
Our team exists of 2 multidisciplinary co-founders, Nelli Jeloudar & Monique Janke, with years of combined experience in curated shopping/operations (The Cloakroom), customer experience (Pandora), buying (Zalando), and portfolio management (de Bijenkorf).
We were recently been featured in De Telegraaf as “startup of the week” and nominated for the Accenture Innovation Awards in the “Living & Working” category.
We recently graduated from the Commerce program at Startupbootcamp in Amsterdam. The 3 months at the accelerator consisted of bootstrapping, meeting mentors and potential investors to help us scale within weeks.who are s helped them scale within weeks.
Our mentors
We have a great support system and get a lot of guidance from mentors, specialized in fashion, retail and entrepreneurship. Our group of mentors consists of Marcel Timmer (former Partner at Varova Investments), Marijn Romer (Logistics expert at a.o. PostNL and Involvation), Clemens Dopjan (Global director of digital strategy at Adidas), Rolf Burrekers (former CEO of Prenatal) Xander Korijn (Director at Tripos Beheer), and Kasper Brandi Petersen (Co-founder of The Cloakroom and LABFRESH)
Leapfunder round
For 2018 we are looking for an investment of €100.000 to achieve the following targets:
Building the Bundleboon brand
Ship 1.500 boxes
Outline the data platform and refine smart shopping and styling algorithm
We will use the invested capital for:
Branding and acquisition
Data platform development
Working capital for inventory
At the end of 2018 we expect to have achieved the following:
Finalized the outline of the data platform
Functional styling algorithm
Multiple brand partnerships
Developed supply chain process
Sources:
*Euromonitor – Report on childrenswear in Western Europe 2017 **GFK report - Curated shopping Germany (2015) ***RNR Market Research - Global online childrens apparel market 2016-2020 (2016) & Statista e-commerce fashion outlook (2017) ****CBS Statistics – NL Households Statistics 2016
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