Spring Crowdbacker 2022: Introducing the five new social ventures
Find out who will be pitching at Crowdbacker this Friday, April 1st
After Spring Crowdbacker 2022, we’ll officially have 50 ventures on the Year Here portfolio — an exciting milestone for our tenth year as a business.
This Friday, 1st April, we’re launching the five new social enterprises our 2021 Fellows have been testing and building over the past four months. The startups — Soda, Mosaic, Climate Minded, Kālā and Just Once address some of the most challenging issues we face in the UK and globally, from environmental sustainability to inclusivity.
As well as pitches from our new ventures, you’ll hear from Monica Pun, Year Here alum and founder of Spedal, who’ll give an update on her journey since her own Crowdbacker this time last year. Nadia Al Yafai, Head of Mutuality & Impact, and Purpose Lead, at Royal London, will also speak about financial resilience, just transition and our exciting partnership.
The event will be MCd by Stefanie Sword-Williams, creator of F*ck Being Humble, the global movement, consultancy, book and event series helping people be unapologetically proud of their achievements. Stef is an entrepreneur who believes in the power of supporting other founders, having recently launched That Feeling When… podcast to provide career advice alongside fellow founders, and This Might Help, a peer-to-peer resource to help people who are supporting others through mental health issues, sexual assault and trauma.
Read on to learn more about the new ventures and what inspired them to take the leap into social entrepreneurship, but be sure to attend in person or tune in live this Friday afternoon to hear their full pitches.
Soda
Soda empowers young adults who are chronically ill and disabled to work with public services and commercial organisations to design a more inclusive, accessible world — and to get paid for it. Founded by Alex Eisenberg, Charli Skinner and Oli Clayton, they combined the power of lived and learned experience in its development.
Co-founder Alex Eisenberg says, “We started Soda because disabled and chronically ill people must be involved in designing products and services. We must build a world that truly centres accessibility and inclusivity. Charli has lived experience of the issues people who are chronically ill and disabled face every day, and we bring non-disabled allyship to the core of our venture. We want the voice of this community to be properly heard and empowered to bring about positive change.”
Follow Soda on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Mosaic
Mosaic allows you to adopt a plot of land that will be nurtured and tended to, making rewilding more accessible and demonstrating that land has value as a source of life.
For founder Jon Conradi, his passion for nature and conservation led him to found Mosaic. “I find the life all around us to be wonderful and inspiring. It is easy to lose sight of this amongst concrete and car horns. Rewilding has the potential to not only restore biodiversity but to reignite our passion for wildness. I want to make this more accessible, whether you have land or not.”
Follow Mosaic on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Climate Minded
Climate Minded aims to bridge the climate literacy inequality gap and get young people from ethnic minorities and low-income backgrounds more involved so they don’t miss out on the opportunities the green economy will bring in the future.
“I feel that young people from ethnic minorities and low-income backgrounds are constantly catching up and missing out on important opportunities. We created this programme to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We want to play our part to make sure the opportunities the green economy will bring are inclusive, fair, and no one will be left behind!” says founder Roxana Romero.
Follow Climate Minded on Instagram.
Kālā
Kālā is on a mission to democratise access to venture and prove you can make money and have a positive impact. Kālā brings transparency and human touch to today’s world of investing, letting you invest in things you care about.
Founders Elitsa Marinova and Jaskiran Mangat both have a background in investment and innovation. “We understand that business makes the world go around, and it’s the best opportunity we have to solve complex social problems. We want to make finance available and bring about the much-needed change in the investment and startup ecosystems. Kālā enables you to put your money where it matters.”
Follow Kālā on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Just Once
Just Once is a paperless carers assessment that integrates the registration process of other existing sources of help. Unpaid carers register Just Once and have access to all the services available to support them. For Michael-Jordan Faucher-Folie, Just Once was born from a deeply personal place, becoming an unpaid carer himself after his mum suffered an accident.
“My biggest dilemma as an Unpaid Carer was the amount of time I had to ask for help, only to find it went unheard. When you’re at crisis point, you shouldn’t have to ask more than once for help. Just Once should be enough to send in the cavalry. That was my light bulb moment!”
Follow Just Once on LinkedIn.
