Pioneering building supplies marketplace Go Banana has raised 34 percent of its £250,000 target in a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, in order to expand globally.
The innovative online PropTech platform is one of the first of its kind worldwide, offering a marketplace for building supplies and revolutionising the way builders and tradespeople purchase supplies. The platform offers an easy-to-use search tool for searching reliable, trustworthy suppliers for the best quality products at the most affordable prices. Go Banana helps users save money on any building project, making the entire building process easier, cheaper and more convenient.
So far Go Banana’s catalogue has grown to 105,000 products in its first six months, with new suppliers signing up to the platform every month. The company has an ambitious growth plan, looking to expand into the EU and the US. It will use the funds raised to further develop the platform to improve site functionality and user experience, as well as to start designing an easy-to-use smartphone app and implementing a courier system to provide an end-to-end fulfilment solution.
Go Banana is forecast to achieve £1.46 million in its first year by only acquiring 25 new trade customers a month, and in year two, it is forecast to achieve £12.4 million by acquiring 120 new trade customers every month.
By opening up its doors, Go Banana hopes to attract shareholders who are passionate about PropTech and who want to help influence the market. With plans to raise £250k through crowdfunding platform Seedrs, the valuation pre-money is £2,250,000. With an emphasis on making shareholders feel truly valued and included, it hopes that those who choose to invest will have a significant and meaningful impact on shaping the future of the business and making a real difference to the market.
The UK building materials market is currently worth £65 billion, whilst the global construction market is worth $9 trillion and is estimated to grow to $15 trillion in 2025. The UK government acknowledges that the UK construction industry lacks innovation and Go Banana aims to change this.
Phoebe Bull, Co-founder and Director of Business Development at Go Banana, commented, “There was no one stop shop that enabled tradesmen to compare building supplies. Go Banana solves this problem by simplifying the shopping experience through a free search tool and online marketplace that can be used on any device anywhere and at any time. It helps tradesmen to plan in advance for projects, and to quickly estimate costs, not only saving them money but also giving them immediate access to hundreds of thousands of products.”