Boateng
Business Entrepeneur
Report by Tim Redigolo - Northampton Chronicle & Echo
An aspiring Northampton entrepreneur and two of his friends have secured £50,000 for their app during their university's Dragons' Den-style event.
Boateng Opoku-Yeboah, a former Northampton Academy pupil, along with co-founders Tunde Alao and Landon Vago-Hughes won the investment for their Cluttr startup.
Their creation is an all-in-one private social network and household solution to declutter shared homes and is available on the App Store and Google Play store.
"Our app takes care of the potentially awkward tasks so that dream of living in harmony with your friends can be realised," said University of Southampton third-year aerospace engineering student Boateng, who has interned twice with Google in California and Switzerland.
“In 10 years’ time, we’re aiming to see six million users across the world using our application to make their lives easier and stress-free.”
Cluttr was one of six student startups pitched in front of a live audience at the Future Worlds incubator’s investment event in the university's Students’ Union.
Sitting on the panel were investors Chris Broad, (Apple Director of Sales Contracting EMEIA), Andrew Doe (digital entrepreneur and founder of confetti.co.uk), Sonja Lami (angel investor and Insight Investment Fund Manager), and Nick Lawton (chairman of the Lawton Communications Group).
Cluttr became the first startup to receive the unanimous backing of all the investors on Saturday, with the four business leaders putting forward a joint offer of £50,000.
Dr Reuben Wilcock, Future Worlds Director, said: “It’s been great to see an infectious entrepreneurial culture building on campus in recent years which now seen over £450,000 pledged on-stage to student startups at our four annual pitching events.
"The student entrepreneurs really impressed the investors on Saturday with their passion, professionalism and presentation, and it will be exciting to see what their fledgling businesses can achieve in the coming years.
"Two startups from the 2017 showcase are now valued at over £1m and will be based in Silicon Valley and London from this summer.
"Future Worlds will be mentoring Cluttr and the other startups as they continue their entrepreneurial journeys alongside their studies and strive to impact society with their innovations.”