London parenting app raises £500k after "seismic" 400 per cent user increase

A London parenting app has announced that it has raised £500k through a crowdfund after a year of “seismic growth”.

YoungPlanet, a circular economy parenting app, has raised the funding through an “equity for parents” crowdfunding campaign.

The app, which has seen new user figures increase by 403 per cent in the last four weeks, provides a cashless platform on which parents can list or request a range of children’s items, such as clothing, toys and baby equipment.

The funding round, which was run via Crowdcube, raised its minimum target of £350k within 7 hours of the campaign going live.

The investment will be used to grow the YoungPlanet community and enhance the platform’s functionality.

Jason Ash, co-founder of YoungPlanet, commented:“YoungPlanet’s mission has been to help parents become more sustainable, and we’re overjoyed that our investors and community members have chosen to invest in this journey with us.

“Being overfunded within the first 7 hours of our crowdfunding campaign going live was a huge success, and to see that we have overachieved our funding goals by 56 per cent to raise over half a million, shows just how many people believe in our mission.

“As founders, our goal is to transform one of the most wasteful and most costly industries into one of the most sustainable. We’re incredibly proud that people have chosen to join us on our mission to reduce waste, reduce cost and bring communities closer together.”