Support Received: Nwes Business Advisor and Tower Hamlets Start Up Ready grant scheme

Location: East London

Website: www.vidicrew.com

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram

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Your phone is probably littered with an array of apps, from forgotten games and fitness workouts, to restaurant loyalty accounts and mobile banking. Well, you’d better make some room, because business partners Alex Wilding and Paul Hulligan have created a new app that we know you’re going to want to download (as soon as you’ve finished reading this of course).

Alex and Paul founded vidiCREW in June 2017 with the aim of empowering everyone with a mobile phone to create highly engaging films. Both Alex and Paul are professional filmmakers and video editors, who realised that they were onto something after their friends loved the videos of special occasions that they captured on their mobile phones and edited. Having “always been an ‘entrepreneur’ type” admits Alex, the pair decided this concept had a much wider appeal. Not many weddings, birthday parties, evenings out, work gathering etc. go by without numerous attendees taking videos on their phones, but then what happens to this footage? It stays with the individual or is forgotten about. And this is where the vidiCREW app steps in. Alex notes:

“vidiCREW transforms the creation of user-generated video content.”

“Using the free vidiCREW app, multiple content-creators capture video moments of an occasion. These are collected into an online, private gallery to download, share and be professionally edited into an authentic short film by the experienced vidiCREW editing team.”

The vidiCREW app and team of professional video editors, effectively transform your mobile videos, along with your friends, colleagues and families’ footage into a collaborative film from every angle. All via a relatively cheaper and faster process than traditional options.

Though Alex admits “starting is the hardest part”, the creative pair are certainly getting off to a very good start. In May 2017 Alex and Paul won the University of East London’s E-Factor, a Dragon’s Den-style competition for start-up companies, along with a £6,000 prize fund for their business.

Although this award was a catalyst to their launch and a great initial investment for the business, Alex and Paul realised that they would need to boost their funding to grow their innovative vidiCREW app. So, they turned to Nwes for support. After meeting with Nwes Business Advisor Jim Price, the duo were advised to apply for the Tower Hamlets Start Up Ready grant scheme. Entrepreneurs who complete the council’s Start Up Ready course, a 4-day intensive start-up programme, can apply for grant funding of up to £5000 to support the launch of their new business. After attending the course, Nwes Business Advisor Jim, continued to support Alex and Paul to produce a business plan and concrete application for grant funding. The business partners were successful with their request for funding, and it helped them in more ways than one, as Alex notes:

“This is the first time I’ve applied for funding and to receive the full £5k has really enhanced my confidence in myself as an entrepreneur and also in the future for my business. I feel investible and worthy.”

After receiving funding approval, Nwes Project Coordinator Ilona Utting, supported Alex and Paul in successfully claiming their full £5,000 on assets to start and grow their business, such as app development and website design.

With the necessary funding and confidence behind their business idea, vidiCREW is now a successful app and business. Alex and Paul have high ambition for the future of the company, hoping to raise further investment and approach angel investors by the end of this year.

If you’re looking for funding for your business start-up, Alex’s advice is to remember “that funding is out there and is reachable”.

He continues: “This is a difficult planet to get onto, I say planet because it is literally like that for me at the moment, a different atmosphere and environment completely. The main thing is to be brave enough to get in the rocket and go!”

If you haven’t searched for and downloaded vidiCREW already, you can find it on the iTunes App Store and on Google Play. To see examples of what vidiCREW can offer you, visit their website here.

Explore how Nwes can support accessing funding for your business here.

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