PROSPECT 100, a UK-based startup, has successfully raised £600,000 ($750,000) to build the go-to platform which allows brands to connect and collaborate with creative talent around the world.
The pre-seed funding round was co-led by pan European fund BlackWood Ventures, London-based QVentures, and Austrian entrepreneur Ferdinand Ahorner.
A number of notable angel investors also joined the round, such as famous designer Sean Wotherspoon, Guy Holmes of Gut Records and Snappt and Adam Perrin of Masomo Games and Marshmallow.
PROSPECT 100 was co-founded in lockdown by Adam Flanagan, Alexandre Daillance (pictured) and Harry Beard.
The trio looked to provide a platform that enabled creatives from anywhere to keep creating during the pandemic.
Since its inception, PROSPECT 100 has hosted co-creation opportunities with organisations like Paramount, Kering, Swatch and even the Ukrainian Government.
With this new round of investment, PROSPECT 100 will develop its platform to become the home for co-creation, enabling more brands to co-create with creatives from all over the globe, and focus on growing their already thriving community.
PROSPECT 100’s co-creation platform connects corporates, charities and public organisations with a deep community of freelance and professional creatives.
The platform allows organisations to crowdsource creative designs driving engagement.
Having already worked with a number of the world’s biggest organisations, and hosting a community of 10,000s of young global creative talents, PROSPECT 100 aims to become one of the biggest platforms for creativity in the world.
Sean Wotherspoon said: “I think it’s extremely important for platforms like PROSPECT 100 to exist. There’s so much talent hidden in our world, it’s great seeing people like PROSPECT 100 giving a platform for them to be noticed.”
Harry Beard, the 23-year-old co-founder and CEO of PROSPECT 100, said: “We believe the best ideas can come from anyone, anywhere.
“Lego has pioneered the way with their platform ‘Ideas’ enabling them to co-create new products alongside their consumers.
“Co-creation is a way for brands to speak with their consumers through the language of design, providing opportunities to really deserving – often underrepresented – talents.
“I believe every organisation will put co-creation at the heart of their strategy in the coming years, and PROSPECT 100 is the home of co-creation.”
Alexandre Daillance, PROSPECT 100 co-founder, added. “Our team and I are extremely excited about the future of PROSPECT 100.
“This pre-seed round will help us to continue solidifying our position as the home of co-creation for brands and designers around the world. From increasing our number of briefs to expanding the range of types of organisations we work with, we are looking forward to carefully growing our offering to designers and improving our product continuously.”
Abbas Kazmi, of BlackWood Ventures, said: “We are excited to be leading PROSPECT 100’s first funding round, having closely followed the team’s progress for the past three years.
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“We look forward to seeing PROSPECT 100 revolutionising how brands and designers work together and truly believe that they have the right team in place to deliver on this promise.”
This is the youngest founding team that both BlackWood and QVentures have backed.
Most recently, PROSPECT 100 ran a campaign for amfAR’s debut NFT collection to raise funds for AIDS research. The global design competition was judged by a high-profile panel of Baz Luhrmann, Jeff Koons, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner, Peggy Gou, Natalia Vodianova, J Balvin, Alton Mason, Millinsky, and Francesco Ragazzi.