Togethera is a simple, private social network for your family, partner and closest friends. Founded by Sokratis Papafloratos (exit to Yell Group, Maserati top 100 entrepreneurs) and Matt Dempsey, Togethera is backed by a stellar group of investors (founders of Secret Escapes, Wonga, E-courier, Huddle, Forward, Adzuna & Faction to name a few). Togethera’s mobile apps have been featured and recommended by both Apple and Google.
Togethera is an effortless way to share photos, videos and updates with the people closest to you in absolute privacy. It provides a simple interface, that’s free of ads or complicated settings, making it accessible to anyone, regardless of how tech-savvy they are. You can access Togethera using the iOS or Android apps, a web browser and even via email.
The company was started by Sokratis Papafloratos and Matt Dempsey. They both have geographically dispersed families, with some members being complete technophobes. Prior to using Togethera, Sokratis’ mother had never used email and Matt’s grandmother found technology absolutely terrifying, having suffered a stroke ten years ago. They wanted an easy way to share their lives with their loved ones, in a simple, private way, but couldn’t find an existing solution that really worked for the whole family. Having worked in the tech industry for years (starting their own companies and working for giants like Facebook and Vodafone), Sokratis and Matt decided to do something about this problem, so they founded Togethera. Along the way, they discovered that they didn’t only better connect with their family on Togethera, but also with some of their closest friends.
Here is what some of the people who use Togethera have to say:
“Great, private, photo-sharing app! I love that Togethera lets you share photos with specific groups. And best of all, it’s private!! Where social media has gotten out of control with who can see what, Togethera is as private as you make it. Another awesome feature is that you don’t have to have a smartphone to use it– Grandparents, for example, who don’t have smartphones can still be included because of its online access! So glad I came across this app.”
“Throughout my pregnancy I had been looking for an easy way to share photos with our family members who are spread around the country that would work for elderly relatives who don’t use social media, as well as tech-savvy siblings who live on their devices. Togethera has been a joy to use, and has fit the bill perfectly. Wish all apps worked this seamlessly.”
“No privacy worries, simple to use, does exactly what it needs (keeping the family connected across timezones) without unnecessary features. Love it.”
“Really good app and after searching for so long for a simple but useful photo sharing app, all my family and some friends use it to share photos. Highly recommended.”
Problem
Solution
Togethera is a private, “un-social” network for your family, partner and closest friends. It lets you share photos, videos, updates (and soon location) with the people who matter most in your life. There are no public profiles, so no-one can add you as a friend, “follow” or subscribe to you. Your content is presented in a beautiful, clutter-free timeline and everything is designed with simplicity and longevity in mind. This simplicity allows anyone to use Togethera, including grandparents. There are zero ads and we never sell your data to third parties.
Traction and achievements (to date)
Business model
We’re introducing three revenue streams:
Fund raising
We’re building on the solid foundation we’ve laid over the last 18 months. Fund raising enables us to:
Market
UK key market indicators (UK is a sample – Togethera is a global product)
Timing & opportunity
Growth strategy
Competition
Competitor Weaknesses compared to Togethera (based on Togethera research)
Path
Whatsapp/Messaging apps
Lifecake/23Snaps
Google+
Dropbox/file storage systems
Sokratis Papafloratos, Co-founder and CEO
Sokratis is the co-founder and CEO of Togethera. Previously, he had co-founded and led TrustedPlaces, a social, local reviews business, which was acquired by Yell Group. Togethera is his third startup, as prior to TrustedPlaces he headed up Operations for Wideray – a Sequoia backed company. Sokratis started his career at Vodafone and holds an MEng in Electronic Engineering. He is an angel investor in Secret Escapes, Calm.com and Spatch and was recently recognised by the Centre for Entrepreneurs in the Maserati 100 as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the UK who support the next generation.
Matt Dempsey, Co-founder and Head of Product & Design
Matt is a UX designer and frontend developer, passionate about simple, usable, beautiful products. He’s had a formal education in Graphic Design and has worked on the web since the age of 13 with a number of startups and large organisations, including as a co-founder of Camayak.com. In 2011 Matt was headhunted by Facebook’s design team in California for a Product Design internship, while still at university. He’s also helped millions of people better understand the film Inception and their hatred of Comic Sans.
Red Davis, Senior iOS developer
Red leads iOS development at Togethera. He’s been programming since he was a teenager and has released numerous applications for iOS. He was co-founder of Riot, which developed a number of tools for Mac clients. When the Riot team disbanded, Red’s co-founders ended up at Dropbox and Heroku, while Red joined us to create Togethera for iOS. He lives in Bath and enjoys watching and playing rugby for his local team.
Jack Wall, Senior Android developer
Jack leads Android development at Togethera. He started programming before he was a teenager (always keen to get one over on Red) and he met Sokratis when they were both at Yell. Prior to Togethera, he had co-founded Proxly, a NFC startup helping small business better engage with their customers, which was part of the Wayra incubator. Jack is also a Techstars alumni. When not obsessing about all things Android, he loves writing High Fantasy novels, which he unfortunately doesn’t share with anyone except himself.
Stavros Korokithakis, Technology Advisor
Stavros wrote his first piece of code when he was 15 and he’s been creating software ever since. He worked with Sokratis at TrustedPlaces and is currently working at Silent Circle, the secure communications company. At Togethera he helps with high-level architecture decisions along with our infrastructure setup. He’s created one of the most popular, fast tutorials for Python and used to be ranked first in Reddit karma. He now spends his spare time more productively, honing his photography skills.
Investors
Alex Hoye – Founder Faction Skis
Alexios Vratskides – Founder of Persado and Upstream Systems
Andrew Bredon – Founder of Secret Escapes
Andy McLoughlin – Partner at SoftTech VC and founder of Huddle
Chris Burke – Former CTO of Vodafone and Chairman at MusicCubed
Doug Monro – Founder of Adzuna
Errol Damelin – Founder of Wonga
George & Nick Embiricos – Angel investors
Howzat Partners – Investors in Trivago, TrustedPlaces, Hubbub and Academia.edu
Ivan Mazour – Founder of Ometria
Kirill Makharinsky – Founder of Ostrovok and Quid
Neil Hutchinson – Founder of Forward Group
Nic Brisbourne – MD of Forward Ventures
Sakis Georgiadis – Partner and Hermes GPE
Tom Allason – Founder of Shutl and eCourier
These notes should be read alongside the Financial Snapshot
SALES:
Key sales drivers:
USE OF FUNDS:
EXPENSES AND PROFITABILITY:
EXISTING DEBT OR EQUITY INVESTMENTS:
CASH:
Exit
Mobile usage is transforming the world and we’re still at the beginning. Companies that succeed in capturing the hearts and minds of consumers with a compelling proposition are commanding huge valuations, as demonstrated by the acquisitions of Whatsapp ($19B), Instagram ($1B) and Snapchat ($10B latest funding valuation).
We’re operating in a unique space, taking a different approach where revenue and a sound business model take precedence over viral, explosive growth. We’re building a company with a sustainable, long-term future. Potential exit paths include:
Rewards with monetary value over £1000 can affect the amount of EIS you may be able to claim. Please obtain independent tax advice if there is any concern as Crowdcube does not provide legal or tax advice.
Togethera Investor Supporter: Premium account for a year
Togethera Investor Friend: Premium accounts for 4 friends or family members for a year
Togethera Associate Investor: Premium accounts for 10 friends or family members for a year
Togethera Principal Investor: Monthly photo book subscription for 12 months; Premium accounts for 20 friends and family members for a year; Invitation to a one-off product, strategy and planning event with the Togethera founding team
Togethera Partner Investor: All benefits of Principal Investor; Invitation to annual strategy and planning event with the Togethera founding team; Inclusion on our About Us page with your name and photo
Togethera Platinum Investor: All the benefits of Partner Investor plus quarterly dinner with the founding team
This company is offering both A and B shares. If you invest £10,000 or more you will receive A-shares which have full voting rights. If you invest less than £10,000 you will receive B-shares which have no voting rights or pre-emption.
Togethera has submitted their plans to raise money, details of their structure and trade etc. to HMRC and has been given advance assurance that the proposed share issue is likely to qualify for Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax reliefs relating to their shares.
Tax relief is available to individuals only, who subscribe for shares in an Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Relief is at 30 per cent of the cost of the shares, to be set against the individual’s Income Tax liability for the tax year in which the investment was made.
If you sell, give away, exchange or otherwise dispose of shares, tax reliefs can reduce your Capital Gains Tax bill. Your shares must meet certain conditions to qualify for these reliefs.
Please visit the HMRC website for further information on EIS tax relief
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