Editing The Octopus Club

==Summary==

The Octopus Club is the UK marketplace where you can buy, sell or give anything related to babies & kids. We provide a safe platform for parents to extend the life of products and produce less waste. We have over 1800 members and 3500 listings since our launch in June 2020.

* Global baby product market is worth £115 billion
* 6+ million tonnes of UK household waste goes into landfill every year
* 12+ million people purchased a 2nd hand item in the UK in 2020
* Sharing economy will be worth £9 billion within the next 5 years

==Idea==

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Baby items are often used for short periods of time because they grow quickly and need new items to support their development. This isn't environmentally sustainable because of the waste it creates and is equally financially challenging for parents. That’s why mother and graphic designer Ana, started The Octopus Club.

The Octopus Club is a UK platform where you can buy, sell or give anything related to babies & kids. Anyone can list and sell items with ease. Members post or get items collected, contact-free, and all payments are processed electronically to keep things simple and secure.

There are 700k+ babies born each year in the UK, and 8m kids aged nine or under. Collectively, first time parents spend more than £3bn on baby items every year.

The platform is currently free to join and to use. We have several opportunities to build revenue streams including a nominal annual membership charge, fees on sales, advertising and charging for featured items.

With over 1200 (peer-to-peer) transactions in this quarter, we are growing 100% quarter on quarter. Our Instagram growth has recently hit 5k followers. We have only spent £450 on advertising so far.

The Octopus Club is seeking capital to increase our member base, support product dev and improve our customer service capability.

==Team==

A lean but highly experienced team, passionate about extending the life of products and reducing waste. We also have access to a wider group of advisors who support us on: finance, digital growth marketing, operations and technology.

'''Ana Rachel Estrougo - Founder and CEO'''

10+ years graphic designer with focus on branding (Pentagram, Irving&Co). Passionate about everything related to babies & kids since becoming a mother in 2018. Responsible for branding, design, operations, copywriting, customer service, product development.

'''Andrew Meikle - Growth Advisor'''

10+ years experience working at technology start-ups and scale-ups. Worked at Cint, a VC-backed insights platform in Stockholm, was CPO at the leading fundraising platform JustGiving, helped to grow UNiDAYS from 100-250 people, consulted at a number of London-based tech businesses including Memrise, MyTutor and is currently COO for HelloSelf, a VC-backed online therapy provider to individuals and businesses.

'''Maren Kramer - Consumer and Market Research Advisor'''

12+ years of experience in consumer and market research, worked at The Walt Disney Company (10+ years). BA in Media Management and MA in Communications.