The Founders Pledge Social Impact Award: Meet the finalists

Elvie

Focused on improving women’s lives through smarter technology, Elvie’s products include a Kegel trainer to strengthen the pelvic floor (recommended by 1,000 health professionals worldwide), and the Elvie Pump – the “world’s first” silent wearable breast pump. Women are at the centre of the design process with over 200 women involved in the development of the pump. It plans to have four more products out by 2020.

Learn more about Elvie and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Mush

Founded by Katie Massie-Taylor & Sarah Hesz after a chance encounter in a rainy London playground, Mush is an app helping to combat loneliness amongst new mums by helping them to connect, chat and meet up with like-minded mums of the same age in their area. 400,000 users have signed up to date, with the start-up introducing premium subscription in 2019.

Learn more about Mush and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Olio

Did you know that 33-50% of all food is wasted in the UK? Meanwhile there are 8.4 million people living with food insecurity. Olio is the free food sharing app connecting people with food they don’t need (households & businesses), with neighbours living nearby who would like it. Launched in January 2016, the app now has 625,000 users who have saved nearly one million portions of food.

Learn more about Olio and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Salary Finance

Inspired by personal experiences (co-founder and CEO Asesh Sarkar became inspired when he helped his children’s nanny with a loan, repaid monthly from her salary), Salary Finance partners with employers to offer their staff salary-linked savings, financial education and borrowing solutions to help them pay off debts. Since launch it has helped thousands of people save an average of £600 in interest.

Learn more about Salary Finance and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Switchee

Claiming to be the first smart thermostat for affordable housing, Switchee uses temperature, light, motion, humidity, and air pressure sensors to optimise heat settings and reduce energy bills by between 15 and 20%. Landlords can then use this info to assess mould risk, poor insulation, fuel poverty risk, boiler performance and abandonment risk. With 2.38 million UK households in fuel poverty, Switchee’s unique proposition is essential.

Learn more about Switchee and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Koru Kids

Founded by Rachel Carrell, Koru Kids is on a mission to help families – especially working mothers – juggling their professional lives with looking after their children. It is a community of over 1,000 fully-vetted student nannies offering after-school and summer-holiday care. Carrell is no stranger to the world of entrepreneurship, having previously run two businesses with £20m revenue each. Now, Koru Kids is set to become a household name and change the face of childcare.

Learn more about Koru Kids and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Orcha

ORCHA is the Organisations for the Review of Care and Health Applications, providing a live resource of reviewed and rated health and care apps which can be easily searched, compared, recommended, and downloaded through its platform. It works with HealthCare Providers and Commissioners to develop portals which integrate with local systems and strategies, allowing professionals easy and clear access to a verified resource to help find and recommend the best apps to patients.

Learn more about Orcha and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Sanctus

Sanctus is on a mission to change the perception of mental health and inspire people to work on their mental health like they do their physical health. It is building the world’s first mental health gym, starting off in the workplace by placing Sanctus Coaches at work. Sanctus Coaches are like the personal trainers for your mental health and employees book 45 minute slots throughout their work day, working on their mental health whether they’re anxious or depressed or feeling good and want a space to reflect on what’s next.

Learn more about Sanctus and cast your People’s Champion vote here