People’s Champion Finalist: XbyMe

Start-up name: XbyMe (Free2Give)
Founder: James Robins, 48
Started in: 2012
Based in: London
Business description: Alternative finance for recruitment

The XbyMe story:

Started with “a spark of inspiration”, XbyMe gives people the power to mobilise and inspire their social networks through the world’s first Social Capital Exchange, a peer-to-peer marketing platform that has been designed to disrupt the £70bn digital advertising space.

Disgruntled with the poor return rates delivered by Google and wanting to ‘do good’ with a twist, XbyMe was created to help make brand engagement part of people’s every day ‘digital lives’.

Claiming engagement rates 40x better than Google, XbyMe’s first product Free2Give enables people to “do good every day, for free”. The site’s proposition is fairly simple, users who sign up agree to have ‘Nzo’ (XbyMe’s iconic champion of free giving – a bird logo) hop into your social messages. When your friend receives an email from you, the Nzo icon will appear and if they click it, they’ll release a donation, made by a brand. For clicking, your friend will also receive a reward from the brand.

Free2Give delivers the same result as clicking a banner ad, except the click generates a donation rather than a payment to an ad-network (subscribers could generate £2+ a month for their chosen good cause). Users are swapping the value of their social messaging for brand support and brands are offered a better advertising return-on-investment and a potential knock-on effect to sales, as consumers are proven to prefer brands who support charities.

Whilst the business has a social ethos, it is a commercial business and since launch the brand has generated impressive revenues. After securing a deal with a major global media agency and with a lean operating structure that allows for impressive margins, XbyMe could fast become a game-changer.

Why XbyMe made our 50:

A commercially viable business with a social ethos, XbyMe is proving to be a disruptive force in the huge global advertising market. With a major contract secured and an exciting proposition that brings advertising and people together in a new way, XbyMe is worth taking note of.

Where to find out more about XbyMe:

Website: http://www.free2give.com/