Impossible.com
| Industry | Design firm |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founder | Lily Cole |
Key people | Lily Cole, Kwame Ferreira |
| Owner | I AM POSSIBLE Limited |
Number of employees | 70+ (2018) |
| Website | www |
Impossible is an innovation group and incubator. It started as a gift economy platform[clarification needed] created by Lily Cole in 2013,[1] and since then has expanded to other areas, mainly design and technology.[2] Impossible claim to be working on client projects with potentially far-reaching impacts.[3]
Impossible People
[edit]Impossible People (previously Impossible.com) is an altruism-based mobile app which invites people to give their services and skills away to help others.[4] Created by Lily Cole, the app allows users to post something they would like to do or need so that others can grant their wish. In May 2013, Cole presented the app's beta in conjunction and with the support of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales at a special event at Cambridge University.[5] It is the first Yunus social business in the UK. The project became open source in March 2017.
Funding and support
[edit]In the past, the Impossible.com gift economy project received a grant of £200,000 from the Cabinet Office’s Innovation in Giving fund.[6][7][8][9] Other investors include Lily Cole herself and boyfriend and Impossible's co-founder, Kwame Ferreira. Donations of services from Muhammad Yunus, Brian Boylan, chairman of Wolff Olins, Tea Uglow, creative director for Google’s Creative Lab, office space and "angel investor"[10] role from Jimmy Wales, and legal services from Herbert Smith Freehills bolstered the social network.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ "Mission Impossible? Lily Cole on changing how people think about money". The Drum. 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
- ^ "The bizarre digital book you must destroy before sharing". Wired. 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
- ^ "Achieving the impossible with Lily Cole". Wired.co.uk. 2017-11-17. Archived from the original on 2018-02-17. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
- ^ "Forget glamor, model Lily Cole wants tech for good to encourage women, girls". Reuters. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
- ^ Pithers, Ellie (2013-05-17). "Lily Cole debates the gift economy at the Cambridge Union". London: Telegraph.Co.Uk. Archived from the original on 2013-06-25. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ Eady, Piers (2014-03-21). "Multi-millionaire supermodel Lily Cole given £200k of taxpayers' money to set up gift exchange website". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
- ^ Pithers, Ellie (2013-11-23). "Mission Impossible: Lily Cole's new social network". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
- ^ Orlowski, Andrew (2014-03-25). "Improbable: YOU gave model Lily Cole £200k for her Impossible.com whimsy-site". The Register. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
- ^ Fiveash, Kelly (2013-11-26). "Supermodel Lily Cole in Impossible partnership with Jimbo Wales, YOU". The Register. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
- ^ Zeitgeist Minds, presented by Google, Becky Anderson in conversation with Lily Cole, Model, Actress and Founder, impossible.com & Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia.org, 2012.
- ^ "Mission Impossible: Lily Cole's new social network," The Telegraph, 23 Nov 2013.