Overview
How we crafted a high-impact website for Really Clever – the fungal discovery platform backed by Hoxton Ventures and selected for Tech Nation’s Climate Programme – in collaboration with Johnson Banks, balancing visual storytelling with commercial confidentiality for a biotech start-up attracting interest from 15+ global brands.
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Project Details
The challenge:
Really Clever needed a website that could do two things at once: generate genuine excitement about what they’re building, while protecting the proprietary science behind it. This is a fungal discovery platform developing biomaterials, agrochemicals, and clean fuels – technology with the potential to displace animal leather, synthetic chemicals, and fossil fuel derivatives. The company had raised $5.65 million from investors including Hoxton Ventures, Teampact Ventures, and Volpini Ventures, and had been selected for Tech Nation’s prestigious Climate Programme. The site had to give investors, consumers, and potential partners enough information to understand the commercial potential of the platform, showcase their materials, and drive enquiries, all without revealing trade secrets.
The audience was unusually broad for a start-up: sustainability leads at global fashion and footwear brands evaluating new materials, venture investors assessing the commercial viability of deep-tech biotech, and press covering the intersection of climate technology and consumer products. Each needed a different entry point into the same story.
The approach:
Working in collaboration with the team at Johnson Banks – the brand identity studio behind THIS, Channel 4, and the Science Museum – Freshly Brewed crafted a website designed to position Really Clever on the global stage. We focused on finding the right balance between visual impact and carefully controlled messaging. The movement and narrative flow through the site reinforced the “out with the old, in with the new” story, guiding visitors toward leaving their details for further information.
The site was built to convert curiosity into commercial conversations without giving away the science. Every piece of content was designed to demonstrate credibility – the quality of the materials, the rigour of the research, the calibre of the investors – while directing visitors toward a controlled enquiry process. The result is a site that has directly generated inbound interest from over 15 global brands exploring the use of Really Clever’s materials in product development.
Really Clever is a fungal discovery platform pioneering new solutions to some of the planet’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the UK, the company’s proprietary technology matches fungal organisms to commercial applications – producing high-quality leather-like biomaterials, bio-based agrochemicals, and clean fuels that are sustainable, naturally cruelty-free, and increasingly cost-competitive with the materials they aim to replace.
The company has raised $5.65 million in funding from investors including Hoxton Ventures, Teampact Ventures, Volpini Ventures, and Tech Nation Group. Really Clever was selected for Tech Nation’s 2024 Climate Programme, a recognition reserved for the UK’s most promising climate technology companies. Their fungal leather-like biomaterial is reported to be the first to reach cost parity with animal leather while meeting the performance standards required by the fashion industry – a breakthrough that has attracted attention from global brands across fashion, footwear, and automotive.
global brands
Since going live, the website has attracted interest from numerous global brands across fashion, footwear, and automotive. To date, over 15 major brands have approached Really Clever to explore using their fungal biomaterials in product development – a direct result of the site’s ability to communicate commercial credibility while protecting proprietary science.
“Freshly Brewed, and more specifically Brandon have quickly become one of our most trusted partners. Outside of the development of our website, they have been an integral thought partner when creating a window into our brand. Great communication, commercially astute and start-up friendly. I recommend them to everyone I speak to.”
Patrick Baptista Pinto – Founder, Really Clever
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