AN entrepreneur is appealing for public votes so he can pitch to Sir Richard Branson and claim a share of a £1m prize fund.

Former Builth Wells High School student Maximilian Pawley launched his roarkindustries website at the end of February which he says is the first online marketplace for buyers and sellers of reclaimed vintage furniture, rustic and industrial home wares and vintage character pieces.

Max, who also works as a freelance car designer, said: "The website represents people selling salvaged and reclaimed items for the home.

"Anyone can be a seller and sell old bed frames or kitchen doors on the website.

"It launched at the end of February and it’s going really well. Eighteen sellers are signed up and are beginning to make sales. It is building in popularity as more people get to know about it."

Maximilian is hoping to win Virgin boss Sir Richard’s support to build on the website’s early success.

The 25-year-old has entered Virgin Media’s #VOOM 2016 competition in which entrepreneurs seek votes from the public to be in with a chance of pitching to the tycoon.

"I need the support of the public – to vote for Roark Industries and help me really get the word out. Pitching to Richard Branson would be an incredible opportunity for me to grow my vision of the business into a reality, and encourage people to start using reclaimed items and materials intelligently."

Maximilian has previously pitched to the Entrepreneurial Spark team sponsored by Natwest and KPMG, securing a place on their business accelerator programme and is also running a Crowdfunder campaign.

The businessman, who grew up in Llangammarch Wells, said his idea had been inspired by his work in the car industry.

He studied automotive design at university in Coventry and has worked as a freelance car design sculpture making life size models of cars for companies including Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Nissan.

"I was looking at how waste by-products from the car industry could be reused as building material and it went from there to looking at how it could be a more scalable business not reliant on one industry."

Public voting for #VOOM2016 closes on May 23 by which time Maximilian needs to secure enough votes and donations to go through to the next round.