Andy Murray supports three British entrepreneurs on Seedrs equity investment platform
London, 11.00am, 15 March 2017: Tennis champion, world number one Andy Murray continues to back early-stage businesses in 2017 as part of his strategic relationship with Seedrs, today identifying three ambitious British companies, MacRebur, VPAR and Bijou Commerce, investing undisclosed amounts into each.
MacRebur, the pioneering Scottish startup that makes roads out of waste plastic surpassed its £590,000 target on Seedrs, overfunding to almost£1.3 million in just over a week with more than 1,029 investors into the Richard Branson backed business. The firm produces a patented bitumen replacement that results in stronger and longer lasting roads and the trio of Scottish-based founders are at the forefront of a revolution to improve all roads, sort out potholes and create a new arm of recycling.
VPAR, the ambitious golf technology platform has so far raised £1.15 million from almost almost 300 individual investors including Eden Rock Capital’s CEO James Matthews and is currently overfunding on Seedrs. The Golftech brand is revolutionising the golf experience and democratising the game for a new audience. VPAR won Best Sports App at the Sports Technology Awards beating Chelsea FC and The Wimbledon Championships.
Bijou Commerce, the leading SaaS based mobile commerce platform for leading retailers has only just gone live on Seedrs but has already hit 80% of its funding target with £642,000 invested from investors including retail mogul Tom Singh. The revolutionary startup’s mission is to transform the way retailers, brands and publishers engage, retain and monetise their customers’ on mobile.
Murray said about the investments, “I’m continuing to grow my portfolio through Seedrs and have tried to choose companies that I inspire me from as many different sectors as possible. I was interested in MacRebur because I am really impressed by their ambition to make a massive economic and environmental difference to road construction worldwide.
“VPAR appealed me because I enjoy golf and it’s something I could see myself using once I finish playing tennis, and Bijou Commerce is a ground-breaking tech company which will hopefully revolutionise retail.”
Toby McCartney, the CEO and co founder of MacRebur says: “The last few weeks have been incredible as more and more people have got on board with MacRebur from around Britain and also Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Latvia and Portugal. To say we are all delighted that our Scottish hero, Andy Murray has now invested in MacRebur through Seedrs would be an understatement. We’re staggered at our final amount and so proud at what we’ve achieved so far. Fingers crossed we can persuade Andy to let us pave his driveway at Cromlix House.”
Jason Stoop, CEO at VPAR says: “Our technology is used by some of the leading sporting talent in the world and so we are absolutely thrilled to have the tennis world number one believing in VPAR and investing. For us to have Andy Murray as a shareholder is incredibly humbling, and since we understand the 18th hole at Dunblane New Golf Club is named after him, we are hoping he will join us for a round of golf very soon!”
Olly Cooper, the founder at Bijou Commerce says: “We are overwhelmed to have a tennis legend like Andy Murray invest in the campaign as part of the crowd. We are only a few days into our raise but so many members of our community have backed Bijou Commerce, all of whom will play a part in our future success and we can’t wait to hit our funding target in the coming weeks.”
Jeff Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Seedrs: “We are delighted that Andy continues to be so active in early-stage investment and his recent investments on Seedrs into MacRebur, VPAR and Bijou Commerce reaffirm this. His investments have helped Seedrs to exceed a new milestone, with over £200 million invested into campaigns on the platform. Andy is a great example of an investor who understands this asset class and the importance of building a broad investment portfolio, into which these three game-changing brands within their subsequent sectors will add even more diversity.”
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
Contacts
Seedrs: Lucy Sharp, PR & Communications Director: lucy.sharp@seedrs.com; +44 7932404012
Andy Murray and 77: Matt Gentry, 77, matt@77group.com, +44 (0)7736 300 694
About Seedrs
Seedrs allows all types of investors to invest as little or as much as they like into businesses they believe in and share in their success. And it allows ambitious businesses in all sectors to raise capital and build community through an efficient, online process.
Seedrs has funded over 470 deals to date and has had over £200 million invested into campaigns on the platform. All investments made through Seedrs offer voting shares to investors and use professional-grade subscription agreements. This ensures that investors get the same level of protection that angel investors and venture capitalists enjoy.
Seedrs is backed by star fund manager Neil Woodford, Lord Rothschild’s Augmentum Capital, Faber Ventures and over 1,000 of its own customers. Seedrs was the first equity crowdfunding platform to be authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
About Andy Murray
Sir Andy Murray OBE, currently ranked number one men’s professional tennis player in the world, is the British No.1, 2012 US Open Champion, 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon Champion and only man to win back to back Olympic Singles gold medals (at the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games).
From winning his first tournament as an under-10 junior at the Dunblane Sports Club to his first junior major at the US Open it became apparent Andy was destined for the top. After turning pro in 2005, Andy won his first ATP title, the SAP Open in San Jose, a year later. Fast forward two years and seven more tour titles, Andy reached his first grand slam final, the 2008 US Open. However in 2012, having lost in three subsequent grand slam final appearances, Andy became the US Open Champion.
This was hot on the heels of an illustrious Gold Medal victory at Wimbledon during the London 2012 Olympics. Andy then ended years of British heartbreak on the same turf just a year later by becoming the first British male in 77 years to win the highly coveted Wimbledon Championships in London in July 2013. Currently on 45 career titles, Andy is Great Britain’s most successful tennis player of the Open era, the first Briton to reach 500 ATP match wins and his maiden grand slam title ended Great Britain’s 76-year wait for a male grand slam champion.
