Investment helps GivePenny to expand
Howard Lake | 19 April 2018 | News
‘Connected giving’ platform GivePenny has secured investment of £200,000 and closed its first round of funding.
The company will use the investment to expand its team, add new features to the platform, and expand its reach to more charities in the UK. It is now recruiting people with skills in partnership management, administration, web development, and various creative marketing disciplines.
Established two years ago, GivePenny is used by charities ranging from the RSPCA, Bloodwise and Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice to UNHCR and the UN Refugee Agency. Together they’ve raised over £75,000 through a range of ‘Connected Giving’ challenges. These include:
- steps challenges
- virtual marathons
- PC/console gaming livestreams
GivePenny’s platform makes these possible through integration with other popular events, sports and gaming platforms including Runkeeper, Fitbit and Twitch. Just last week they announced a similar integration with running and cycling platform Strava.
The funding round was led by Tim Dykes, who has a successful record with start-ups in the technology and telecoms sectors. He is now joining GivePenny as Finance Director. He said: “I have really enjoyed working with the GivePenny founders helping them take their project to the next level. The initial funding round was over-subscribed as investors saw the great potential in the business, and I am very excited to become part of the team going forward as we build something wonderful!”
Lee Clark’s Step Challenge for Little Princess Trust on GivePenny
Lee Clark, founder and CEO at GivePenny, added: “Our work of creating an entirely new category for online giving can now accelerate. Since that cold, wet, flu-hampered bike ride in 2014 that started this all, we’ve been working towards building a mind-blowing Connected Giving platform, and we’ve achieved so much with incredibly limited resources. Now, with the financial support we have started to attract, we have a chance to turn more of our ideas into a reality and help good causes all over the UK raise even more, in new ways.”
A second, larger round of investment is scheduled for later this year.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.