Institutional and private investors are coming together to lead a £1.8 million funding round into MoPowered, following a period of strong growth.

The London-based business, which launched in March 2012 and provides a system allowing businesses to automate websites and enable mobile commerce, has now raised £2.5 million through the round. With an initial target of £1.5-2 million, MoPowered secured £700,000 at first close before topping it up with the £1.8 million it has now netted.

An IPO on the Alternative Investment Market has been scheduled within the next year, where it is set to join fellow technology companies such as blur Group, Monitise and Blinkx as listed companies on the junior exchange.

According to a statement, MoPowered secured a record number of customer wins in July – meaning it now has 80. The business was also featured in the GrowthBusiness Tech Innovators 2013 listing of fast growing technology businesses in the UK.

Dominic Keen, CEO of MoPowered, comments, ‘It is particularly pleasing that we have attracted investment from both new and existing shareholders, including a cornerstone institutional investor, testament to the exciting growth opportunities available to MoPowered.

‘The funds raised will support our ambitious growth plans and enable us to maximise the growth opportunity as we continue to pursue our IPO in the next 12 months.’

When asked by GrowthBusiness earlier in August on why London’s AIM market has been chosen as the company’s ultimate home, Keen says that becoming public will give MoPowered’s customer base more confidence in its offering.

‘It’s a more exciting place to be right now as much more money is coming back into AIM. There is a higher risk appetite for investors in tech, which hasn’t been there recently,’ he added.

MoPowered says that its goals in the coming months will be to grow out its customer base to create scale and a contracted, recurring revenue stream.