A £7.6 million capital markets fundraising will be used by blur Group to speed up the development of its s-commerce platform.
Having first joined the alternative investment market (AIM) back in October 2012 when it raised £4 million (after a large angel round), blur Group is straying from the conventional venture capital funding method of many technology companies.
Phillip Letts, CEO of blur Group, says, ‘VC funding for tech companies generally means quick sales.
‘VCs want to make their money and get out. This would have meant blur being sold to a larger company. This AIM strategy has kept blur moving towards a longer-term success and we feel it has been vindicated by this latest round of funding.
‘Building an international-led leader in an exciting and emerging new space requires stamina, vision and capital. Being public helps us ensure that we can both continue to lead and grow in this space.’
The proceeds of the placing will be used to invest in new customer acquisition and technology development. The business has two main channels for its customer acquisition: digital marketing and corporate sales.
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It will also be looking to produce a new business intelligence platform to drive internal efficiencies with new payment platforms and allow blur Data to be launched as separate product stream.
Speaking to GrowthBusiness back in March, Phillip Letts, CEO of blur Group, said, ‘Having been in the tech space from the start of the commercial internet, through the dotcom boom and now into the open world of web 2.0, I’m all too aware that a lead in a new and exciting tech space can be fleeting.
‘So the IPO was to show that lead to the world, and provide the tools to hold on to it, get international and scale effectively in order to stay in front.’
In April, blur Group reported a year-on-year revenue increase of 216 per cent. Results for the full year of 2012 showed $2.81 million or revenues, up from $890,000 in 2011, but a swelling in losses form $600,000 to $1.81 million.
