Newcastle-based fundraising platform GoRaise has received a £600,000 investment from Northstar Ventures and an Angel investor. £300k of the investment comes from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund.
GoRaise is an online charity cashback platform which facilitates fundraising opportunities for individuals and organisations. It utilises affiliate commissions to reward consumers with a donation to their chosen cause every time they shop online.
GoRaise was founded in 2015 by Gary Thompson, shortly before being accepted onto the Ignite Accelerator programme. Despite it being an early stage start-up, the company has already attracted retailers such as Ebay and John Lewis to its platform.
Gary said: “The capital of Northstar’s investment will be deployed to raise awareness of the platform and to ensure that the product continues to be an incredibly simple and frictionless process for all users. We also have some exciting products in the pipeline to help the business community and event challengers (such as marathon runners) to raise money.
We’re currently on the lookout for new hires to fill roles in marketing, web development and community management. GoRaise will also be rolled out in the USA, Australia, France and Germany.”
GoRaise distinguishes itself from competitors by providing fundraising opportunities for personal challengers in addition to established charities and causes. People with individual campaigns can register their event and invite friends to support it; each time a supporter shops online with a participating retailer, a donation is made to that event.
Richard Charnley, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “We’ve been speaking to GoRaise since they joined the Ignite programme early last year, and during this time we’ve been impressed with Gary’s ability and undoubtable knowledge of the sector. He’s also a great example of an entrepreneur that wants to have a global and social impact.
“Given GoRaise’s overlap with Northstar’s own core values, we are looking forward to working with the team to make it an even bigger success.”
The £600,000 investment will be used for marketing, new hires and product improvements.
Watson Burton acted for Northstar Ventures during the investment round, providing specialist legal support throughout the process, with Paul Wigham leading the team.
Watson Burton delivers commercial legal services nationwide. Its core practice areas are corporate, employment, real estate, construction and dispute resolution, and it has offices in Newcastle, Leeds and London.
Paul Wigham, associate at Watson Burton and part of the firm’s specialist technology team, said:
“We were delighted to work again with Northstar Ventures on an investment that will help a young, innovative tech business move forward, and we were pleased to bring our expertise in the technology sector to bear during the process.
“GoRaise has developed a highly exciting concept that can make a huge difference to charities and community groups, and we look forward to seeing the company grow its presence further thanks to this funding support.”