A GLASGOW-based tech business described by Yahoo’s head of sport Ian Nolan as “Scotland’s next unicorn” is preparing for a fresh fundraising round a year after raising £150,000 on crowdfunding platform Seedrs.
Find a Player, an app that matches people looking to play sports with other players or teams, is looking to raise an additional £100,000 to help boost its user numbers ahead of an even larger fundraising further down the line.
Chief executive and founder Jim Law said the fundraising would occur “fairly imminently” although at this stage he is undecided on whether the company will return to Seedrs or instead go with one of a number of venture capitalists who have shown an interest.
Mr Law said the business is currently in talks with venture capitalists about using social media to help grow the app’s user numbers with the intention of building scale before raising more funds for further development.
“Those guys are interested in putting a bit of money in and achieving the growth in user numbers by using their social media reach,” Mr Law said.
Users of the app are anyone who plays or organises sport and in the next phase of its growth Find a Player is looking to sign up sports clubs, venues and governing bodies across the UK, which will be able to license the app’s user base to help maximise their capacity.
Increasing user numbers is critical to the app’s future, with Mr Law noting that as it is measured against the likes of Uber and Just Eat rather than businesses in the local area it needs to be able to match them in terms of user experience, something that requires ongoing investment.
“If we want to do a bigger round at £500,000 we will have a better valuation if we can get to six-figure user numbers,” he added.
In its first fundraising round, which closed in August 2015, Find a Player raised £150,000 over a weekend and gave up a 14.5 per cent stake in the business.
It is one of a growing number of businesses across Scotland to turn to crowdfunding as an alternative source of finance.
At an event hosted by law firm Harper Macleod this week Tim Wright, founder of crowdfunding consultancy twintangibles, said that between 2014 and 2015 £27m was raised by Scottish companies across 1,263 crowdfunding campaigns.
“There is a growing acceptance of this space, with traditional capital markets players also looking at it,” Mr Wright said.
He added that while the funds raised in Scotland account for just 4 per cent of the UK total, the growth in the level of crowdsourced funds is higher north of the Border than in the UK as a whole.
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