Through the crowdfunding platform Seedrs, Murray has backed two British tech companies, Perkbox and WeSwap, investing undisclosed amounts into each.
Perkbox, a UK perks and benefits scheme, has surpassed its £1.5 million target on Seedrs and is currently overfunding by 270 per cent with more than £4 million raised through 230 investors in just four days.
Murray joins VC firm Draper Esprit which leads the round with a £2.5 million investment, alongside Zoopla’s Alex Chesterman.
The start-up, which launched in January 2015, already has over 300,000 paying members including British Gas, BUPA and Deliveroo and has generated more than £14 million in revenues since launch.
WeSwap, a peer-to-peer travel money platform, has so far raised £1.8 million from over 2,200 individual investors including Ascot Capital and is overfunding by 185 per cent.
In the past 12 months the disruptive start-up has grown by 204 per cent, welcoming over 200,000 new users to the WeSwap community. WeSwap exchanges currency directly between real people, so users receive the fairest rate by cutting out the middleman.
Murray says. ‘I’m continuing to grow my portfolio through Seedrs and I have tried to choose companies from different sectors as much as possible.
‘I was interested in Perkbox as I employ a number of people through my own sports management company, the 77 Group, as well as a number of independent contractors like physios, coaches and trainers. I’m sure they’ll all be wanting to hear lots more about Perkbox!’
He adds, ‘WeSwap was interesting to me because I travel so much around the world – I thought this was a really clever idea and could immediately see the gap in the market for this business to work.’
Saurav Chopra, CEO and co-founder of Perkbox is delighted with the investment from the tennis star and hopes that his influence and reputation can be transferred to her own business dynamic.
She says, ‘Andy Murray has previously emphasised how important it is for him to back up businesses who hold the same dedication, hunger and professional standards as he does, and we’re thrilled that he sees these very same values manifest in the people here that power the Perkbox brand.’
Jared Jesner, CEO and co-founder of WeSwap says, ‘We are delighted and overwhelmed to have exceeded our funding target with more than £1.8 million invested into our campaign on Seedrs so far. Having a tennis hero like Andy Murray invest in the campaign as part of the crowd has truly been the icing on the cake.’
CEO and co-founder of Seedrs Jeff Lynn, thinks that Murray is a great example of an investor who understands the importance of building a strong portfolio.
Lynn adds, ‘It’s great to see how active Andy has become in early-stage investment and his recent investments on Seedrs into Perkbox and WeSwap reaffirm this. ‘
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