DSW Ventures leads £650,000 investment round into customer rewards platform Propello
Propello, a Manchester-based customer rewards platform, has raised £650,000 of funding in an investment round led by DSW Ventures (part of the Dow Schofield Watts Group).
The company has developed a white-label SaaS platform which offers customers a fully branded yet quick-to-implement “plug-and-play” solution. The platform enables customers to easily build their own rewards and partnership programmes, increasing the value provided to their own end-customers and reducing churn.
Propello has already built an impressive customer base including HelloFresh, JD Gyms and British Business Bank.
The business was founded by CEO Mark Camp and COO George Charlesworth after spinning out of the integrated marketing agency Workhouse in 2020. The investment will allow the company to build a team of nearly 30 people by the end of 2023.
Mark Camp said: “DSW has been incredibly generous and supportive with their time and advice since we founded the business. As a result, we have been able to hold off raising until we found our product market fit, and felt that DSW, along with our co-angel investors, were exactly the right combination to execute our growth plans. We’re excited to take Propello forward with their backing, with significant investment already underway in both the platform and team.”
Propello will be the tenth company to join DSW Ventures’ growing portfolio. Ellie Boardman, Investment Manager at DSW Ventures, commented:
“We have got to know and admire Propello over a period of three years which demonstrates our commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams we invest in – we are delighted to now be investing in the business, with yet another deal being oversubscribed by our investors. Mark and George are extremely talented founders and have created what we believe to be a truly fresh and differentiated product.”
Weightmans LLP acted as legal adviser to DSW Ventures on the deal, with Hill Dickinson LLP and UHY advising Propello.
Congratulations, all!
DSW Ventures, based in Manchester, made its first investment in 2018 and is an investor in early-stage scale-up businesses requiring venture funding of more than £250,000, primarily on an EIS basis. It is funded by a growing network of high-net-worth angel investors and British Business Investments. DSW Ventures is the trading style of DSW Venture Capital LLP, which is part of the Dow Schofield Watts Group.
DSW Ventures is a partner in British Business Investments’ £100m Regional Angels Programme, designed to help reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK. British Business Investments is a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank.