Bristol businesses have sold more than 20,000 experiences in the city over the last 12 months, generating more than £500,000 of income for local people and small independent businesses
Yuup, the local experiences platform founded by Bristol entrepreneur Dominic Mills, revealed the numbers as the business announced an investment round that values the company at more than £4.5m.
The funding round is being anchored by Bristol & Bath Regional Capital – the region’s only investment company to focus exclusively on social and environmental impact – through their Bristol-focused fund City Funds.
BBRC has committed £250k as part of a £1m investment round. Individual investors will also be able to purchase equity in Yuup as the company has announced a crowd-funding campaign.
The campaign, which is being run via Exeter-based crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, gives individual investors the opportunity to invest with sums as little as £20.
Dominic Mills, CEO and founder of Yuup, said:
“Our vision is to help 10,000s of individuals and small independent businesses across the UK generate much-needed income from experiences, while helping millions of consumers find fun, exciting things to do.
This is a really proud moment for us.
To say that we’re able to give our community the opportunity to be more involved in Yuup is really exciting.
They’ll be able to own a bit of Yuup, and that means that they’ll be part of a wider community that supports indie businesses and helps our cities become vibrant and resilient.
I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.”
Ed Rowberry, CEO of Bristol & Bath Regional Capital, said:
“Yuup is a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ type of company.
Not only have the Yuup team found a unique and growing niche in the market, they’re also generating new and lasting local value.
It’s an exciting combination of innovative disruption and local impact, powered by a team with the experience to execute.
Yuup has already made a significant positive impact on communities across Bristol and we’re excited to be supporting the team to scale up this impact.”
Notes to editors
For more information, photographs and interview requests, please contact
press@yuup.co (for Yuup), ryanmunn@bab-rc.uk (for BBRC) or
press@crowdcube.com (for Crowdcube).
About Yuup
Yuup is a Bristol-born marketplace for local experiences, where you can find, book and enjoy unique and inspiring things to do in the local community.
Launched in late 2020 with the aim of directly linking up Bristol-based hosts with local people ready for new experiences and adventures, Yuup bridges the gap between passionate entrepreneurs and curious customers in an easy-to-use and engaging platform. There are more than 270 hosts offering over 500 experiences on the platform which span across arts and culture, crafts, food and drink, lifestyle and wellbeing, nature and animals as well as sports and adventure.
About BBRC
Bristol & Bath Regional Capital is the region’s only investment company to focus exclusively on enabling regional change by democratising financial purpose and profit. BBRC ensures that impact-driven organisations have access to the financial support they need to succeed and thereby create long-term economic, social and environmental prosperity for the region and beyond.
Established in 2015, BBRC has raised over £36 million in new social
investment for the region. Previous investments include AutonoMe, Big Issue eBikes, XeroE and Frank Water.
www.bab-rc.uk
www.twitter.com/BristolBathRCap
www.linkedin.com/company/bab-rc
About Crowdcube
The European marketplace for retail investment into private and public
companies, Crowdcube enables entrepreneurs to raise finance with the added benefit of being backed by their community. For investors, Crowdcube provides a way to hand-pick a stake in an innovative business they believe in that traditionally would have been restricted to professional investors.
Since it was founded in 2011, Crowdcube has funded over 1,130 deals. With over one million members, a total of £1.2bn has been invested on the platform to date.
Businesses that have successfully raised funds with Crowdcube include Camden Town Brewery (acquired by AB INBev), carwow, JustPark, eCar Club (acquired by Europcar), Feedr (acquired by Compass Group), Freetrade (primaries and secondaries), Grind, Innis & Gunn, Mindful Chef (acquired by Nestle), Monzo, Parcel2Go, Pod Point (acquired by EDF), Revolut, and Nutmeg (acquired by JP Morgan).
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