Bath-based MoveGB is one of four startups and 2 early-stage business incubators that sustainable investment engine Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV) has chosen to support in its first series of investments.
“ADV is committed to creating a nationwide venture platform funding digital technology companies”
ADV is looking to provide investment in tech clusters outside of London and wants to expedite genuine talent to the successes they deserve. ADV explains its objective as having “a mission to tie together the fabric of UK technology”.
With these investments it is definitely putting its money where its mouth is. Lee Strafford, ADV’s CEO, says, “There are now thousands of startups setting up across the UK and Ireland. This growth has been hugely fostered by seed partners – the early stage funds, incubators, accelerators and angels – which commit time and funding to helping these businesses grow. However we calculate there is still a circa £3.5B venture gap in the UK. ADV is committed to creating a nationwide venture platform, to plug this gap by funding digital technology companies with institutional capital right across the lifecycle, from seed through to scaling big.”
Fitness firm fit for investment
Alister Rollins (pictured left), CEO of MoveGB, says, “ADV’s investment will help us in our journey to bring MoveGB to a wide audience. Everyone wants to be healthy and active for life. Move is the ‘Netflix’ of physical activity and is now the largest activity marketplace in the UK with over 200,000 users and 3,000 providers from Virgin Active, to independent yoga studios and climbing walls. Variety moves you which is why Movers are four times more likely to be active than single venue users.”
Rosie Bennett (pictured right) from the University of Bath Innovation Centre where MoveGB are based tells us: “We are delighted to see one of our Bath SETsquared member companies get this investment from ADV. MoveGB have been one of the most dynamic and exciting companies at the Innovation Centre and we’ve always known they’d go far. We look forward to supporting them with their ambitious growth plans.”
The full list of those invested in by ADV is as follows:
Startups:
- MoveGB (Bath)
- Care Sourcer (Edinburgh)
- CharlieHR (London)
- WeFarm (London)
Seed funds:
- Ignite Accelerator (Manchester and Newcastle)
- Techstars Accelerator (London)
Any companies wanting to partner with ADV can now begin the ADV investment process online. To find out more, visit Accelerated Digital Ventures’ website or follow them on Twitter here: @AcceleratedDV.
