Mercia invests in Bristol-based employee benefits platform

Bristol-based Cloud8 has raised £750,000 from Mercia, SETsquared Bristol’s newly appointed Investor in Residence, to further enhance its digital employee benefits platform.

Cloud8’s platform, BEAM at Work, allows employee benefits consultancies and other advisers to deliver services online, and improve efficiency and client service. It aims to fill a gap in the market for an easy-to-use platform that is accessible to companies of all sizes, including SMEs. Launched two years ago, it is already being used by a wide range of consultancies and has recently signed a deal with a leading employee benefits provider. Cloud8 also was named one of Tech Nation’s Rising Stars back in 2020.

Cloud8 was established by an experienced management team led by Ian Rummels, who had previously founded employee benefits business Premier Employment Solutions, and raised its initial seed round in March 2020. The latest funding round, which comes from Mercia’s EIS funds, brings the total raised to date to £2.75m.

Julian Dennard, EIS fund principal at Mercia says on the investment, “There is an increasing demand from employee benefits consultancies for a simple, easy-to-use and affordable technology platform that allows them to deliver employee benefit services to their clients more efficiently.

“BEAM at Work has been designed specifically to service the historically neglected SME market with a product truly fit-for-purpose. Our investment will help bring forward new features, build the team and enhance the sales and marketing activity. Following the launch of our office in Bristol, we look forward to supporting more South West businesses in the coming years.

Dipa Mistry Kandola, CEO of Cloud8, comments, “I am confident that, with our current investor support and this investment from Mercia, we will continue to disrupt our stagnated employee benefits tech marketplace with simple affordable pricing, market expertise and an even faster ‘quick and easy’ client deployment process by the end of the year.”