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Newcastle tech entrepreneur’s fundraising startup bags £600k investment

Newcastle-based fundraising platform GoRaise has revealed it will expand its product range, marketing reach and staff levels, after landing a £600k investment.

The online charity cashback platform, which facilitates fundraising opportunities for individuals and organisations, was founded in 2015 by Gary Thompson.

A graduate of Newcastle’s popular Ignite Accelerator programme, the business utilises affiliate commissions to reward consumers with a donation to their chosen cause every time they shop online.

Mr Thompson secured £300k of the investment from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, with the remaining capital coming from an angel investor. With the startup already attracting retailers such as Ebay and John Lewis to its platform, Gary hopes the funding will help to continue the business’ quick rise.

He explained: “The capital of Northstar’s investment will be deployed to raise awareness of the platform and to ensure that the product continues to be an incredibly simple and frictionless process for all users.

“We also have some exciting products in the pipeline to help the business community and event challengers (such as marathon runners) to raise money.

“We’re currently on the lookout for new hires to fill roles in marketing, web development and community management. GoRaise will also be rolled out in the USA, Australia, France and Germany.”

Richard Charnley, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “We’ve been speaking to GoRaise since they joined the Ignite programme early last year, and during this time we’ve been impressed with Gary’s ability and undoubtable knowledge of the sector.

“He’s also a great example of an entrepreneur that wants to have a global and social impact. Given GoRaise’s overlap with Northstar’s own core values, we are looking forward to working with the team to make it an even bigger success.”

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