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Golf tech platform and mobile ecommerce startup among firms backed by Andy Murray

Tennis world number 1 Andy Murray has invested in three more UK businesses, including two London-based businesses, as part of his strategic partnership with crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

The tennis ace has invested some of his own cash in Tom Singh-backed mobile ecommerce startup Bijou Commerce’s £690k campaign, golf technology firm VPAR’s £1.15m raise and Scottish startup MacRebur, which has developed a means to make roads out of waste plastic.

Explaining his investments, Murray described Bijou as a ‘ground-breaking tech company’ which he tipped to ‘revolutionise retail’ thanks to its plugins which help retailers to retain consistency between their different digital platforms.

VPAR, meanwhile, launched its crowdfunding campaign back in February and since then has surpassed its £1m crowdfunding target as it looks to further invest into its golfing app and club house technology platform.

Jason Stoop, Chief Executive Officer at VPAR commented: “Our technology is used by some of the leading sporting talent in the world and so we are absolutely thrilled to have the tennis world number one believing in VPAR and investing.

“For us to have Andy Murray as a shareholder is incredibly humbling, and since we understand the 18th hole at Dunblane New Golf Club is named after him, we are hoping he will join us for a round of golf very soon!”

The investments bring Murray’s portfolio to over 20 businesses since the partnership with Seedrs launched in 2015, in which time the Wimbledon champion has invested in UK businesses such as P2P lender Landbay and ‘Netflix for magazines’ startup Readbug.

Seedrs Co-Founder, Jeff Lynn, welcomed the latest high-profile investments from Murray and said that today’s funding had helped surpass the crowdfunding platform surpass the £200m milestone of total investment in Seedrs campaigns.

He said: “We are delighted that Andy continues to be so active in early-stage investment and his recent investments on Seedrs into MacRebur, VPAR and Bijou Commerce reaffirm this. His investments have helped Seedrs to exceed a new milestone, with over £200 million invested into campaigns on the platform.

“Andy is a great example of an investor who understands this asset class and the importance of building a broad investment portfolio, into which these three game-changing brands within their subsequent sectors will add even more diversity.”