Andy Murray looks to make a mint from tech investments

Andy Murray is continuing to back early-stage businesses as part of a strategic relationship with crowdfunding platform Seedrs, identifying two UK tech companies in which he has invested undisclosed amounts.
Tennis ace Andy Murray has embarked on a number of investments. Picture: John DevlinTennis ace Andy Murray has embarked on a number of investments. Picture: John Devlin
Tennis ace Andy Murray has embarked on a number of investments. Picture: John Devlin

Perkbox has quickly surpassed its £1.5 million target on Seedrs, currently overfunding by 270 per cent with more than £4 million raised through 230 investors in just four days.

Murray joins venture capital firm Draper Esprit which led the round with £2.5m investment, alongside Zoopla’s Alex Chesterman.

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The start-up, which launched last January, already has more than 300,000 paying members including British Gas, Bupa and Deliveroo and has generated in excess of £14m in revenues since launch. The firm’s software encourages managers to reward team members.

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Andy Murray serves up investment via crowdfunding platform

Meanwhile, WeSwap, said to be the world’s first peer-to-peer travel money platform, has so far raised £1.8m from some 2,200 individual investors including Ascot Capital and is overfunding by 185 per cent. The platform exchanges currency directly between real people, cutting out the middleman.

Murray said: “I’m continuing to grow my portfolio through Seedrs and have tried to choose companies from different sectors as much as possible.

“I was interested in Perkbox as I employ a number of people through my own sports management company, the 77 Group, as well as a number of independent contractors like physios, coaches and trainers. I’m sure they’ll all be wanting to hear lots more about Perkbox.

“WeSwap was interesting to me because I travel so much around the world – I thought this was a really clever idea and could immediately see the gap in the market for this business to work.”

Jeff Lynn, chief executive and co-founder of Seedrs, added: “It’s great to see how active Andy has become in early-stage investment and his recent investments on Seedrs into Perkbox and WeSwap reaffirm this.”