A London based communications agency has successfully secured a £250,000 loan from the Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF), backed by the Recovery Loan Scheme.
The loan forms part of a £500,000 funding round that will see the business expedite its growth following the impact of Covid-19. The GLIF loan will be used to support marketing activity and recruit nine new staff as part of a drive to create a total 28 new roles over the next three years.
Boldspace brings together advertising, marketing and PR through a pioneering approach that fuses advanced analytics with the creative process to develop cutting edge communications campaigns and build better brands. Its proprietary analytics platform, BoldLens, tracks and overlays paid media, owned media and social data, integrating all communications into one place.
Reporting in real time via a simple user interface, BoldLens’s insight enables the company’s creative team to develop highly targeted, dynamic and transparent campaigns. Nominated as 2021 Startup of the Year by Campaign Tech Awards, Boldspace has been recognised for its innovation and high-quality delivery, winning over 10 industry awards since its launch in February 2020. It has already gained more than 30 clients, with a mix of challenger and high-profile brands on board including the Post Office, Silverstone and West Ham United.
Boldspace Co-founder and Managing Director Mike Robb said: “We established Boldspace three weeks before the first UK lockdown so faced significant commercial challenges with trading severely limited and our public launch delayed. With a market-leading product now in place, together with strong early traction and a first-mover advantage, we are looking to get back on track to our initial projections. This GLIF loan will allow us to side-step further covid-induced delays and take on the substantial growth opportunity currently available.”
PR and Communications in the UK is a £15bn, growing industry. Many professionals feel that technology will drive considerable change and that measuring business impact is currently the top challenge facing the industry. There is also an expectation for marketing budgets to be cut as companies feel the squeeze of general cost rises.
Paul Shadbolt, Investment Manager at The FSE Group, which manages GLIF Debt Fund on behalf of Funding London, commented: “With its market disrupting technology, Boldspace is well placed to benefit from these market trends. Furthermore, as a small, agile team they can maintain competitive costs where larger agencies may not. Its experienced management team has built an impressive pipeline of both project work and contracted retainers and is positioning itself well, building capacity and developing its product, ready to take on further market opportunities.”
Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, Chief Executive at Funding London, added: “Despite challenging circumstances, Mike and his team have created a market leading product with outstanding track record in just two years. We are delighted to provide the capital needed to expand Boldspace’s team and support their long-term growth ambitions.”
GLIF is a £100m initiative to help address the SME finance gap in Greater London, promoting economic growth through enterprise and an inclusive and sustainable economy. £55m of debt funding is available, via loans between £100,000 and £1m, to early-stage and established SMEs looking to scale-up and realise their growth ambitions. GLIF is financed through the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), London Waste & recycling Board (LWARB) and Funding London’s Legacies.
The Recovery Loan Scheme is managed by the British Business Bank on behalf of, and with the financial backing of, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. British Business Bank plc is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. It is not authorised or regulated by the PRA or the FCA. Visit http://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/recovery-loan-scheme.