Andy Murray: Small Business Champion!

It’s that time of year when we crack open the fizz and serve up the strawberries. Wimbledon is back and all eyes are on Andy Murray – again! A lesser-known fact about Scottish tennis player is that, as well as being a former Wimbledon champion, he’s also a champion of small business. He sits on the advisory board of the equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, through which he’s supported growing businesses and built up his own portfolio.

Murray said about the investments,

“Giving recognition and support to British entrepreneurs is important to me, especially those who are the driving force behind growth-focused businesses. Every one of these entrepreneurs is inspirational and dedicated to their business and I’m excited to have invested in their team’s vision and work ethic.”

Here are some of the businesses that have been touched by the Murray magic…

Oppo

“We are delighted that Andy Murray has invested in Oppo through our Seedrs campaign. I started Oppo because I believe food that isn't both healthy AND indulgent is broken - we are on a mission to eradicate tasteless health food and unhealthy junk by proving it is possible to fuse health with indulgence. We’ll be relentless in continuing to innovate across food categories, ice cream is just the start.” 

Charlie Thuillier, Managing Director, Oppo ice cream

“It’s fantastic that Andy chose to invest in us through Seedrs. This is exactly why we chose to crowdfund again; to build new fans and tell as many people as possible that guilt-free ice cream does now exist. We will not be beaten by the big boys. Consumers can and should have the best of both worlds.”  

Harry Thuillier, Marketing & Operations Director, Oppo ice cream

MyMiniFactory

“The money we received from Seedrs has been used to hire new and exceptional talent, develop the platform and accrue more quality, guaranteed 3D printable content. We have also used it to develop new tools and services and to leverage our innovative marketing strategies. Our company is growing rapidly and we now boast over 160k registered members. At the time of our Seedrs campaign we had around 50k. It’s amazing to be backed by Andy Murray, and the fact that he has identified the current value in our business as well as its future potential lends further credibility to our endeavours.” 

Romain Kidd, CEO of MyMiniFactory

CommuterClub

“We were delighted to receive Andy Murray’s support for our crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. His vote of confidence in our business, which lets people access the benefits of an annual travel ticket without the huge upfront cost, has enabled us to provide savings for thousands of commuters across London and the South East. It has also helped us to secure over £1million of investment, which is nearly double what we had hoped for, and which is being used to expand our business across the UK and bring travel savings of at least £200 a year to more and more people.”

Petko Plachkov, MD and Co-Founder of  CommuterClub

Tossed

“We raised a record equity funding for our sector, and were absolutely delighted when we heard that Andy had invested as part of the round.  We are sure that healthy eating is something as important to him as it is to us.  The funds we raised have been invested in opening three new stores, taking the total estate to 26, and on developing and implementing Europe’s first cashless food outlets.  Being at the forefront of technology as well as healthy eating is exciting for us and we are hoping Andy enjoys being a part of what we are seeking to create.”

Neil Sebba, Finance Director of Tossed

Readbug

"Having generated £250,00 in previous Seedrs campaigns, we decided to raise some further investment to improve the technical side of the business and build our team, which is where Andy came in.

Following Andy’s investment and our successful Seedrs campaign we’ve rolled out some great new features, such as offline mode and the ability to sort our magazines by latest first. We’ve also developed a web browser version, so you can have a cheeky read at your desk. We’ve also seen the addition of some key members to the Readbug team, and have planned a very exciting marketing campaign which will be starting in the coming months.

It was incredible having someone like Andy involved. It really felt like it gave our campaign a massive lift. And of course the extra exposure from having Andy onboard has caused a surge in new users, so that’s another real bonus for us."

Matthew Hammett, CEO, Readbug