Investment will fund development of mobile app to help tradesmen with an admin headache
Devon-based tech start-up, Powered Now has announced the successful conclusion of its investment pitch on Crowdcube, the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platform. Initially aiming to raise £350,000 from the crowd, Powered Now smashed its original target, overfunding by 167% to secure £585,580 within five weeks of listing.
Powered Now will use the capital for marketing and further development of its award-winning mobile apps. These help small trade businesses such as builders, plumbers and electricians to streamline their administration and eliminate paperwork.
A total of 165 people have invested for 30.26% equity share of the company. Investments range from as little as £10 up to the largest single investment of £85,000.
Benjamin Dyer, Powered Now’s CEO comments:
“We are thrilled with the success of our angel round and the number of investors who have chosen to get involved during our short listing on Crowdcube. With this funding we can grow the business substantially and help improve the lives and profits of field trade companies.”
Paul Adlam, the former president of the trade association for Ductwork Contractors (ADCAS) was one of the first investors to get involved with the Powered Now funding round. He says:
“I decided to invest in the pitch because the problem the team is solving affects such a wide range of businesses, both in the UK and abroad. Tradesmen and field-based companies have often been slow to adopt technology, but Powered Now is the first application I’ve seen that not only helps solve the fundamental problem of how to manage paperwork when you’re not office-based, but it’s also easy to use, and that’s a must.”
New board member
This investment round brings with it a new investment director, Bill Anthony, who will be joining the board. As a former portfolio director for venture capitalists 3i and Finance Wales, Bill brings his substantial experience of growing businesses to the Powered Now team.
The app
Powered Now is a mobile admin application aimed at sole traders and small firms of plumbers, electricians, builders, and the like, who are mostly in the field at customers premises and working from vans rather than offices. They often struggle with paperwork and payment which wastes time, and therefore money.
The app runs on iPads and iPhones (with an Android version in beta) and computerises administrative tasks including customer communication, quoting, invoicing and taking payment by card or PayPal, as well as providing help with some of the complex regulation in this space.
All information is held in one place and automatically backed up to the cloud whenever there is a connection, so even if you damage or lose your device, you can download the data to the replacement.
Soft-launched at The Next Web startup rally in 2013, it won best mobile app in the Microsoft Bizspark Startup Rally and has already attracted nearly 6,000 user registrations worldwide.
