Right from the very beginning, having a positive social impact and supporting our local community was at the heart of our ambitions.
We had a love for all things local, a love for trying new experiences, and an admiration for the passion and creativity of indie businesses, so we channelled this energy into a project that would bring new and exciting experiences whilst helping build vibrant, resilient communities. We figured that by providing people with a platform that’d help them find exciting things to do locally, this would generate sustainable income and employment for the people and businesses that give cities their own unique identity.
We wanted income to go into the pockets of individuals and small businesses so that it could actually make a difference to their lives. As an independent business, we’re a fierce champion of other independents and love to see the diversity that thriving indie businesses bring to our community.
So we launched our pilot in Bristol just over 1-year ago. Since then, more than 230 hosts have joined the platform. The hosts joining us have been existing small businesses looking to attract new customers, artisans and creators looking for alternative forms of income, and brand new enterprises created to bring experiences to the market through Yuup.
Our brilliant hosts have taken more than 17,000 experience bookings and collectively generated £400k of income for themselves. The super exciting part is we’re just getting started! We have the huge potential to support 10,000s of hosts and help millions of customers enjoy fantastic local experiences. This isn’t just in Bristol- we’re looking at the whole UK!
Following Yuup’s early success in the pilot scheme, we launched a £1m fundraising campaign towards the end of last year in order to help us with our next stage of growth. Our scaling up ambitions are already fully underway, and we are thrilled to be making two announcements today: we have a new investment partner AND we’re opening up investment opportunities to the public in order to grow our community.
Let’s tell you about it!
Yuup’s partnership with BBRC
We are beyond proud to share the news of a strategic partnership between Yuup and impact investor Bristol & Bath Regional Capital (BBRC).
Who are BBRC? BBRC believes that purposeful business can solve some of our biggest problems so that everyone can thrive. They use their purpose-driven capital to start and grow these types of businesses, creating lasting social and environmental value in the process. Looked at another way, they facilitate financial investment in communities that need it.
Previous BBRC investments include AutonoMe (a social care platform for vulnerable people), an exciting new venture from Big Issue that will see Ebikes rolled out across Bristol, social enterprise Frank Water (they bring safe water, toilets and good hygiene to marginalised communities), and sustainable transport company XeroE.
Yuup is the latest addition to BBRC’s portfolio. As our lead investor in this round of fundraising they’ve made a £250k investment in Yuup through Bristol-focused fund, City Funds.
Ed Rowberry, CEO of BBRC, said:
“Yuup is a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ type of company. Not only have the Yuup team found a unique and growing niche in the market, they’re also generating new and lasting local value.
"It’s an exciting combination of innovative disruption and local impact, powered by a team with the experience to execute. Yuup has already made a significant positive impact on communities across Bristol and we’re excited to be supporting the team to scale up this impact.”
You can join us with our crowdfunding campaign
Yuup is all about community, so we’re delighted to be able to offer customers, hosts, and our 22,000 supporters the opportunity to get even more involved by owning part of our company! By investing in Yuup, you’ll be investing in the futures of thousands of hosts, both new and existing, and will be making a positive social impact on local communities and the ways we connect and have fun.
We’ve had £250k pledged from existing and new angel investors in addition to the £250k investment from BBRC, so we’re already halfway to our £1m investment target.
Today we’re unveiling pre-registration for a crowdfunding raise that will complete this round of investment. The investment will allow us to support even more hosts, we’ll help many more existing small businesses thrive by introducing new experience-based income streams, and we’ll provide a platform that allows anyone with a passion the opportunity to share that with others.
We’ve partnered with Exeter headquartered CrowdCube, one of the UK’s leading crowd platforms, to run the crowd raise on our behalf. They’ve offered investment opportunities in household names such as Monzo, Freetrade, Secret Cinema, and many more!
Dominic Mills, founder of Yuup (pictured above), said:
“This is a really proud moment for us. To say that we’re able to give our community the opportunity to be more involved in Yuup is really exciting.
"They’ll be able to own a bit of Yuup, and that means that they’ll be part of a wider community that supports indie businesses and helps our cities become vibrant and resilient. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.”
You can pre-register at https://crowd.yuup.co/pre-reg to be the first to be notified when the fundraiser opens on 21 February. Pre-registrants from our community will have priority access to the crowd raise before it opens to the general public a week or so later. From as little as £20 it will be possible to be a part of the future of Yuup and invest in the future of local communities- how cool is that?!
We can’t wait for you to say Yuup to… well… Yuup!
Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital. Please Invest Aware.
