Following the commercial launch of the company 18 months ago, and an initial £4m investment, the latest £1.4m extends the commitment from investors to a total of £5.4m.
The funding will be used to accelerate sales growth in the UK and online, driving toward Workbooks main business objective to transform the IT landscape for SMEs.
John Cheney, CEO of Workbooks, commented: “Workbooks represents an ideal opportunity for an investor to be part of a start-up that is fuelling economic recovery in the UK. The majority of Venture Capital is investing in later stage businesses that offer lower risk and the Banks just aren’t lending. For Workbooks and its investors the EIS scheme and recent increase in tax relief was a major factor in this latest round of additional funding.”
Ian Calcutt, non-executive director and founder of Integralis Ltd, commented: “Workbooks.com is a business that has a clear understanding of the needs of the SME market, because it is a SME itself. The CRM solution it has developed can help businesses increase sales, improve customer retention and streamline business processes.”
Calcutt went on to say: “By extending my investment I have the opportunity to help Workbooks sell more of its solutions to the SME market. This will in turn offer SMEs the opportunity to work more efficiently, encouraging success and growth for the UK. At the same time, the EIS tax relief on offer makes this an attractive deal for me.”
Workbooks has an incredibly strong offering for SMEs which has the potential to take advantage of a huge market. It is a sound example of the sort of technology-based innovation that the UK excels at.
“It is clear that many small and medium sized businesses want a better platform to manage their business success in the way that large enterprises do. There is a chasm of opportunity between what many SMEs are being sold as a CRM solution and what many SMEs actually need,” added Chris Howell, founder of DriveTech. “Workbooks fills that gap.”
