BaseKit secures £1M in funding: cash set to bring digital support to micro businesses globally
BaseKit has raised £1 million in funding to expand its portfolio of products and enable service providers to offer valuable digital tools to small businesses around the world.
A sticky digital product is a powerful ally in the fight against the rate of attrition. The rollout of BaseKit’s website builder helped Spanish telco giant Telefónicareduce customer churn by 42%. With the announcement of new funding, BaseKit intends to reach new markets, expanding our support to more partners.
Existing funders back BaseKit for the future
At the end of 2021,we hinted that funding news was on the horizon and as 2022 begins in earnest, we’re delighted to share the announcement. Not least because the £1M funding was raised thanks to the support of existing investors. Nauta Capital, Angel Cofund, Juan Lobato, Thomas Vollrath, as well as numerous smaller investors, have been part of BaseKit’s progress for a number of years and decided to walk forward with us on the next leg of our journey.
With the boom in trading online showing no signs of abating, BaseKit has set an ambitious target to more than triple the business’ turnover by 2025: from £2.6 million last year to £10 million in three years’ time. We’re excited for our next phase of growth and look forward to supporting new partners and many more SMBs with this expansion. Aside from the financial targets, we aim to use the funds on sales and marketing, product development and growing our team of 30 staff.
New people, new ambitions
Ryan Jones, whose appointment as Sales and Marketing Director coincides with the funding announcement, explains where BaseKit is headed:
“I’m delighted to join the team and we are collectively extremely grateful for the new funds and the confidence which our investors have placed in us. We will be looking to strike up new relationships with partners who can sell directly to the small and micro business communities in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. These could be banks, telcos, IT resellers or organisations involved in company formation.”
Although the relationships may be new, a key part of BaseKit’s strategy has not changed. That is, to make it as easy as possible for small businesses to thrive online. Central to that mission is empowering BaseKit’s partners to successfully support SMBs and retain their business. Ryan Jones continued:
“Our mission is to empower micro-businesses with all the tools they need for rapid success and we have done everything we can to make our new services as simple and user friendly as possible, both to operate and to resell.”
The pandemic sped up the explosion of online trading. As Jones points out, it’s on BaseKit, to make it as easy as possible for partners to resell to small businesses. Consumers and SMBs expect it, as Simon Best, BaseKit CEO, acknowledged in his comments on the boom in online trading:
“The needs of new small businesses for online transactions have gone from ‘one day’ to ‘day one’. These businesses are looking for solutions to fit around the things they know, like social media and messaging, to give them a simple but compelling customer workflow.
BaseKit’s new Go Connect product joins up the many separate steps of transacting online into a simple and repeatable workflow. It’s designed from the ground up to work with the new normal, where doing business remotely and transacting online has become the expectation.”
‘Delighted that our investors share our confidence’; Simon’s reflections on securing investment
In the wake of the funding announcement, we asked BaseKit co-founder and CEO Simon Best to discuss his thoughts on what the investment means. He shared words of wisdom candidly and articulated that any investment is not simply transactional. Much like the interactions between a business and its partners, investor relationships are built on a deep mutual understanding and common goals.
- Build relationships with investorsIt’s rare for an investor to sign on the dotted line after one pitch. They want to get to know the business, the people, and understand how it operates. The investors who have raised this funding have been with BaseKit for several years. They’ve seen the way we work, they believe in our mission and they have confidence in us for the future. We’re excited by the opportunities ahead and to continue our working relationship.
- YOU are the investmentCan you successfully manage a business? Do you understand it? Do you know the company – and the numbers – inside out? These are the kinds of questions business owners need to ask themselves, because it’s what investors will want to know. BaseKit’s longstanding investors have got to know us over a period of years. They trust us. Their continued confidence reassures current and future partners that BaseKit is committed to the work.
- Value the company accuratelyThe value of the company influences the capital you want to raise. At every round of funding, BaseKit carefully evaluated the business. This provided a clear picture and allowed us to put a well-thought-out case to investors. We know that without the need to establish ‘bricks and mortar’ locations, our business has the potential to grow rapidly, which we demonstrated to investors over the course of time. And with digital demand high and growing, investors can see the benefit of backing businesses that helps SMBs thrive online, like BaseKit.
- Specify your case to the investorsWhether pitching to investors that are familiar or new, it’s a good idea to make that pitch specific to the investors. Those people will effectively become part of the management team, so there must be alignment from the start. Successful businesses aren’t simply based on a great idea, they’re a result of the people running the company – investors included. They add more than capital, as BaseKit’s continued growth proves.
Support micro businesses’ online growth, win loyal customers
The need for service providers to support their small business customers with quality digital products has never been more apparent. Why not get in touch, to find out how BaseKit can help you deliver sticky products that reduce churn? Talk to our partnership team today.