Technology entrepreneur Toby White has secured a six-figure investment to launch a software venture allowing firms to market themselves effectively digitally without the need for external agencies.
Through a subscription model, MarketMate is aiming to transform the current methodology of content creation and distribution within social media by making it faster, easier and more accurate.
Mr White, 23, will launch MarketMate next month from Barclays Eagles Lab in Cardiff with the backing of lead angel investor Deri Green and Angels Invest Wales.
As the latest lead investor with the Wales Angel Co-investment Fund, Deri Green will work with Mr White along with Doctor Luis Espinosa Anke, a lecturer in computer science at Cardiff University and specialist in natural language processing,.
Both are advising on the development of the algorithm along with Martyn Baker who has also joined the MarketMate team in an advisory capacity. He was one of the first six employees in the 海角视频 Twitter team.
Chief executive of MarketMate Mr White said: “Managing business growth requires specialist marketing support and advice that often comes at a premium.
"My own experience of developing my company Artimus as a successful AI development house left me questioning the value of agency support and feeling frustrated that there was no simple automated solution that met my specific needs.
“It quickly became apparent that there was a real opportunity to develop an algorithm that enables business owners and managers to take control of their own marketing with the development of original content in a more cost effective way than employing agency support.
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“MarketMate soon sparked the interest of digital marketing and technology specialist Deri Green who is now working with us to realise the full potential of MarketMate.
" The support from him and our advisers along with the funding from the Wales Angel Investment Co-investment Fund is making a real difference to our ability to be able to scale up and reach out to a global audience from our base here in Cardiff. I am also very grateful to Sion Tudur at Loosemores for his ongoing advice.”
Lead investor Mr Green said: “All investments I look for have to be strategic, scalable and possess disruptive attributes with multiple points of difference.
What’s great about MarketMate is that it has all these in abundance. As well as the business concept, at least 50% of the investment decision is made on the founder and the individual leading the business. For such a young guy, Toby has a mature head on his shoulders and all the ambition and drive necessary to make this business a huge success”
“The launch will be powerful and compelling, and the subsequent growth rate will be impressive; it’s an exceptionally exciting opportunity to be part of.”
Tom Preene, operations manager for Angels Invest Wales,said: “Our lead investors bring together syndicates that can support the right individual with the right business model and ambition to grow which is why we are always looking for new investors to join the co-investment fund.
“Deri is an experienced investor and will be a very useful source of knowledge, mentoring and contacts as MarketMate develops. In fact, this really is a great example of how agile and innovative we can be when supporting angel-led investment.”
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The £8m Wales Angel Co-investment Fund was launched in April last year.
It is managed by the Development Bank of Wales and provides match funding up to a maximum of £250,000 per project.
With an established network of over 150 investors, the Development Bank of Wales can match potential syndication partners and is focussed on encouraging more active Angel investment.
Hugh James advised Deri Green as lead angel investor.