New FinTech startup Upgrade Pack has launched a £2.25m funding round with a £500,000 seed round with investment platform Seedrs.
The raise is planned to drive global expansion in the US and Asia, while extending Upgrade Pack’s AI capabilities.
Launched as part of a £2.25m overall funding campaign, this second round follows a £1m raise in pre-seed funding last year, which made Upgrade Pack the top funded startup working with travel products in the last six months, according to Crunchbase.
Investors will be able to access Upgrade Pack’s BETA offering on a sliding scale relative to investment – from one year to a lifetime membership – enabling them to access exclusive flight and hotel upgrades.
In a highly competitive and cost-sensitive operating environment, Upgrade Pack helps banks and financial services firms to retain high value customers. Initially available as part of premium bank account or credit card offering, or as an employee reward, Upgrade Pack works on a cost-per-user subscription basis, enabling its clients to reward their most valued customers and employees with an upgrade while they are travelling.
Upgrade Pack’s closed marketplace technology connects airlines and hotels with travellers who want, and can afford to purchase, an upgrade to provide them with exclusive, always-discounted offers on unused premium seats and rooms. Delivered via an app, its users are only ever a few clicks away from an upgrade.
Through AI capabilities, the technology integrates with banks’ existing systems to give their most valuable customers live discounts. For banking clients, Upgrade Pack’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) model does not require complex integration with their legacy technology, which can be a challenge to innovation.
Craig Unsworth, founder and CEO of Upgrade Pack, said: “Since opening our doors in 2018, we have achieved several significant milestones. From £1m raised in our pre-seed funding round, to Upgrade Pack becoming the first UK tech company to give all employees equity within six months. This is the next step on our exciting path towards launch in April.
“We chose Seedrs alongside our existing conversations and investment routes because they have built a fantastic community and made equity investment more accessible. Our Beta offering means that these investors will also be our customers, providing an important additional connection beyond the investor/investee relationship.
“We are looking forward to bringing in new investors as we scale towards international expansion in the US and Asia in the late spring.”
The funding round launched on the 4th March and will run for 60 days.