Tennis world number two Andy Murray has joined with the crowd for a second time to invest in another fmcg business.
The former Wimbledon champion is one of hundreds of new investors to buy shares in sugar-free ice cream brand Oppo on the Seedrs crowdfunding platform.
Murray made his first foray in crowdfunding in August to back food-to-go chain Tossed, as well as three other non-food related business, after joining the Seedrs advisory board in June.
He has now invested an undisclosed sum of money into Oppo, which recently had its pitch to Dragons’ Den turned down by all five dragons.
Oppo hit its £150,000 funding target in just four hours before overfunding to £350,000 in the business’ second Seedrs campaign since launching in October 2014. The brand, which is now stocked in 1,300 Waitrose, Budgens, Holland & Barrett and Co-op outlets across the UK, also raised £300,000 at the beginning of 2015 to scale up distribution.
Murray said: “Giving recognition and support to British entrepreneurs is important to me, especially those who are the driving force behind growth-focused businesses. Every one of these entrepreneurs is inspirational and dedicated to their business and I’m excited to have invested in their team’s vision and work ethic.”
Murray also backed travel ticket subscription service CommuterClub, P2P lender Landbay, film-streaming platform We Are Colony and Readbug.
Harry Thuillier, Oppo marketing and operations director and co-founder, added: “It’s fantastic that Andy chose to invest in us through Seedrs. This is exactly why we chose to crowdfund again; to build new fans and tell as many people as possible that guilt-free ice cream does now exist.”
Oppo is planning to use the £350,000 Seedrs investment to create a marketing campaign, hire a dedicated social media and design executive and take on 30 new sampling and brand ambassadors.
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