£9m · Other round · Fintech · London, UK
London-based fundraising technology company givestar has raised £9m in a round led by Mercia, with participation from Love Ventures. The company will use the capital to continue growing in the UK and accelerate its expansion in the US, including its team and event partnerships.
givestar connects charities, fundraisers, donors and participation events in one platform. It began with technology that turned smartphones into contactless donation points and now supports digital and event fundraising, supporter engagement and charity stewardship. The company says more than 800,000 accounts have been created on the platform, helping raise over $70m for more than 4,000 charities.
Event partnerships make distribution part of the product
givestar is positioning event organisers as a distribution channel rather than treating each fundraising campaign as a standalone acquisition effort. When someone registers for an event through a partner, the platform can place fundraising tools at the moment motivation is highest, while charities gain a new supporter relationship and donors join through that fundraiser's campaign.
That loop becomes more useful if the relationships persist after race day. givestar already works with major UK events and says it has partnerships spanning more than 70 US events. The US expansion will test whether those partnerships translate into repeat fundraising activity and longer-lived charity relationships, rather than one-off campaign volume.
Sources checked: BusinessCloud; givestar company profile; givestar terms; Tech.eu Funding Explorer.
