Date posted:
Thu 06 May 2021
LUME Limited (LUME) has received significant investment from a syndicate of angel investors following the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Angel Network’s introductions.
Founded in 2020, LCR-based LUME is a workplace mental wellbeing platform aimed at building better places to work and helping people to thrive. The LUME app enables companies to better track employee mental health and identify what is impacting it. This makes it possible for companies to proactively prevent mental health problems, rather than reacting after the event.
Cofounder and CEO Chris Bradley attended one of the LCR Angel Network’s recent digital events to pitch his business to a virtual room of angel investors. LUME secured investment from several angels via the Network, including from entrepreneur and angel investor, Geoffrey Bibby.
The angel syndicate’s investment will allow LUME to fully launch their service and achieve product market fit. They intend to build the team to allow them to scale and expand their platform, services and resources library as the app develops.
The majority of the companies the Network showcases are LCR-based, as are most of its Angel investors. It is a testament to the quality of early-stage LCR companies that the Network is attracting interest from Angels based further afield. It is also a sign of the quality of LCR Angel Network’s angel membership that out-of-region companies wish to pitch to it.
Chris Bradley commented: “LUME was born out of seeing first-hand just how much work impacts mental health, and how much mental health impacts work. When you think about it, both sides of this equation demand meaningful change. As people we want work that we find fulfilling and supports us to thrive in our lives, and as a company we want to support our people in being their best, because if our people thrive the business thrives. So, we are on a mission to realise this vision, of building better places to work and helping people to thrive in life.
The LCR angel network has helped us to get a step closer to this vision, through a fantastic event that put us in front of the right people.”
Angel Investor, Geoffrey Bibby added: “Through the LCR Angel Network I have seen a number of amazing companies pitching for investment. LUME was one of the companies that managed to attract both mine and other Angels interest meaning we were able to team up to get to an investment stage. Being part of LUME's future journey should be an exciting experience."
Mark Rathbone, a partner at Brabners and co-founder of the LCR Angel Network, said: “It has been an interesting year for everyone, not least our angel network. Moving to an online pitch scenario and running two pitch events in the Autumn of 2020 was a great challenge for the network. We lived up to that challenge, with some fantastic businesses pitching to a wide range of angels at each event. It is extremely rewarding for us to see investments from our angel friends into these excellent local entrepreneurs, right in the depths of the pandemic. LUME presented with great panache and captured the imagination of Geoffrey, among other angels. We wish them every success.”
Marc d’Abbadie, Head of Equity at LCR Angel Network co-founder MSIF’s wholly-owned subsidiary AFM, commented: “This is the seventh investment the LCR Angel Network’s introductions have facilitated since the network was founded by Brabners and MSIF in 2018. Several other propositions remain under significant negotiation between angels and businesses, and further positive news is expected in the near future.”
If you’re an early-stage SME looking for capital to support the growth of your business, contact info@msif.co.uk