UK-based idea crowdsourcing company Wazoku raises £2.3 million

Wazoku, a UK-based crowdsourcing company and provider of collaborative idea management software, has raised a total of £2.3 million. This includes new venture debt finance from Barclays totalling £680,000, along with equity financing from existing investors, including Cambridge Angels and Fig. This investment brings the total raised by Wazoku since it was founded to £3.6 million.

Wazoku’s collaborative cloud-based idea management software, Idea Spotlight, encourages internal and external crowdsourcing initiatives for organisations to draw on ideas from employees, suppliers, and other partners to enhance their businesses and save money.

Wazoku will be further investing in its platform to help its clients extend their initiatives from internal employee input to collaborative activities with customers. The company also plans to continue its expansion through Europe and North America.

“We are building our global footprint by bringing something new to existing and potential customers. We have moved beyond support for internal innovation so our client’s customers can also benefit, and as part of this, we are continually building integrations between our solution and other world-class enterprise, such as Microsoft Office 365, and social platforms. This new round of funding helps us to commit additional resources to this activity which has recently enabled us to integrate with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for open innovation,” said Simon Hill, founder and CEO at Wazoku, in a statement.

“We have been excited by our investment in Wazoku since we first got involved with the company," commented John Yeomans, Chairman of Cambridge Angels from 2013 to 2016. "Under strong leadership Wazoku is making a significant difference to the operational performance of its existing customers, and as word spreads, this is helping to attract new business and grow the company.”

"Wazoku has demonstrated strong growth and is helping the organisations it works with to innovate more successfully. We’re pleased that our funding, coupled with the support of Wazoku’s investors, is going to allow them to do more with their existing clients, and reach new ones too,” added Sean Duffy, Head of Technology, Media & Telecoms at Barclays Corporate Banking, in a statement.

Read more: ResponseSource (Press release)