A £1.92 million raise for social planning app – Howbout that?

London-based social planning app Howbout has announced £1.92 million in funding to improve its offering and expand to new markets.

The funding round includes funding from ACF Investors, Supernode Global, Boost Capital, and angel investors Claire Valoti (senior advisor Snap Inc.) and Desigan Chinniah (ex-Paypal and Skype).

Howbout was launched in August 2020 by founders Neil Tanna (CEO), Jake Jenner (CFO) and Duncan Cowan (CTO) – they were simply looking for an easier way to organise social events amongst groups of friends. 

It allows friend and family groups to instantly find out when everyone is free, recommends suitable times and dates, polls preferred activities, and has a chat function.

Howbout currently has 500,000 downloads, users in over 125 countries and 100,000 plans get made weekly on the app.

“Let’s face it - making plans with friends can be draining. The faff of finding a time that works for everyone and then agreeing what you’re doing and where you’re doing it usually stops the majority of plans from happening,” said Neil Tanna, co-founder, and CEO.

“Being spontaneous is really hard. Howbout works to make it really easy to go from planning to plan made. It’s been an awesome start - we’ve seen really exciting growth since we launched and the feedback has been great. This investment is a massive boost for our plans to expand to new markets and improve our tech even more,” he said. 

The funding will be used to support the app’s global expansion, hire new personnel and invest in research and development.

“Howbout’s organic global growth is a testament to how much value users are getting out of this app. The existing social media giants are so often in the headlines - rarely for a good reason - that we forget that this is an area that is actually ripe for innovation,” said Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors.

“We’re seeing users turn away from public forum environments and towards more private, more thoughtfully curated spaces that are full of people they care about. With Gen Z particularly enthusiastic about this new wave of social, it’s a very exciting time, and Howbout has a fantastic chance of being a major success story,” he added.