High profile Scottish entrepreneurs including Dietchef’s Kevin Dorren and itison’s Oli Norman have backed a target-beating fundraising round at a tech start up.
Pawprint, which aims to help individuals fight climate change through a behavioural change app, has raised initial funding of £580,000 from a group of 50 angel investors.
The funding is ahead of its initial target and will enable the company, founded by Lingo24 translation entrepreneur Christian Arno, to accelerate hiring plans. Former Skyscanner growth director Douglas Cook is leading Pawprint’s marketing strategy and former WoodMac VP Mark McCafferty is head of content. They are now recruiting for staff at the firm’s base in the WeWork Labs in Edinburgh.
Arno said the response to the Pawprint concept has been “very positive”, adding: “We now have an exceptionally high calibre and varied shareholder base. Our investors are buying into a long term vision to help millions of people to fight climate change. The quality and breadth of our investors is already proving really useful. Their insight is helping to build the foundations of what we hope will be a globally impactful company.”
Pawprint is behind a consumer behavioural change platform for eco-minded people. Consumers will answer questions about their lifestyle on the Pawprint app which will launch shortly, and then be able to compare their personal ‘Pawprints’ across areas such as diet and travel.
They will then be presented with a personalised range of challenges and tips to help them choose to make small changes to transition to a lower carbon lifestyle. As users reduce their own carbon footprints, they’ll be encouraged and incentivised with rewards to compete with and against their friends and colleagues to amplify their positive impact. Pawprint sources its data from Mike Berners-Lee, an authority on carbon footprint at Lancaster University, and author of “How Bad Are Bananas?”.
Alongside the fundraising from angel investors, the company is also planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign.
