A tech entrepreneur who suffered a heart attack just over 18 months ago has raised £3.8m in funding for his Leeds-based startup.
Martin Port founded Build Concierge in November 2023 before he was hospitalised following a heart attack only a month later.
It seems the now-62-year-old has taken the bull by the horns on that front as the firm he founded closed its £3.8m funding round after just four weeks.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support from so many investors and partners who believe in our mission. Thank you,” he said on LinkedIn.
“The response to our AI-powered customer engagement platform has been equally exciting with fantastic feedback from many sectors.”
In October 2024, BigChange, a business Port founded in 2013, was sold to Simpro Group in a deal that valued the workforce management software platform at more than £300m.
This was just three months before he won the True Grit Award for Yorkshire and Humberside at BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders Awards in January.
Now, Build Concierge, of which he is the chairman and CEO, has built an AI-enabled customer engagement platform, helping businesses to automate customer communications across every channel, using email, text, WhatsApp, chat and voice.
The software looks to boost productivity and help businesses to scale rapidly and profitably.
The company has been described as a 24/7 ‘Uber-like’ service for all home-related needs and has now gained the support of an array of backers in its latest round.
Alongside the investment, Build Concierge has announced the appointment of three industry heavyweights to its board – Lord Ian Austin, former Labour minister, now the UK government’s trade envoy to Israel; Robin Proctor, former director of construction giant Travis Perkins and former chairman of Bathrooms.com; and Charlie Kirk, founder and former managing director of drainage firm Jet Aire, the leading supplier of drainage services in the North of England.
Port added: “We are delighted to welcome these luminaries to our board. We have spent the past year refining our business model, technology and approach.
“It is a testament to the power and potential of our technology that we have attracted such high-calibre board members, and that our first fundraising round was oversubscribed, closing in record time.”