The founder of BigChange has added industry heavyweights to the board of his fourth venture, Build Concierge, and raised £3.8m in seed funding.
Martin Port, who sold workforce management software platform BigChange to Simpro Group last year in a £300m deal, is now behind customer engagement platform Build Concierge.
Port won the True Grit Award for Yorkshire & Humberside (pictured receiving the award from Jen Axford of Co-op Live) after featuring on our Northern Leaders 2024 list.
The AI-enabled platform helps businesses to automate customer communications across every channel, using email, text, WhatsApp, chat and voice. The software boosts productivity and helps businesses to scale rapidly and profitably.
The seed funding, from a consortium of private investors – including Port himself – values the year-old Leeds startup at £35m.
Lord Ian Austin, former Labour minister and now the UK government’s trade envoy to Israel, joins Build Concierge as a board observer, bringing decades’ worth of experience in frontline government policy.
Robin Proctor brings FTSE 100 experience as a former development director of construction giant Travis Perkins Group, where he held executive roles in Travis Perkins, Wickes and Howdens. He has also served as a board member at Toolstation.co.uk and as chairman of Bathrooms.com.
Charlie Kirk, founder and former managing director of drainage firm Jet Aire, built his business over more than two decades to become the leading supplier of drainage services in the North of England, employing more than 170 people. As a board member, he will help shape the development of AI tools to scale the business.
“We are delighted to welcome these luminaries to our board,” says Build Concierge founder Martin Port. “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 people to the board, and that our first fundraising round was oversubscribed, closing in record time.”