Every tech startup needs a cheerleader – and when it comes to Manchester-based Powdr, that is literally the case.
Three years ago married couple Nicola Jones and Joe van Gelder met up with a close friend of Jones’s from her University of Nottingham cheerleading days.
Her friend’s new boyfriend Stephen Foster was a software developer – and what started as a casual introduction quickly turned into a life-changing opportunity for the trio.
Spotting a chance to share an idea that was just lacking a tech partner – making professional-grade financial models accessible to everyone through software – Van Gelder pitched the concept to Foster.
In 2022, Powdr was born, with Jones serving as COO, Van Gelder as CEO and Foster as CTO. Fast forward to today and the startup has closed its first investment round, raising nearly £1 million.
The entirely-bootstrapped business announced the milestone on LinkedIn just 15 months after going live. It took a non-traditional route to funding: there was no traditional investor deck – just a Notion note – and it used new technology to display its forecasts.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Haatch and supported by angel investors, which included former Powdr colleagues and current customers. David Levine took up an advisory role.
“Absolutely delighted to announce our funding round with Haatch and some brilliant strategic angels. We used Powdr itself to help with the raise and the entire funding process from start to finish took three months,” wrote Van Gelder on LinkedIn.
“Can’t wait to work with Jonathan Keeling and the guys at Haatch. They’ve already been excellent.”
The business will use the investment to fast track its development roadmap, including building out new features and AI capabilities.
Levine, also posting on LinkedIn, added: “Absolutely thrilled to announce this one! Oversubscribed, two months door-to-door and we didn’t even do a deck! Working with Joe and Nicola has been such fun!
“Great to finally get a deal over the line with Charlie Weavers-Wright and Fred Soneya of Haatch and a whole bunch of really rather lovely angels.”