Business

Portadown car after-care service launches £900,000 fundraising drive

A COUNTY Armagh firm which has developed an online comparison site for car services, maintenance and MoTs has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising £900,000

MyCarNeedsA.com,which is headquartered in Portadown, is running the campaign through Seedrs, and is already on the way to its stated target.

With a nationwide coverage of more than 4,000 garages, the site has already attracted more than 500,000 users looking for a no-cost, hassle-free way to compare prices and service from pre-approved local businesses.

As well as strong relationships with independent garages across the UK, MyCarNeedsA.com has established partnerships with manufacturers with leading brands in the car after-care market including Halfords, Protyre, Formula 1 and Volkswagen.

Stefan Warhaftig, commercial director at Halfords Autocentre said: “We’ve worked with the team at MyCarNeedsA.com for several years now and have seen first-hand how brilliant the site has been for motorists and service providers like us.”

But having proved the business model, established national presence and attracted a critical mass of customers, MyCarNeedsA.com is now seeking further funding to accelerate recruitment of car owners to the service and for expansion of the UK network of garages.

MyCarNeedsA.com founder and managing director Scott Hamilton said: “We’ve seen huge growth since our launch in 2014 and this fundraising will help push us to the next level.

"The Seedrs campaign will not only help us to continue our mission to provide an unbeatable service for motorists and garages, but it’ll also offer anyone with an interest in technology, finance or motoring the opportunity to get some equity in a business that’s really going places.

"I’m looking forward to welcoming new shareholders to our business through the Seedrs campaign at www.seedrs.com/mycarneedsa."

Seedrs allows all types of investors to invest as little or as much as they like in businesses they believe in and share in their success.

It has funded 690 deals to date and has had over £470 million invested into campaigns on the platform.

Seedrs is backed byfund manager Neil Woodford, Faber Ventures, Augmentum Fintech plc (listed on the London Stock Exchange and Europe’s largest listed fintech fund) and over 2,000 of its own customers.