Buyapowa Secures $3M In Series A Funding To Expand Internationally

Buyapowa, which works with retailers to turn its fans into shopper advocates in a viral manner, has raised $3 million in Series A funding. The financing was led by Juno Capital with participation from Bright Station Ventures and several other European investors, under the UK’s Enterprise Investment Scheme which is aimed at High Net Worth individuals. In 2013 it raised $4.6m also from Bright Station, a vehicle of serial investor Dan Wagner.

It currently counts Costco as a customer and will use the funds to expand further into the U.S., as well as product innovation and sales expansion in the UK and EMEA. In the UK it’s used by Tesco, O2, Sony and L’Oréal.

Buyapowa was founded in 2011 by ex-HMV.com managing director, Gideon Lask. Its online customer referral campaigns and promotions are seeded via social media and incorporate targeted CRM.

Investor Wagner is a British Internet entrepreneur best known for being one of the youngest CEOs of a public company, Dialog (originally known as MAID), and for being in place during its share price collapse during the dot-com crash and ultimate sale to Thomson Reuters.

Last year his mobile payments company Powa Technologies acquired a Hong Kong rival in a deal which put a $2.7bn (£1.6bn) valuation on the British startup.