Bimble founders, Francesca Howland and Julia Mallaby Rossler | Image credit: Bimble
Oxford, UK-based Bimble is a community-led platform that collects, organises and shares great little places, and also helps discover independent businesses and local spots that other people love. The company announced today the launch of its social platform as well as secured $2.48M (approx €2.09M) in its Seed round of funding.
The fundraise follows Bimble’s growth despite being launched during the pandemic. The young platform has a community base of over 75,000 people based in the US and UK and the app expects to reach about 300,000 users in the coming year.
Recently, the winners of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award were announced.
Investors in this Seed round
The round was led by Dimitris Panagopoulos, a notable early-stage tech investor and one of the first backers of Net-a-Porter. The Seed round also saw participation from a collection of experienced angel investors including Vikram Kumar (Kuvari Partners), Mark Davies (co-founder Betfair), and others whose portfolio companies include Pinterest, Culture Trip, Deliveroo, Hello Fresh, and Boden.
How will Bimble utilise the funds?
The company will use the proceeds from this round to expand its team with primary emphasis on diversity. Bimble is focusing on new hires across its product development, marketing, design and engineering teams.
Additionally, the funds will also help Bimble in the development of young talent through the UK’s kickstarter programme – which is designed to get young people into the workforce, giving them a start on the career ladder.
Over the coming year, the company plans to continue building more enhanced and intuitive user experience for its app, including more geo-locational, and social layers for map features and increased interaction between places and the people who love them.
What is Bimble?
Launched in 2020 and released today, Bimble is a “digital portal to the real world”. The company is on a mission to make it easier for people to get out and enjoy the restaurants, bars, bakeries, boutiques, yoga studios, etc. that give local communities their unique personalities.
Francesca Howland, co-founder & CEO of Bimble, explains, “Everybody loves the independent businesses that bring neighborhoods to life, all over the world. Too often we end up having disappointing experiences despite there being a great little place around the corner that we either don’t know about, or have forgotten. The best place recommendations come word of mouth but this limits you to your own circle of friends. With Bimble, we’re bringing that into a digital community.”
She adds, “Now, when we hear about, or come across great places – we can store them safely on our Bimble profiles. There is an ultra-convenience in having one beautifully designed app specifically for your places rather than losing them to iOS notes and screenshots on your phone.”
How does it work?
Julia Mallaby, co-founder & CMO of Bimble says, “As a digital portal to the real world, Bimble is an excellent tool for people to champion their favorite small businesses, especially as we emerge from the pandemic. We are building Bimble to be the zeitgeist and provide a much needed alternative to current apps that are old-fashioned and out of touch with today’s users. When we first started, one of our primary goals was to offer a trustworthy alternative to the antiquated and unreliable star rating system.”
The company has adopted the Spotify structure, with playlists of places – placelists – which they call Bimbles. Through this, people can create their own collections, based on mood, genre, or special interest.
Mallaby adds, “It’s entirely positive – you keep the places you love and leave out the ones that you don’t. The places belong to you: it’s your personal collection which makes Bimble truly authentic. There is something magical in discovering a Bimble and exploring somebody’s world through the places that matter to them. Now, with the new social features, you can follow like-minded Bimblers and invite your friends to make the most of the sharing community that Bimble offers.”
Recent app developments
Bimble’s new social features encourage users to invite friends to the platform and follow people who share their interests as well as offer insight from places that are relevant to them. The company mentioned in a statement that “Currently, the app is forgoing the “like” button and all of the social media pressure that goes with it in favor of a “thank you” button, because sharing your favorite places is a generous act and people want to be able to say thank you.
Bimble believes these new features will provide a personalised experience wherein people can invite their friends to join and their Bimble feed and learn to reflect their interests, from the destinations they’re eager to explore to the type of cuisine they favor.
The new features will also include recommendations and updates that directly relate to the Bimblers each person follows. The platform aims to help people get out and enjoy places they love and, in doing so, help independent businesses thrive.
