Andy Murray-backed digital donation firm GoodBox raises £9m

The GoodBox donation box at the Royal Air Force Museum

Credit: GoodBox

A British company backed by tennis star Andy Murray that builds digital collection boxes will expand beyond the UK after raising £9m from investors.

GoodBox, which has more than 5,000 devices that accept contactless donations nationwide, is “looking closely” at the US. The company charges charities fees that start from £25 a month to process payments through the boxes.

Francesca Hodgson, who co-founded the business, said it was set up to tackle the “devastating impact” the pivot to a cashless society was having on charities as hauls from physical currency boxes plummeted.

More than 1,500 non-profit organisations use GoodBox’s services, including the Natural History Museum where patrons can donate to its upkeep on the way in. The company has also partnered with the likes of Sainsbury’s and Pret A Manger.

GoodBox did not disclose its investors but said the private group were matching pound for pound by the Government’s Future Fund, which was set up to assist early-stage start ups access capital in the pandemic.

Ms Hodgson said the company will use its new fundraising to increase its footprint across the country and beyond.

“It’s a scale game so we are looking to capture a large majority of the UK non-profit market, but we’re also looking at internationalisation plans as well,” she told The Telegraph.

“We have had demand organically from almost every continent on the globe for a consolidated service for digital giving.”

Ms Hodgson said the UK was “very ahead” in the way it championed fintech and that the country’s payment methodology was “very advanced”, particularly in comparison to the US.

“We are closely looking at the US and what other opportunities are out there once the timing is right for us in the planning stage,” she said. “But equally we’re looking around Europe, the UAE, and Australia.”

The GoodBox managing director said the company had to reach a break even point before it pushed beyond the UK so that it can prove it has a solid business model.

“I think because of the niche market focus, we do want to ensure that there’s kind of value first and foremost for the existing shareholder base,” she said.

“Then we also want to then have a proven working model that we can then build upon and scale and that for us seems the appropriate approach.”

The investment into GoodBox comes as the pandemic hammered donations into the non-profit sector. Figures from Pro Bono Economics , a UK non-governmental organisation, suggest that there has been a £10bn funding shortfall for charities as a result of the pandemic.