Digital marketplace Yuup has secured a further £200k investment through regional impact investors Bristol and Bath Regional Capital to help the company strengthen its expansion in Birmingham and continue growing its presence in Bristol.

Yuup’s online platform launched initially in Bristol in 2021, followed by Birmingham in 2022. It offers bookable, in-person events, workshops and fun group activities organised and hosted by local people, charities or businesses. Yuup uses a curator model, hiring people with expertise in a thematic or geographic area and assisting the hosts in setting up and managing the experiences and activities. This enables new hosts to create attractive and marketable events that often open new income streams to sole traders and SMEs. Yuup retains a 20% commission on ticket sales in return for their support, marketing and managing of the online bookings and ticket sales. 

In September 2021, Bristol & Bath Regional Capital approved an initial £250k of investment from City Funds into Yuup as equity. As part of this investment, Yuup set out to grow its service to 60,000 experiences sold annually in Bristol, with a target of an annual sales figure of £120k and a particular focus on curating over 400 hosts from the city’s under-represented communities – identified as ‘target communities’ by City Funds.

Yuup has achieved these targets, with 26% of hosts coming from under-represented communities, 60% of all host income going into these communities and in total over £1.9m generated to date for Yuup experience hosts. The tickets are also inclusively priced where possible, with 26% of all experiences costing £20 or less.

Yuup experiences on offer currently in Birmingham include ‘taproom yoga’ with Birmingham Brewing Company, Belgian chocolate truffle masterclasses, canal boat rides, and pole dancing workshops.

One of Yuup’s success stories is Rosie Ginday MBE, who founded Miss Macaroon in 2011 with just £500 of her own money. Miss Macaroon produces beautiful, handmade French macaroons, which are sold locally with all profits invested in helping unemployed young people gain skills to help change their lives. She started working with Yuup in 2022, offering macaroon painting workshops with prosecco. Over 380 people have signed up to her events through Yuup.

Rosie says: “Yuup has been fantastic helping us bring in new customers to our Birmingham store. It’s great seeing them unleash their creativity painting macaroons whilst enjoying a glass of ethical Prosecco, and learning about social enterprise and how their fun experience is supporting young people with complex needs to build their skills and get into work.”

Dominic Mills, chief executive, Yuup, said: “Since launching Yuup in 2021, we’ve had phenomenal success, supporting over 400 small businesses and entrepreneurs, and bringing new experiences to tens of thousands of people. We have ambitious growth plans for the platform and are excited that Bristol & Bath Regional Capital has decided to re-invest in Yuup, further supporting us on the next stage of our journey as we continue to scale both the business and our impact.”

Ryan Munn, investment business development manager at Bristol and Bath Regional Capital, said: “Yuup is a real impact success story, directing entertainment spending into Birmingham and Bristol’s local communities and addressing economic inequalities at the same time, all backed by an incredible management team. A growing customer base and exciting new experiences prove that Yuup is hitting the mark. We’re excited that this further investment boost the platform to the next level.”

ENDS

For media enquiries regarding Bristol & Bath Regional Capital, please contact:

Catherine Frankpitt / Caitlin Bowring, Strike Communications

e. [email protected] 

t. 0117 905 8811 

For media enquiries regarding Yuup, please contact:

e.  [email protected] 

Notes to Editors:

Bristol & Bath Regional Capital CIC

Bristol & Bath Regional Capital is the West of England’s first home-grown, place-based impact investor and is focused on unlocking funding and support for purposeful businesses, charities, housing and social enterprise. 

Its place-making approach means that investment is channelled into the region’s economy, bringing social, economic and environmental benefits, which it believes creates a healthier and more resilient local economy. 

See BBRC website for more details and their latest impact report here. 

Yuup

Yuup is a marketplace for local experiences, helping people find and book fun things to do in their local community and local businesses find new customers and revenue streams. Since launching in 2021, Yuup has sold 80,000 experiences generating over £1.9m for local enterprises in Bristol, Bath and Birmingham.

By providing people with a platform that helps them find exciting things to do locally, Yuup is facilitating the generation of sustainable income and employment for the people and businesses that give cities their own unique identity.

See the Yuup website for more details.