Vivify secures £1m in seed follow-on funding led by Arete to expand its school lettings platform.
Arete led the latest investment into the digital scale-up alongside high-profile backers Bill Currie and Sir Terry Leahy.
Vivify operates a digital platform connecting schools with local groups to hire out sports and leisure facilities outside of teaching hours. The business helps educational institutions generate additional revenue to reinvest in their grounds and pupils.
Vivify has secured £1m in a seed follow-on funding round led by Arete, with participation from high-profile investors including Bill Currie and Sir Terry Leahy. The digital platform partners with schools to facilitate the hire of sports and leisure spaces to local groups, creating alternative revenue streams for educational institutions.
The capital injection will be directed towards product development, specifically launching a software-as-a-service solution tailored for schools wishing to manage community lettings internally without a fully managed service.
Founded in 2020, the company has experienced rapid expansion as leisure facility usage returns to pre-pandemic levels. The platform currently supports over 70 schools and collaborates with national organisations such as Total Swimming Academies on public health initiatives.
From the founder
"The initial investment from Arete enabled us to raise awareness of Vivify and offer a lifeline to schools, including some who were operating a deficit budget. With costs like energy bills rapidly increasing, hiring out facilities can generate hundreds of thousands of pounds for a school, and in turn help with pupil recruitment which brings additional funding. With 39% of sporting facilities existing behind school gates, schools really do have a pivotal role to play in improving the health of the nation, and this next phase of funding will help us to launch a new product to enable more schools to join the movement to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of communities across the UK."
Russell Teale
CEO at Vivify
Investor perspective
"The thesis that school facilities can be leveraged for the benefit of the community has been validated. Vivify has generated a significant amount of revenue for schools to date, and this new capital round will enable the business to work with a greater number of schools by providing the technology for school stakeholders with limited time to easily launch and manage a community lettings programme in-house."
Simon Lord
Partner, Arete
Use of funds
- 01Continue product development