Blippar, the image recognition and mobile augmented reality platform, is getting a £1.5m finance facility from Barclays Bank to support the working capital requirements of the business as it grows.
The support from Barclays builds upon the existing relationship between the firms, with the bank helping to fund the expansion of the technology company since its establishment in 2011.
Blippar now has 200 global employees and 50m users of its app worldwide. Headquartered in London, it has opened up offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Mumbai, Deli, Istanbul, Amsterdam and Tokyo in order to support its growth. Last year it acquired its closest competitor, Layar.
The Blippar mobile app allows consumers to scan a brand logo or the Blipp symbol and unlock interactive content. The company has already signed up global brands such as Coca- Cola, Pizza Hut, Maybelline, Pepsi and Heinz as customers, but is looking to expand with the additional £1.5m funding from Barclays.
The extra financing is designed to help Blippar manage cash flow effectively as it serves the needs of existing customers and new brands, all of which operate using lengthy payment terms.
The money will free up the company to use equity for the development of intellectual property, and bring on board new staff as the business grows.
Co-founder and CEO of Blippar, Ambarish Mitra, commented: “As we work with big brands, development and payment cycles can be long, so we have to function like a much bigger business. In reality, we are still a relatively small firm and have all the same pain-points as an SME. Knowing the financial support is there to manage money going in and out of the business gives us increased confidence in working with global industry-leading organisations.”