Manchester Business Secures £300,000 Investment

The Manchester-based company behind the Shopblocks e-commerce platform, Miribase Limited have recently secured a £300,000 investment from Dow Schofield Watts Angels, the Northern angel network.

The funding will be used to help propel Shopblocks’ revenue by investment in new sales and marketing resources. Over 25 angel investors took part in the funding round, which is the second investment by the angel network.

What Shopblocks provides is a hosted website and online shop solutions for SMEs. Shopblocks allows businesses to launch a bespoke website in a cost-effective and easy way. It helps fill the gap of the inflexibility that the template-based platforms and custom-built websites which are typically designed by digital agencies at a much higher cost.

Shopblocks was created as a platform within a digital agency, before branching out as an independent company in 2015, under control of the CEO Kevin Jones. The business has expanded since then and now employs a team of 15 people at its Manchester headquarters.

Kevin Jones said:

“We’ve had an amazing year with hundreds of new customers joining us in the past few months alone. Businesses across the UK are switching to Shopblocks from template-based platforms such as Shopify and Wix in order to get the benefits of our unique technology.

“Our mission is to become the leading website platform in the UK in the next 12 months, and in that time we’ll be exploring how to roll out the platform on a global basis.”

Dow Schofield Watts Angels now have over 70 investors and have received over 300 applicants since it first launched in 2017.

David Smith, who heads the network says:

“Shopblocks is a fantastic solution to a major problem which we face constantly in our portfolio and even in our own business – an affordable way of developing and maintaining your own website. The solution which Kevin has created is excellent, and we cannot overstate his technical ability and personal drive. We’re looking forward to working closely with Kevin to make a success of this investment.”