Founded in 2012 by Gavin Wheeldon and headquartered in Manchester, Purple provides a cloud-based guest Wi‑Fi access portal that offers detailed business analytics. It also offers digital wayfinding solutions following its 2019 acquisition of US wayfinding business LogicJunction. Purple recently launched an asset tracking platform that enables customers to monitor, track and precisely locate assets on an interactive map and set alerts if an asset leaves a pre-set area. The company serves more than 1,000 customers worldwide across hospitality, retail, government, healthcare, banking and transport. Purple intends to capitalise on the rapid rise in indoor location services and is focused on continuous product development to support future growth. It has secured new funding to help realise these ambitions. Purple WiFi provides a platform for physical spaces that leverages social engagement, marketing tools and location analytics to give brands digital insights from WiFi data. Led by CEO Gavin Wheeldon, the company enables personalized experiences in venues by using real-world WiFi data. Purple counts nearly 7 million users in 134 countries and works with brands and venues including Legoland, Molson Coors, Jaguar, United Wireless Arena, City of York and TUI. Headquartered in Ashton Under Lyne near Manchester, UK, Purple also has offices in Spain, the US, Australia and Singapore. The company raised a £3M growth loan from BOOST&Co. It intends to use the funds to scale by accelerating sales development and global deployment. Purple WiFi offers free public WiFi that lets users log in via social IDs (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram, with Weibo and VKontakte coming soon) and enables venues to push targeted messages. The platform captures anonymized analytics and location data to drive promotions and communications for venues, such as sending discounts based on wait times or foot-traffic patterns. It monetizes by selling analytics and promotional services to businesses that operate the WiFi. The product is live in roughly 7,500 venues across 60 countries, spanning restaurants, museums and even entire towns. Founder and CEO Gavin Wheeldon self-funded the company until this round. The company plans to use new funding to build its technology and expand internationally with dedicated teams in the U.S., the Americas, Asia and other parts of Europe.

Total raised

$22M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2023