New fintech startup, Upgrade Pack has raised £1 million in its pre-seed funding round, with the company valuing at £6.67 million.

• Upgrade Pack’s technology transforms the way airline and hotel upgrades are attained by the most valued customers and employees of the world’s most innovative companies.

• The company was recently cited as the top funded startup working with travel products and services for the last six months by Crunchbase.

Upgrade Pack, a new fintech-based loyalty startup which helps banks and employers reward their most valuable customers and employees with exclusive discounts on flight and hotel upgrades, has raised £1 million in its pre-seed funding, valuing the company at £6.67 million. The raise makes it the top funded startup working with travel products in the last six months. High profile angel and institutional investors backed the round, which took place through late summer and early autumn of 2018, with the money raised used to build its specialist team and deliver Upgrade Pack’s proprietary platform.

Upgrade Pack’s marketplace technology connects airlines and hotels with travellers who want an upgrade to provide them with exclusive, always-discounted offers on unused premium seats and rooms, accessible through a highly responsive app which places users just three clicks away from an upgrade. Upgrade Pack will be opening its next seed funding round later in Q1 at £2.25 million with a £15 million valuation.

Initially available as part of premium bank account or credit card, or as an employee reward, Upgrade Pack works on a cost-per-user subscription basis, enabling its clients to reward their most valued customers and employees with the most sought after travel-related benefit (95% of consumers say the thing they value most when travelling is an upgrade).

Founder and CEO Craig Unsworth has previously delivered tech-led products and innovations that have generated millions in revenue and business value for companies including Ten Group (IPO on AIM, November 2017), Global Blue and Blue Rubicon; where he met co-founder and COO Urchana Moudgil – an accomplished finance and operations leader whose agency background includes roles at SEEN, Shine Communications and Freuds. The pair have appointed heads of product, technology and commercial to form a leadership team which, including their own, brings experience gained in key specialisms across product and proposition design, advertising and brand consultancy, loyalty services and digital strategy and innovation.

Craig Unsworth, Founder and CEO of Upgrade Pack commented:

“We are delighted to have raised this preliminary capital through the support of individual investors who saw value in what we were creating but can also bring expertise gained across relevant sectors such as loyalty, technology, travel and banking. It’s rare to reach this stage based purely on smaller investors however, having successfully established ourselves in 2018 we look forward to launching our next funding round – and engaging with a broad pool of supporters across investment, legal VC and more – later this quarter, which will take us to our next capital milestone and closer to our launch to market in early Q2.”