Oxygen Accelerator start-up Owned it secures £100,000 funding

Oxygen Accelerator start-up Owned it secures 100k fundingFinance Birmingham has invested £50,000 in Oxygen Accelerator start-up, Owned it, advised by law firm, Cobbetts LLP.

Birmingham Science Park based-Owned it also secured £50,000 from private investors, bringing the total investment secured to £100,000.

The deal is the latest in a series for Cobbetts, who also advised Finance Birmingham on its investment in fellow Oxygen Accelerator start-up, Hobzy and acted for Bertie & Bean in relation to its investment. The Oxygen Accelerator programme is a 13-week programme designed to find, develop and support promising technology start-up businesses.

Owned it has developed a powerful cloud based social referral system for online stores. Owned it’s system makes it simpler for store owners of any size to easily create, deploy and refine customer campaigns such as product sharing, discounts and customer feedback, amongst others. While creating a more rewarding experience for online consumers, Owned it’s system increases customer loyalty and enables stores to gain more exposure to new visitors from their consumers’ social circles, which results in more sales.

Hobzy is using the £100,000 funding to help generate 300,000 users, while Bertie & Bean, which raised £70,000 initial investment, has launched its online children’s clothing exchange to the mass market.

Emma Ray, director in the Birmingham Corporate team at Cobbetts, said: “We are pleased to have been able to advise Finance Birmingham on its investment in Owned it – it is an extremely promising, innovative business which I’m sure will continue to go from strength to strength.

“Bertie & Bean, Hobzy and Owned it are all fantastic examples of innovative start-up businesses, and certainly set the bar high for the next Oxygen Accelerator programme which began last month.”

This years’ 2012 programme began in October, with successful entrants from the UK, France, Italy and Russia undergoing the 13-week intensive ‘boot camp’. The selected businesses cover a broad range of technology disciplines, including social media, gaming, video and ecommerce, and will receive intensive training from a wide range of mentors.

Cobbetts is sponsoring the programme and providing legal advice to the start-ups for the second year running.

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