Growing Manchester tech firm has moved into new 6,500 sq ft offices in Stockport and secured additional investment of 拢250,000.
The company, which produces bespoke ecommerce websites at scale, has聽聽signed a six-year lease for聽the entire first floor at No 1 St Peter鈥檚 Square.
Shopblocks join聽IT security distributor Distology in the recently refurbished Orbit Developments鈥� building.
This week聽DSW Ventures聽injected an additional 拢250,000 into the fast-growing tech business and strengthened the board with a new appointment.
New Shopblocks office
The 拢250k is in addition to聽a 拢1m fundraise last year led by聽Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and a group of private investors.
Kevin Jones, co-founder and CEO of Shopblocks, said the state-of-the-art office at No 1 St Peter鈥檚 Square was the perfect base for the fast-growing company.
鈥淭he combination of the office move and the new investment mean we鈥檙e perfectly positioned for another year of growth,鈥� he said.
鈥淚n terms of the office we鈥檝e invested heavily in the fit-out and the result is we have a really cool tech office that creates a fantastic first impression to clients and staff alike.
鈥淭he new office has a stunning entrance coffee bar and meeting zone. We鈥檝e removed all single-person offices so we have more dedicated space for staff breakout areas and shared areas.聽
鈥淚t also blends open plan working with one, two and four-person booths where staff can quickly get more focus in distraction-free areas.聽Each booth is fitted with screens to improve collaboration.鈥澛犅�
New Shopblocks office
Shopblocks was officially launched in 2018 after two years of planning and has doubled in revenue every year since and now has more than 1,500 customers worldwide.
The company was previously based in two adjoining terrace buildings in Greek Street but Jones said they鈥檇 outgrown the premises.
鈥淭here was never a possibility of us leaving Stockport because it鈥檚 such a great location to hire people,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he brief from us was that the new office needed to be within five minutes of Stockport railway station, which gave us a fairly tight radius.
鈥淣o 1 St Peter鈥檚 Square is perfect and takes us to the next level as we look to expand into the US and Australia.鈥�
Jones co-founded Shopblocks with chief commercial officer Stewart Reynolds. They employ聽around聽50 staff.
He said: 鈥淲e are the only platform that can produce fully bespoke websites at scale with a real focus on ecommerce websites. Most bespoke websites are made by agencies. They make one, maybe two, websites a month and they鈥檙e expensive.鈥�
Following DSW Ventures鈥� investment ex-Proactis MD Craig Slater joins as a non-executive director聽
Investor Tim Raffle, formerly CEO of private equity house ECI, said: 鈥淪hopblocks is unique in offering an out of-the-box solution to a vast global audience. We have huge belief in Kevin and the team at Shopblocks.鈥�
