WeGift, the digital rewards business later renamed Runa, announced £4 million of Series A funding on June 27, 2019. Fred Destin at Stride.vc led the round and joined the board. The issuer’s source page carries a July 30 publication date; the contemporaneous wire release confirms the earlier announcement date. [1] [2]

The Series A funded an expansion plan, not measured returns

SAP.iO Fund and Unilever Ventures participated. Newly named angels included Carwow founder James Hind and Onfido’s Eamon Jubbawy; existing investors Simon Franks, Alex Chesterman and Charlie Songhurst also participated. WeGift said the proceeds would expand operations, support entry into the United States and fund further platform development. [1] [2]

The £4 million round can be placed alongside the later £26 million Series B announced on November 15, 2022 and confirmed by participating investor Volution. This is retrospective financing context for the 2019 announcement. An intervening USD 12 million Series A+ financing, announced by CommerzVentures on March 2, 2021, is disclosed separately rather than converted or added to the sterling amounts. [3] [4] [5]

The data behind the story

Two disclosed sterling funding rounds for WeGift

The June 2019 Series A alongside the later November 2022 Series B, shown as historical financing context. These selected sterling rounds do not form a complete funding history.

GBP million
Sources
WeGift via PR Newswire, June 27, 2019; WeGift, November 15, 2022; Volution, participating Series B investor

Selected rounds rather than total lifetime funding or a complete sequence. No currency conversion. Round size does not measure revenue, valuation, gift-card sales or funds already deployed into expansion. Investor confirmation is a participating-party account.

Show data tableHide data table
Scroll left or right to see all columns
Two disclosed sterling funding rounds for WeGift (GBP million)
CategoryAnnounced round size
Series A, June 27, 20194 GBP million
Series B, November 15, 202226 GBP million

Round sizes measure capital raised, not company valuation, annual revenue or gift-card sales. The later financing does not establish how effectively the 2019 money was deployed, and the chart does not represent all financing received by the company. [2] [3] [4] [5]

In 2019, founder and chief executive Aron Alexander described more than 500 brand partners across 26 markets and 20 currencies. The company’s open API was intended to automate the ordering and delivery of digital rewards that businesses had handled manually. These were issuer-reported coverage figures, not counts of active recipients or evidence that every brand was available in every market. [1] [2]

The issuer also reported annual revenue growth of 500%, without publishing revenue amounts or a precise measurement period. That claim cannot be converted into an observed revenue series. Investor comments about customer and employee experiences, and Sodexo Engage operations director Nicole Dunn’s account of broader eGift choices and faster access, likewise did not quantify a controlled retention or redemption improvement. [1] [2]

WeGift was founded in 2016. The release described Alexander receiving a £5 paper-voucher refund as the experience that prompted him to examine business incentives and reimbursements. The financing supported expansion of that infrastructure; it was not a new gift card issued by the investors or evidence that all planned US services were operating on the announcement date. [1] [2]