Thu 9th Jan 2020 - Wireless Social receives £1m Imbiba investment Wireless Social receives £1m Imbiba investment: Wi-Fi solutions provider Wireless Social has received a £1m investment from Imbiba, the specialist investor in the UK leisure and hospitality sector. The investment is Imbiba’s first in a technology-based business. Having operated in the hospitality sector for more than six years, Wireless Social works with more than 4,000 client brands and businesses in the UK and US. The technology developed by Wireless Social is now embedded into the daily operations of many leading brands such as Heineken, Carluccio’s, Young’s, TGI Friday's, Bella Italia, Frankie & Benny’s, Revolution Bars, Leon, Itsu and Wagamama. The solution integrates with more than 50 CRM, marketing, and single customer view platforms. Across all venues, the guest Wi-Fi platform sees more than one million new users logging in each month and has reached more than 20 million registered users in total. The milestone of 30 million is expected by this summer. Darrel Connell, partner at Imbiba, said: “We are delighted to partner with the team at Wireless Social. Our investment enables ongoing tech innovation, including the development of a new-to-market platform designed to simplify brand-sponsored email and SMS campaigns in real time, when consumers are in the venues. This platform, branded Hedgehog, is a key sales-enabled marketing tool and meets the high demand we see from a significant range of leisure and hospitality brands. Our support will also help create a number of key jobs as the Chorley-based tech firm expands its sales, product development, customer support and marketing departments. Wireless Social has expansion plans for the US market where there is a significant opportunity for its hospitality-focused service and transformative Hedgehog solution.” Wireless Social chief executive Julian Ross added: “Over the past 12 months, Wireless Social has seen some significant growth in the number of new customers and the number of big brand operators we now work with. We love the hospitality sector and our number one focus is providing solutions to help operators delight their guests with a more personalised approach to marketing. The investment from Imbiba is going to support this goal by allowing us to develop even better solutions and to ensure we have the right people in place to support our growing customer base. I am thrilled to be working with the Imbiba team. Its experience and contacts within the sector is invaluable to our continued success.” Wireless Social was advised by solicitor Napthens.