Former Tesco CEO Drives Purple WiFi Funding

In the UK, guest WiFi provider Purple WiFi has raised $5m in a funding round led by former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy. The investment will be used for international expansion, targeting EMEA, APAC and the Americas.

Oldham, UK-based Purple WiFi provides a solution at retail, hospitality and leisure venues, to enable consumers to gain free WiFi access through their social media accounts. Real-time analytics are gathered through the firm's 'Purple Portal', to understand who is visiting and using the hotspot, how long they are online, and their age, gender and any other relevant information they provide through their social networking profile. Resulting data can be used to target consumers with personalised coupons and e-mail campaigns.

Aside from Leahy, participants in the new funding were Bill Currie, Iain MacDonald and Bob Willett from the William Currie Group; beverage distribution industry execs Jonathan Hammond and Steve Ashton; and angel syndicate Juno Capital. As part of the funding, Leahy and serial entrepreneur Ian Kelly will join the Purple WiFi Board.

Purple CEO Gavin Wheeldon (pictured) comments: 'We have seen unimaginable interest and demand for the product, not just within the obvious sectors of retail, leisure and hospitality, but also unexpected sectors such as social housing, education and healthcare. I'm absolutely delighted with this new investment and expertise, which will help us accelerate our product feature set and further build out the team that I am already very proud of.'

Web site: www.purplewifi.net .