Funding secured from Silicon Valley’s Dr Ronjon Nag and Cambridge Angels syndicate
Former senior executives at International Post Corporation and Royal Mail recruited
The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™ allows businesses and consumers to use the Stamp Free app to send parcels and letters as well as return consumer goods without the need for a postage stamp or printing a postage stamp at home.
Highlights and benefits of Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™
The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™ utilises machine handwriting recognition as a core part of its technology. The three key components are:
Digicode™ – Solution primarily for the consumer market
Eliminates the need to visit a shop or post office for stamps or printing digital stamps or labels at home
Customers can select the mail product (letter or parcel) and pay the exact postage amount via the Stamp Free app or an integrated postal carrier app
The customer receives a Digicode that they write on the mail item, which is scanned/validated by the app
Item to be mailed as normal
Shipcode™ – Solution primarily for the business market
Targeted at marketplace sellers, mail-room functions and small businesses who post frequently
Eliminates the need for franking machines or parcel shipping solutions
Easycode™ – Solution for the consumer goods return market
Aimed at making online product returns “easy” for the customer and cost-effective for the retailer
Eliminates the need for returns labels included with products sold or printed off
Customers wishing to return items purchased online receive their Easycode via the Stamp Free app or the retailer’s website, which they write on the item before returning it
Items are returned at a local locker, drop-off point or posted
All three solutions also benefit the postal carriers by removing issues associated with postage stamps such as fraud, liabilities and cost of printing. By having access to data on the postings made through the app, they can also ensure they are paid correctly for the items they handle.
The Company expects to release Digicode into the market and develop Shipcode and Easycode over the next 12 months. The Company has filed a patent application for its Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™.
Senior Management Team, Board and Advisors
Stamp Free is founded by serial entrepreneur Hugh Craigie Halkett and, from Royal Mail, he has been joined by Tim Higginbotham as IT Director and Oli Pearce as Finance Director.
The Company is pleased to appoint Alan Barrie as Chairman. He brings with him in-depth industry experience having previously worked at the International Post Corporation as Director of Operations & Technology for six years. He is also joined by Chris Galley, the former CTO of Accesso Technology Group plc, as the Company’s Technology Non-Executive Director. Making up the team, the Board will be advised by Ian Jones, former Chief of Staff reporting to the CEO of Royal Mail, and Miki Fairfax, Investment Manager and Business Angel.
Fundraising
Stamp Free is pleased to announce that it has successfully raised £300,000 to ramp up commercial traction and further develop the Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution™. The funding was led by Dr. Ronjon Nag’s Silicon Valley-based R42 Group and high profile Cambridge Angels investors. The Company also received grant funding from Scottish Enterprise (SE) and benefited from advisory support through SE’s High Growth Ventures programme.
Stamp Free’s Founder and Managing Director, Hugh Craigie Halkett, commented: “This investment enables us to conclude our product validation stage with a number of engaged postal companies as we look to disrupt a market that has been rapidly expanding under COVID-19 and will continue to do so thereafter.”
Dr Ronjon Nag stated: “I am delighted to be investing in Stamp Free. I pioneered machine handwriting recognition and this is the best application of it I’ve seen – so we at R42 jumped at the chance to invest at this early stage and be part of the growth of the business. We wish them all every success.”