BGF has completed a further investment in The Prezola Group to deploy new technology platforms and prepare for targeted international expansion.
Through the brands Prezola and GettingMarried, The Prezola Group is focussed on digitising the experience of wedding guests, from invitations and RSVP to registry purchases, accommodation booking and memory sharing. Over one million wedding guests used the group’s market-leading services last year.
Prezola generated revenue growth of 57 per cent in 2018 and is now the UK’s leading provider of wedding websites and registries. BGF, the UK’s most active investor, first invested in Prezola in 2017 from its balance sheet of GBP2.5bn. BGF provides new and further funding to support the growth of its portfolio, which now includes more than 250 companies.
Alongside strengthening Prezola’s management team, BGF’s initial investment has been used to develop new wedding registry, wedding website and guest management technology platforms. These will be deployed in the spring of 2019.
Prezola co-founder & CEO Dom Beaven, says: “It’s been very exciting to see our award-winning brands continue to grow and consolidate our position as the UK’s leading wedding website and registry provider. With our new technology platforms now ready for launch we anticipate rolling out our brands internationally during 2019.”
BGF’s Alex Garfitt, adds: “The digitisation of wedding planning globally is a very exciting and high growth space. We’ve seen the Prezola team deliver strong growth in 2018 alongside extensive development of new technology platforms. We’re pleased to be providing further backing as the group scales internationally.”
Prezola Chairman David Kelly adds: “I would like to thank all my Prezola colleagues for their hard work and professionalism in executing their plans in 2018. They have shown themselves to be a winning team on an inspiring mission.”