Goodstack raises £22m as company aims to give platform £2.4bn in employee contributions
London-based technology company Goodstack has secured £22 million in venture capital funding, putting it in place to facilitate £2.4 billion in employee donations to good causes this year.
The company, whose platform is used by major companies such as HSBC, LinkedIn, and design software firm Canva, has been quietly investing from San Francisco-based General Catalyst and other investors to achieve its ambitious goal.
Founded in 2015 by university friends Henry Ludlam, 33, and Stefan Greer, 34, Goodstack was originally known as Percent. It first allowed retailers to reward student purchases by directing a small percentage back to their chosen campus groups or clubs. However, during the Covid-19 crisis, the duo identified an opportunity to transform corporate philanthropy by simplifying the process for employees to donate to vetted charities, schools and non-profit organizations around the world.
“We have 13 million on our list,” said Ludlam, emphasizing that all organizations are fully certified. Goodstack generates revenue by giving companies access to its platform, often leaving employee contributions free except for processing fees charged by card issuers. “As a general rule, we try to get the companies to pay the costs,” he added.
Unlike well-known donation platforms like JustGiving, GoFundMe, and Crowdfunder—which take a percentage of the money and encourage donors to leave optional tips—Goodstack’s model focuses on corporate partnerships to reduce costs to individual donors.
The platform has helped increase donations to charities including the Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, and Oxfam, as well as disaster relief efforts in response to events such as super typhoon Carina in the Philippines and the recent floods in Spain. Starting with processing $50,000 in donations in 2020, Goodstack handled $1 billion last year and is on track to handle $3 billion this year.
“There was a big gap in the market for doing something like us,” Ludlam noted. “All the current players were very focused on the area. No one has built a single layer of software that makes it as easy to give in America as it is in Vietnam, South Africa, or Fiji. “
Ludlam and Gerer met in their first year at Manchester University, sharing a flat in Oak House, Fallowfield. The company now employs 60 people and the founders have a “very small” stake, having raised a total of $33 million in funding. Nationwide Building Society was an early investor but has since sold its stake.
General Catalyst, which first invested in 2021, has a history of backing high-growth tech firms, including Airbnb, Irish payments giant Stripe, and social messaging service Snap in the early stages of their development.
