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Workplace gifting start-up Thankbox claims to be on course to turn over £500,000 by 2024, with plans to double that by 2026.
The Edinburgh-based business, launched in 2020 by husband and wife Valentin and Tsvetelina Hinova, has also just passed the milestone of 100,000 users.
The employee appreciation platform allows businesses to celebrate events such as birthdays, anniversaries, maternity leave and retirements by gathering collections and leaving messages remotely.
The platform is also used in schools, to arrange for classes to organise collective gifts for teachers, as well as by clubs and community organisations.
As well as adding several new features in the past year – including the ability to split the cost and a new layout format – the company has also introduced a flower delivery services in collaboration with Bloom and Wild.
The founders, who left their native Bulgaria a decade ago – Valentin to study gaming technology and Tsvetelina business and finance at the University of Abertay – now plan to expand into new markets.
They have identified the teacher’s gift market as a significant opportunity during the Christmas season and at the end of the summer term.
Tsvetelina, 33, who trained as a chartered accountant with PwC after graduating, explained: “We’ve sent more than 100,000 Thankboxes, collected over 2.1 million messages, and have issued over £5.5m worth of gift cards since we launched in 2020.
“The growth of remote and hybrid working, during and after the pandemic, has undoubtedly helped to facilitate our rapid growth.
“The reality of modern, globalised workforces is that colleagues in the same company are often working in different countries and even continents, but they celebrate each other’s life events and landmarks just the same.“
The company – which won successive Scottish Edge grants in 2021 and 2022, worth a combined £60,000 – is currently turning over £25,000 a month, and expects revenues to rise to more than £80,000 a month by 2026.
The founders have a longer-term exit strategy to sell the company, although they have not set a specific date.
Valentin, 32, who worked for games companies Outplay Entertainment and G2G3 Digital after graduating, said there is potential for further growth in the UK, the US and Europe.
With minimal outlays – it is based at the couple’s Edinburgh home and retains contractors to provide technical and marketing support – the company should be able to stay profitable, he stated.
“To date, we have barely scratched the surface – the platform can be used for various occasions, not limited to the traditional birthday or farewell cards but also for weddings, maternity leave, sympathy cards, new baby celebrations, get-well-soon wishes, and even office-related events such as employee appreciation and bonuses at Christmas.
“We also see the teachers’ gift market as a significant opportunity to capitalise on the timing of Christmas and the school year end, with the potential to provide a solution for both parents and teachers.”
The founders are exploring different ways to create more tools for scaling the creation and management of Thankboxes, including offering features like bulk Thankbox creation via CSV files.
The first version of Thankbox went live in May 2020, and it now partners with more than 700 global retailers.
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