The parent company of Vouchercloud and Giftcloud, Invitation Digital Limited, has today been bought back by its original owners from telecoms giant Vodafone.
Vouchercloud, one of the UK's largest online voucher sites which uses mobile phone GPS signal to find local deals, was taken under Vodafone's control in 2012.
Its original founders, Scott Davidson and Greg Le Tocq, stayed on and launched Giftcloud – touted as Europe's first digital gifting site – in 2014. They today regained control of the businesses through a management buyout, though the value of the deal was undisclosed.
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"From the outset in 2010, our mission has been to make the lives of consumers easier with innovative digital solutions, which we succeeded in with our first-to-market Vouchercloud and Giftcloud apps," said Davidson.
"2017 has been an incredible year for both brands and the support from Vodafone has been important in getting us to this stage."
Investment firm Perwyn, which has previously invested in Sonic game developer Sumo Digital, helped to fund the deal by providing debt.
Last year, Vouchercloud hit 9.2m app downloads and generated more than £500m in sales. The company partners with more than 12,000 retailers, from New Look to Italian eatery chain Carluccio's, and has grown since its launch in 2010 with a three-person team to employ more than 100 staff.
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