Bath-based online wedding gift list group Prezola is aiming to deliver its highly successful formula to brides and grooms across the world after receiving more investment for growth.
The firm, which has its head office in Northumberland Buildings and a warehouse on Westbury’s Woodland Estate, helps couples create stylish, modern wedding gift lists sourcing thousands of wedding gifts for newlyweds across the UK. 
Last year it generated revenue growth of 57% and is now the UK’s leading provider of wedding websites and registries.
Now BGF, the UK’s most active investor, has made a second investment in the firm to deploy new technology platforms and prepare for targeted international expansion.
BG’s first investment of £3m in Prezola in 2017 enabled the firm to strengthen its management team and develop a new website and guest management technology platforms, which digitise the experience of wedding guests, from invitations and RSVP to registry purchases, accommodation booking and memory sharing.
Prezola CEO Dom Beaven, a former director at Bath-based Future Publishing and head of digital and social media at Comic Relief who launched the business in 2010 with wife Ali, pictured, said: “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.”
Bristol-based BGF investor Alex Garfitt, who joined Prezola’s board following its first investment, added: “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.”
The latest BGF investment follows a ‘substantial’ loan from Barclays last May to grow sales. Prezola had already acquired Getting Married – the UK’s most popular wedding website – in 2016.
Customers can now choose from more than 50,000 products from 500 of the UK’s leading high street and online retailers, many unique to Prezola and not available from other wedding gift list companies.
These include premium brands such as The White Company, Le Creuset, Jo Malone, Dyson and Habitat alongside more ‘quirky’ gift options including vinyl records, wall art and experiences such as Virgin Balloon Flights. The service includes bespoke gift wrapping and delivery.
BGF provides new and further funding to support the growth of its portfolio, which now includes more than 250 companies. Financial details of its latest investment in Prezola have not been disclosed.
