UK fishing booking platform gets six-figure growth investment

The UK’s leading online fishing booking platform has secured a six-figure growth investment that will support its first national television campaign and further growth in the business.

swimbooker has been boosted by a cash injection from Stuart Hennell, co-founder and former Chief Executive of Watchfinder, a brand that built the pre-owned watch marketplace from a start-up before its acquisition by Swiss luxury group, Richemont, in 2018. He joins swimbooker as an investor and advisor to its founding team.

The company began to solve the frustration of anglers in arranging a fishing session and currently connects more than 140,000 registered fishermen with over 300 venues throughout the UK, handling bookings, payments and venue management in one place.

The investment arrives as swimbooker expands its coverage across the full breadth of UK angling, including commercial coarse fisheries, specimen venues, carp waters and predator fisheries.

With national television activity planned and investment in product development underway, swimbooker says it is positioning itself for the next stage of its growth – making modern, easy-to-use booking infrastructure available to every angler and fishery in the UK.

“Our mission has never changed,” said co-founder, Keanu Griffin (pictured right of picture with Alfie Tilley). “We want to make fishing easier to get into and to keep doing. We have proved that with anglers and fisheries who use us every day. The investment lets us put swimbooker in front of the whole country and keep building a product where, whatever you fish for, you can find it and book it in seconds.”

“We have spent years quietly building the platform and venue network – and it works with real venues, real anglers and real bookings every day. What we have not done is tell the country that we exist. That is what this changes. Having someone who built a masterpiece from nothing into a category leader sitting alongside us is worth as much as the investment itself, ” said Tilley.

“What attracted me to swimbooker was the combination of a large and engaged market, clear product-market fit and a team with genuine domain expertise,” added Hennell. “The business has already built meaningful traction and is solving a real problem for both anglers and venue operators. I see many of the characteristics that underpin successful marketplace businesses and I’m delighted to be supporting the team as they continue to scale.”