Hereford company wins Innovate UK grant

A Hereford company which has gone from strength to strength after receiving £200,000 funding from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund has scooped a national grant to help local traders adopt eCommerce.
Stok.ly has been announced as a winner of Innovate UK’s COVID-19 Technology Grant to launch a community eCommerce project to help traders recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Innovate UK received 8,600 entries to its COVID-19 technology competition which was designed to fast track innovation in the wake of the pandemic. Just 40 grants were awarded across the country.
Stok.ly Community eCommerce enables local retailers to group together, sell on one local, own branded website, meaning local customers create and pay for one basket of goods and receive one delivery of all items ordered.
Iain Coplans, Managing Director of Stok.ly, said: “We are thrilled to have won this grant and be able to help communities shop local. As a previous local shop owner, I know how hard it is to thrive and compete with bigger retailers, and this pandemic would have only made that more difficult.
“Our ‘Community eCommerce’ project is set to launch in October, and the sophisticated platform will give local businesses an affordable way to compete and local communities an easy and efficient method to buy their groceries.”
Established in 2015, Stok.ly provides ePos, stock control and eCommerce for UK retailers through an easy-to-use software platform.
Last year it secured a £200,000 investment from venture capital firm Midven, using equity finance from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) to fund its growth plans.
If you are interested in joining the ‘Community eCommerce’ project, or would like to find out more information, get in touch with Iain at i.coplans@stok.ly.