Bristol ex student sells university startup for millions

An entrepreneur sold the company he founded during his university years, instantly becoming a millionaire. This success story once again demonstrates the importance of entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity, inspiring more young people to join the wave of innovation and entrepreneurship. This achievement underscores the potential rewards awaiting those who dare to venture into the business world.

The entrepreneur's name is James Courtney, 30, from Saltford near Bristol. While studying business at the University of Bath, he founded LuxRewards, a loyalty rewards company. The company aims to connect customers with restaurants that offer loyalty rewards. Courtney believes that Bristol's tech and startup community was crucial to his success, providing a supportive ecosystem for his venture.

Courtney stated, "Bristol's independent spirit helped me a lot. When I started my business at 21, no one ever looked down on me." He added that in the early stages of the business, the company struggled for five years, but during the pandemic, he decided to focus more on building partnerships with larger brands. He recalled, "For about three years, I walked around Bristol and Bath, knocking on the doors of hundreds of restaurants, trying to get them to sign up."

"For the first five years, we were consistently losing money, but then we reached an agreement with Barclays Bank, which overnight increased our customer base from 1,000 to 400,000." Five years later, LuxRewards has over 105 million customers through partnerships with banks, airlines, and employee benefits platforms. Now, the company has been sold to global software company Enigmatic Smile for an undisclosed eight-figure sum.

This sale will make Courtney a millionaire, but he has not forgotten the support he received from the University of Bath and small businesses. He added, "The university was very supportive throughout the process. They even allowed me to run my own business instead of doing an internship at an established company." He received several awards during his time at the university, which enabled him to access professional mentoring and funding to grow his business after graduation.