What Popcorn does

Popcorn (legally Alkaline Solutions Limited, trading as popcorn CRM and popcorn email marketing) is a UK-based, bootstrapped SaaS company that operates a multi-award winning, visual CRM and lead management platform built specifically for small businesses. Founded in 2013 by Simon Washbrook, a former marketing consultant to Midlands small firms, the company's product thesis is that enterprise-grade CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho) are too complex and expensive for sub-10-person businesses, who lose approximately 80% of potential sales to poor follow-up. Popcorn's platform combines contact management, visual sales pipelines, built-in email marketing, landing page and form builders, automation rules, lead scoring (Hot/Warm/Cool), website visitor tracking, deal management, file management, and integrations with Gmail, Outlook, Zapier and FreeAgent in a single low-friction product.

The company monetises through tiered monthly subscriptions starting at £5+VAT per user per month following a 5-day free trial, with no setup fees or contracts, plus a Done-for-You professional services layer (onboarding, email setup, sales training) and a 20% recurring-commission affiliate channel managed through Rewardful. Pricing is publicly disclosed on its website, with separate entry, marketing and sales packages. Distribution is primarily self-serve via popcorncrm.co.uk and app.popcorn.email, supplemented by a UK inside-sales demo motion, an SEO-led content engine, an active social presence, and comparison pages against HubSpot/Salesforce/Zoho. The company holds GDPR data-processor certifications, is based in Birmingham/Edgbaston, and operates with 1–10 employees. Revenue, ARR and external funding are not disclosed; the company reports 7,000+ small-business users (encompassing newsletter subscribers and platform users), a bootstrapped ownership structure, and a 3x revenue growth claim in 2023 following the launch of the third-generation platform.

Name

Popcorn

Legal name

Alkaline Solutions Limited

Website

https://popcorncrm.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Popcorn is a UK-based, bootstrapped SaaS company that sells a simple, visual CRM and lead management platform targeting small businesses frustrated by enterprise CRM complexity, offered as tiered monthly subscriptions from £5+VAT.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

CRM Software

NAICS

Direct Mail Advertising (54186)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331)

akta.pro primary industry

Marketing Automation & Campaign Management CRM (HDAEAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marketing Automation, CRM & Lifecycle Messaging (BPAMALAE), Direct Marketing, CRM & Lifecycle (Email, SMS, Loyalty) (BPAFAAAJ)

Keywords

• CRM software
• Email marketing
• Lead management
• Sales automation
• Small business CRM

Headquarters

HQ city

Edgbaston

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription (CRM & Email Marketing): Monthly recurring subscription revenue from tiered pricing plans (CRM, Prospecting/Marketing, Sales packages). After free trial, plans start at £5 + VAT per month. No setup fees, no contracts, no hidden costs.
2. Done-for-you Professional Services: Onboarding sessions, email template set-up, and sales process training offered as add-on packages. Also includes data import and pipeline setup assistance.
3. Affiliate Referral Revenue: 20% commission paid to affiliates who refer new customers for 12 months. Rewards are tracked through Rewardful affiliate portal.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Popcorn is a cloud-based CRM and email marketing SaaS platform (popcorn CRM / popcorn email marketing) built specifically for small businesses. It combines contact management, visual sales pipelines, email marketing with delivery and tracking, lead generation tools, website visitor tracking, landing pages, forms, automation rules, and deal management in a single simple visual interface. The product is sold as a freemium SaaS subscription starting at £5+VAT per month after a 5-day free trial, with tiered packages (Free CRM, Prospecting/Marketing, Sales, All Features) and optional done-for-you onboarding services.

Product overview

Popcorn is a multi-award winning, unified CRM and lead management SaaS platform designed specifically for small businesses. The core product is Popcorn CRM — a simple, visual CRM that combines essential sales, marketing, and prospect management tools into a single platform as a direct alternative to over-complex enterprise CRMs like HubSpot. The platform's integrated portfolio includes the core CRM and contact management engine, Visual Pipelines for deal tracking, built-in Email Marketing with tracking and segmentation, Landing Page builder, Automation Rules for follow-up workflows, Lead Generation tools (including Hot/Warm/Cool prospect identification and website tracking), Forms, Deal Management, File Manager, and Integration Tools (connecting to Gmail, Outlook, Zapier, and FreeAgent). The platform is offered at a low monthly price point (£5+VAT/month after a free 5-day trial) with no contracts, no setup fees, and no hidden costs, and is backed by UK-based customer support. The company also operates an Affiliate Program for partners. Version 3 of the platform was launched in 2023 to support the company's growth ambitions in the UK market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Popcorn CRM Multi-award winning, simple visual CRM and lead management SaaS platform built specifically for small businesses. Combines essential CRM, email marketing, lead generation, website tracking, pipelines, automation, and deal management tools in a single easy-to-use platform as an alternative to complex enterprise CRMs like HubSpot. Sold as a freemium subscription (£5+VAT/month after a 5-day free trial) with no contracts and no setup fees.
• Popcorn Email Marketing Cloud-based email marketing service operating under the doing-business-as name 'popcorn email marketing', part of the Popcorn platform. Provides world-class email delivery, visual drag-and-drop email editing, open and click tracking, segmentation, and campaign management targeted at small businesses; integrates with Gmail and Outlook.
• Lead Generation Tools Lead generation offering within the Popcorn platform featuring Hot/Warm/Cool prospect identification, visual prospect lists, website visitor tracking, and email engagement scoring that automatically flags and prioritises high-intent prospects for follow-up. Designed for small businesses that need to generate and qualify leads without enterprise-level tooling.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200% increase in sales conversion rates
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature13 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• ZapiercoreTechnology or IntegrationZapier integration allows popcorn CRM to connect with thousands of other apps and automate workflows. Specifically mentioned as a tool for integrating popcorn with other software the user is already using.
• GmailcoreTechnology or IntegrationGmail integration allows users to connect their email accounts directly to popcorn CRM for seamless email tracking and management.
• OutlookcoreTechnology or IntegrationOutlook integration allows Microsoft email users to connect directly to popcorn CRM for email tracking and management.
• FreeAgentsupportingTechnology or IntegrationFreeAgent accounting software integration mentioned as available connection for popcorn CRM users.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe is the payment processor for popcorn CRM. Credit card and payment information is not visible to popcorn staff; only necessary information to process payment is held securely by Stripe.
• Google AnalyticssupportingTechnology or IntegrationGoogle Analytics is used for site analytics on the popcorn website. Additionally, popcorn CRM has built-in website tracking that can supplement or replace the need for Google Analytics.
• RewardfulcoreTechnology or IntegrationRewardful affiliate portal used to manage and track popcorn's affiliate program. Allows affiliates to generate unique links and track rewards/commissions.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Keap (Infusionsoft): Long-standing SMB-focused CRM + marketing automation platform with similar bundled-utility positioning to Popcorn; targets the same entrepreneur and small-business segment with comparable feature scope.
• Pipedrive: Visual sales-pipeline-led CRM targeting SMBs with simple, intuitive deal tracking — the closest direct functional comparable to Popcorn's Visual Pipelines and SMB-oriented pricing model.
• Capsule CRM: UK-headquartered, SMB-focused simple CRM — direct geographic and product-category peer to Popcorn, both marketing simplicity and affordability to UK small businesses.
• Freshsales (Freshworks): AI-augmented CRM from Freshworks with built-in email, phone, chat, and visual pipelines targeting SMBs globally — directly comparable on functionality and SMB positioning.
• ActiveCampaign: SMB-focused CRM + email marketing + automation platform combining the exact same product pillars Popcorn offers (CRM, email, automation, landing pages), making it a directly comparable bundled-utility competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Zoho CRM: SMB-friendly CRM suite with freemium tier that Popcorn explicitly compares against. Zoho offers a broader feature footprint but is positioned by Popcorn as over-complex for small businesses.
• HubSpot: The dominant SMB CRM/marketing automation platform that Popcorn explicitly positions against ('The Small Business Alternative to HubSpot CRM'). Overlapping CRM, email marketing, pipelines, and automation functionality, but at higher price points and significantly greater complexity.

Emerging players

• monday.com CRM: Work operating system with CRM-like sales pipeline modules targeting SMBs — referenced by name in Popcorn's CRM comparison pages as another complexity/simplicity comparator.
• Mailchimp: Email marketing platform that has expanded into basic CRM and audience management — overlapping with Popcorn's email marketing and contact management modules from a different starting point.
• Attio: AI-native, modern CRM targeting startups and SMBs with a UX-first positioning — emerging peer that threatens Popcorn's simplicity and visual-pipeline differentiator through AI-driven UX.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/popcorn_crm
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCd0AkXqVqsjgJbAcI_WbLiA/about
• Facebookfacebook.com/popcornleadmanagement
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/popcorn-email-marketing
• Instagraminstagram.com/popcornleadmanagement

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Popcorn