The business, based in Yeadon, Leeds, was set up in 1999 by a group of teenagers from the city through the Young Enterprise Scheme.
The team believed that marketing was not connecting effectively with their age group so they set up a website – www.dubit.co.uk.
They also thought youngsters were unable to buy goods online using established payment mechanisms which largely ignored under 18s so they looked to develop the area. Campaigns run by Dubit, which has 21 staff and is expecting turnover of £1m this year, have included giving advice on teenage binge drinking, citizenship and the redesign and development of the ideal youth banking service.
Dubit has four divisions which operate independently within the group: research, marketing, web design and the DubitCard.
Whilst the investment by YHEF will provide working capital to further develop all divisions, the development of DubitCard is the area identified as the one with the greatest potential.
Teenagers sign up to the free card – via www.dubitcard.com – and participating retailers, including Pizza Hut and Vue Cinemas, provide discounts or special offers to DubitCard holders.
Retailers pay a monthly fee to participate on the card which offers them access to the entire cardholder database or any specific subset of it which they wish to target.
Further plans for the card include introducing loyalty points for participating retailers and to develop the card into a fully enabled debit card, in conjunction with a high street bank.
Ian Douthwaite, Dubit's managing director, who has taken over from founder Adam Hildreth who has left the business, said: "We are very excited by the expansion possibilities that this investment presents us – from increased research into youth lifestyles, through to launching the perfect youth banking service.
"We've expanded quite a lot over the last three or four years.
"Many groups have specialised within the ten to 24-year-old age group but we go from seven to 24 with a core of 11 to 17.
"It's all about enhancing young people's options."
Richard Taylor, investment manager at YFM, which was responsible for the investment through YHEF, said: "We have invested into a business, which in DubitCard, has a product that is unique in the market place.
"Under the leadership of Ian Douthwaite, the business is now consistently generating profits on a monthly basis, has a growing list of blue chip clients across all its youth marketing divisions, and most importantly from an investment perspective has huge upside potential in the continued development of DubitCard."
ian.briggs@ypn.co.uk