Two former school buddies have attracted £1 million of investment in their idea-sharing start-up, including a pledge from an ex-governor of the BBC.

Owen Hunnam and Charlie de Rusett have closed a funding round for their company Idea Drop, which they founded in the Eynsford office of a marketing agency they set up together.

The company, which helps staff capture and share ideas at work using cloud software, has raised £1.2 million from 34 investors since it was founded in March 2014.

Backers of the tool – which can be used on the web, iOS and Android – include Lord Smith of Kelvin, the former chairman of Scottish and Southern Energy and the Weir Group and an ex-BBC governor.

Mr Hunnam and Mr de Rusett, who met at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, have sold their product to clients in 61 countries and 318 cities, including Fortune 500 engineering companies and UK police forces.

They have since moved the business to Bermondsey, with its 17-strong development and engineering team based in Kerala, India.

The company has made three appointments to its board following the funding round, including chairman Simon Cole, who is chief executive of AIM-listed digital music firm 7Digital.

Lord Smith said: “I wholeheartedly believe that Idea Drop has a real opportunity to claim a slot as global leaders in the idea management software space.

“The proven team, compelling proposition, addressable market size and their aspirations to build a world-class product are, for me, a winning mix.”

“Like most start-ups, we found the fundraising process to be a necessary evil in our growth journey, so we’re excited to focus purely on delivering our strategy now...” - Owen Hunnam, Idea Drop

The venture is the third major undertaking for Mr Hunnam and Mr de Rusett, who previously founded Sevenoaks-based Vine, a regional UK publishing group which was acquired by Local World in December 2013.

They also co-founded Yellowball, a creative marketing consultancy in Eynsford, in which they sold a majority stake in February 2015.

Mr Hunnam, who lives in Tonbridge, said the Idea Drop software empowers staff to share suggestions and is most popular with small teams and start-ups.

Research by management consultancy McKinsey shows 87% of global executives believe innovation is “really important” but only 6% are happy with their innovation processes.

Mr Hunnam said: “We’re thrilled to have closed this funding round, as it allows us to accelerate the execution of our ambitious product roadmap, ramp-up sales and marketing activity globally and bring the Idea Drop platform to more organisations.

“Our goal is to become the global leader in innovation management, and we’re now in a great position to achieve this.

“Like most start-ups, we found the fundraising process to be a necessary evil in our growth journey, so we’re excited to focus purely on delivering our strategy now.”