RetailTech company Advanced Commerce has raised a £1.5 million round of funding.
Wealth Club led the investment, raising £1.3m under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).
Advanced Commerce is a visual merchandising platform for online retailers such as LK Bennett and The Conran Shop. The platform helps retailers merchandise their websites effectively, delivering a better online shopping experience in order to increase sales and reduce drop-off rates and basket abandonments.
The company was founded by André Brown, who previously founded Attraqt – a merchandising platform used by over 300 enterprise retail clients, from ASOS to The White Company and Screwfix – and subsequently helped it float on AIM in 2014.
Wealth Club also raised £1.3m investment for Advanced Commerce in late 2021, co-investing alongside institutional investor Haatch Ventures. Wealth Club clients now own a significant minority holding in the business.
“The UK eCommerce sector is estimated to be worth more than £150 billion, partly thanks to the shift to online shopping during the pandemic,” said Alex Davies, CEO and founder of Wealth Club.
“However, many retailers struggle to keep up with users’ expectations, for instance, up to 70% of baskets are abandoned – and that alone can cost e-retailers millions in lost sales.
“Advanced Commerce is helping solve this. Its platform is the digital equivalent of a good shopkeeper, arranging products on shelves to maximise sales. And the results speak for themselves: increasing average value of orders by 12-15% and the volume of orders by 5-10%.
“An opportunity to invest in a start-up where the founder is a sector expert and on top of that has a proven track record with a similar business, is hugely attractive. Our clients recognise a good opportunity when it presents itself and were quick to invest.”
Andre Brown, CEO of Advanced Commerce, said: “This investment will enable us to accelerate growth and expand geographically and develop new products in the same merchandising ecosystem.
“The software we have developed is called GrapheneHC and is effectively three technologies in one including site search, visual merchandising and product recommendations. We want this technology to become the gold standard for all online retailers.”