A trio of Manchester retail tech figures have come together to launch Rove.
The AI SaaS platform aims to revolutionise how brands, distributors and retailers expand into international markets.
Simon Boyd’s experience spans the full supply chain, from senior roles at Kingfisher, Tesco and Phones4U to building international businesses like CAT Phones, which reached $85 million in revenue across 60 countries, and Smoothskin, which grew to $150m in retail sales and launched in 70 markets.
Ben Davies is a serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience building technology and FMCG businesses. He founded Vypr, a product intelligence platform that helps leading brands make faster, data-backed decisions, and where he remains part of the senior leadership team.
Adam Warburton is a product and technology leader with more than 15 years of experience in digital innovation and was previously chief product officer at Co-op and chief product & technology officer at Vypr.
The new venture was unveiled at a launch event with retail industry leaders in Manchester this week.
The verified retailer marketplace aims to make global expansion faster, cheaper and more strategic. It is described as the first AI-powered platform designed to identify high-potential markets, verify demand, connect brands directly to the right retail partners, and undertake accurate compliance checks all in one place.
Rove claims to provide bespoke market intelligence within 48 hours rather than months and at 10% of traditional consultancy cost. It can review over 20 international markets simultaneously providing businesses with a clear view of where the strongest international expansion opportunities lie.
This technology-led approach reduces cost and risk to brands, distributors, and retailers, as well as partners seeking market insight – such as government agencies and trade organisations.
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Rove has been selected for the Turing Innovation Catalyst (TIC) Accelerator programme based at Sister in Manchester’s £1.7 billion science and technology innovation district.
“Rove is born out of our own experience of the complexities of international expansion,” said Boyd. “The traditional path to overseas growth is an expensive mess of disconnected consultants, subjective opinions, and crossed fingers.
“Ben and I have built and scaled global businesses, and we both recognised the same challenge: accessing reliable market data and trusted retail networks is costly, slow, and fragmented. Our team has set out to solve this.”
Davies added: “For those planning their next global market, your 2026 strategy won’t come from guesses, furious Googling, or marketplace noise. Those that win will be the ones who can answer two questions quickly: Should we go – is this market actually attractive enough? And can we go – are we operationally and regulatory ready to ship without surprises?”
Warburton commented: “We’re building a single platform that can do the heavy lifting: ingesting complex signals across markets, retailers, regulations, and consumers, and translating them into clear, actionable answers.
“Not another dashboard, but an operating system for global expansion – so leaders can spend less time guessing, and more time executing with confidence.”