Sparkbox Raises £1.5m to Help Retailers Make Data-Driven Decisions

We'll use Praetura Ventures' investment to double our team, onboard new customers, and launch new AI-based tools for merchandisers

3 March 2022

Following a period of exciting growth, Sparkbox is thrilled to announce Praetura Ventures has invested £1.5m to help us expand our team, onboard new customers, and launch new products.

Retailers that are powered by data deliver more profits, waste less inventory, and delight more customers - but merchandising functions lag behind when it comes to adoption of data analytics tools. Praetura Ventures has joined our mission to eliminate guesswork and empower humans with the data they need to make better pricing and inventory decisions.

With this investment we welcome two new board members - Colin Greene, a Praetura Operational Partner and former director of US Consumer Retail at Apple, and Louise Chapman who will join as Investor Director.

Colin Greene commented: “Sparkbox’s approach to inventory optimisation has the power to bring about massive changes in fashion and home retail, which is clearly behind the times when it comes to technology adoption within merchandising. I’m looking forward to working with the team and sharing some of the lessons I’ve learnt from my time at Apple and the other tech businesses I’ve been lucky to work closely with over the years. The wider Praetura team are excited to be backing another fantastic Northern tech business and providing more than money support to make Sparkbox a go-to solution for even more household brands.”

As we celebrate this milestone, Sparkbox Co-founders would like to thank our extended team for their hard work during the pandemic and our fantastic customers - many of whom initially invested in our technology and our vision for the future of merchandising at a time of great uncertainty.

Huge thanks to the team at Praetura Ventures, especially Louise Chapman and Peter Carway, and to Adam Kaucher at Irwin Mitchell in Manchester for advising on the deal.

We are hiring! Visit our open roles at careers.sparkbox.ai or share your CV with careers@sparkbox.ai.

For more information please reach us at info@sparkbox.ai.

Sparkbox Founders Included in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2020

Our team has been recognised in the Class of 2020 (Retail & Ecommerce) as "innovators reinventing the way we shop, online and off"

Today Forbes announced their Under 30 Europe list for 2020 and included two Sparkbox founders - Matt Wong and Lindsay Fisher. Team Sparkbox is thrilled to be part of this group, which "highlights the young visionary leaders brashly reinventing business and society".

Sparkbox is included in the Retail & Ecommerce category. This year's other honourees include founders of consumer brands, fashion labels, sustainability solutions, and blockchain platforms for retailers. We are grateful to have been recognised for our vision of enabling data-driven merchandising and pricing for retailers.

We launched Sparkbox in 2018 and this recognition wouldn't have been possible without the effort of our entire team - which includes additional founders Alex Stemler and Kevin Blackmore who (only just) aged out!

In uncertain times, we hope, as Forbes does, that this list "delivers a much needed dose of optimism" to the retail community in Europe! Thank you for including us!

https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2020/europe/retail-ecommerce/#678e0c3825b1

Sparkbox wins Tech Nation's "Rising Stars"!

"10 winners represent the most exciting and innovative early-stage tech companies in the country"

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February was a busy month for Sparkbox, but the highlight for us was the Tech Nation Rising Stars Grand Final where we were named one of the most promising early-stage tech startups in the UK!

Rising Stars is an annual competition and this year's finalists included incredible startups working across sectors including fintech, tech for good, health tech, and retail tech. We pitched to a panel of judges that included Adam Kamani, Co-Founder of PrettyLittleThing, Amali de Alwis, MD at Microsoft for Startups UK, Ed Prior, Tech Investment Banker at GP Bullhound, Jacqueline de Rojas, President of techUK, Denise Xifara, Co-Founder of GMG Ventures and Michael Stothard, Editor at Sifted.

In our pitch, we spoke about the opportunity price optimisation presents for retailers, how we're solving the problem with machine learning, and some of the great results we've delivered for our fast fashion clients.

We’re thrilled to be among this impressive group of startups and we’re particularly proud to represent the exciting new technology emerging in the retail sector. Thank you to the judging panel, sponsors, and Tech Nation for your support. Congratulations to all finalists!