Salesfire raises £2.75m to help e-commerce stores boost sales
Salesfire – a UK company whose platform helps e-commerce stores to increase sales – has raised a further £2.75m from NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
The funding will enable the company to incorporate its latest AI-powered technology into its platform and create over ten new jobs in the next two years.
Salesfire’s software creates a comprehensive profile of every individual visiting a company’s website, and uses behavioural cues to understand their interests and shopping behaviour. It enables retailers to personalise the customer experience, guide shoppers through the buying funnel to improve conversion rates, then re-engage with them and build a one-to-one relationship.
The Middlesbrough-based company is developing new AI technology that will give deeper insights into customer behaviour, such as recognising anonymous individuals with different user accounts, and will be particularly valuable once existing tracking tools such as cookies are phased out.
Salesfire is used by over 700 brands including Hamleys, Moss Bros, Select fashion, Sportsshoes.com and Trespass. Founded in 2017 by Rich Himsworth who had previously worked in software and marketing, it now employs 65 staff and has annual recurring revenue of £3m. The company first received backing from Mercia and NPIF in 2022 and the latest round brings the total it has raised to date to over £5m.
“Salesfire’s mission is to help retailers grow their e-commerce sites and drive revenue. Our new Salesfire AI technology will be revolutionary in giving them scope to identify more anonymous site traffic and opening up a whole new world of marketing and data opportunities. We are pleased to have the continued support of our investors in this latest round and really excited to be at the forefront of AI in e-commerce.”
Rich Himsworth, founder and CEO
“Salesfire stands out from competitors by offering the type of sophisticated features normally only available in more costly products. Its new AI technology will make the platform even more powerful and initial trials have shown it can further increase sales. This Investment will enable the business to accelerate its development and further differentiate itself in the market.”
Chris McCourt of Mercia Ventures
NPIF II – Mercia Equity Finance can provide equity investments in the NPIF II area with a primary focus on the Yorkshire and Humber regions of City of Kingston upon Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) covers the entire North of England and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.
The purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for the North’s smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.
About Mercia Ventures
Mercia Ventures is a proactive venture capital investor focused on being the first-choice partner for growth. Mercia Ventures makes equity investments of up to £10million across all sectors, with specialisms in Software, Consumer, Healthcare and Deep Tech.
Mercia Ventures is a trading name of investment funds managed by Mercia Fund Management Limited and Mercia Regional Ventures Limited, part of the Mercia Asset Management PLC Group, and sits alongside the Group’s wider private equity, debt and proprietary balance sheet operations. The Group has 11 offices in the UK, and Mercia Ventures’ national footprint and 48 strong investment team draws on their experiences as founders, PhD scientists, software engineers, corporate financiers and management consultants to help our partner companies successfully achieve their ambitions. As at 30 September 2023, Mercia Asset Management PLC has c.£1.5billion of assets under management. Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC”.
The Group raises its own Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds, and details about open offers can be found through Mercia’s website.
Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC” and includes the following wholly owned subsidiaries –
About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II
This week’s podcast guest is Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, former CEO of Virgin Money, who discusses transitioning from running a major financial institution to
Faster and More Localised Forecasts Traditional weather models often take hours to generate a forecast, and even then, they may not capture localised condit
Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inboxSign up to our free IndyTech newsletterSign up to our free IndyTech newsletterCha
A startup in London developing AI analytics technology for debt capital markets has closed a $50m (£39.3m) Series B round. Based in the City, 9fin is loo