• Blippar

  Led · Series A · Mar 2021

  Blippar, an augmented-reality pioneer, has repositioned as a B2B company centered on its Blippbuilder SaaS AR creation platform and an in-house Studio B for bespoke work. The company targets use cases across live events, retail, FMCG, automotive, healthcare and education and positions itself as a platform-agnostic alternative to tech giants' AR tools. After earlier consumer-market ambitions, Blippar now leverages the IP and assets from its prior incarnation while operating much leaner. Headcount has fallen from about 340 at its peak to roughly 30 employees, and historically the company raised about $130 million and once claimed a $1.5 billion valuation. In 2020 the company reported a 200% increase in revenue quarter on quarter and says it has delivered campaigns for brands including OnePlus, Kellogg’s and Dr Pepper. Leadership changes have followed the turnaround, with Ambarish Mitra serving as Chief Product Officer and Faisal Galaria cited as CEO driving the repositioning. Founded in 2011, Blippar began by offering AR experiences for brand marketers and publishers, letting users unlock content by scanning a tag called a “Blipp.” The company later shifted toward computer-vision products, launching a consumer-facing visual search engine that identifies cars, plants, and other real-world objects. Most recently Blippar introduced an indoor positioning system to enable AR mapping and content inside commercial buildings. The company has repeatedly pivoted its product focus as the AR market has evolved. Those pivots have strained the business financially: in the 16-month period ending March 31, 2016 Blippar reported £8.5 million ($11.2 million) in revenue and £24 million ($31.5 million) in losses. To date the company has raised more than $137 million, and the latest funding is intended to fund a push to reach profitability within the next 12 months. Blippar launched in 2012 to bring augmented reality to everyday objects for brands, advertisers, and publishers by adding ‘Blipps’ to items like magazine pages and product packaging. Over the past four years it expanded beyond branded AR to deliver real-time AR recognition for many real-world objects, including plants, animals and food. Leading brands can use Blippar’s machine-learning platform to index their products so users can scan items (for example, a pair of Nike shoes) and see price and availability information. The company operates a 60-person engineering team in San Francisco. Blippar emphasizes machine learning and AI as core technology for its real-time AR search engine. It recently closed a funding round to support building out that engineering team and its ML/AI capabilities. Blippar is an augmented-reality advertising and publishing platform that uses real-world markers called "Blipps" to deliver AR layers of content via a camera. The company has historically brokered branded experiences and counted more than 2,500 brands on its platform. Blippar acquired Layar in June 2014 and the merged companies boast over 50 million global users. Founder Rish Mitra positions the technology as enabling a new form of visual search—pointing a camera at an object to surface purchase pages, social conversation, and videos. The company is rolling out a markerless version of its product that would let users "blipp" arbitrary objects and plans to unveil the technology at SXSW. Financially, Blippar announced $45 million in new funding from undisclosed investors. Blippar is a London-based startup that offers a mobile image-recognition and augmented reality platform. Its technology turns a smartphone camera into a ‘lens’ that overlays virtual information — such as links, digital coupons, videos or promotions — on real-world objects. The company says it achieved hundreds of thousands of consumer downloads in the first seven months after its UK debut. Major brands including Tesco, Nestle, Samsung and Unilever have run campaign ‘blipps’ on the platform. Blippar has taken undisclosed seed funding from Qualcomm Ventures and says the seed will act as a springboard to a larger Series A. It expects to close that Series A in early 2012.

• TVSquared

  Led · Equity · Apr 2018

  TVSquared offers ADvantage, a TV performance analytics platform that measures the impact of TV advertising and optimizes campaigns for response. Its products include audience-level insights to identify who is responding to TV and SearchSync to sync TV spots with paid search. The company serves more than 700 brands, agencies and networks across 70+ countries. TVSquared expanded its real-time spot-detection capabilities after acquiring wywy and recently opened operations in Munich. It operates offices in Edinburgh, London, New York and Los Angeles. Recent product and R&D work focuses on faster time-to-TV insights and improved campaign efficiency. TVSquared provides same-day measurement and optimization for TV advertisers, giving timely insights into the who, what, when and where of TV. Hundreds of brands, agencies and networks in more than 50 countries use TVSquared to improve TV campaign efficiency. The company reports clients typically optimize campaigns by 25%, reduce cost per response by 25% and increase sales and registrations by 30%, and says campaigns can be improved by 20–80%. TVSquared’s technology helps bolster on-air spot performance, inform media plans and realize the total impact of TV. The company says growing demand in the $202 billion TV ad market underpins its expansion plans and product investment. TVSquared is headquartered in Edinburgh and has offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. TVSquared provides a same-day measurement and optimization platform for TV advertising, offering insights into the “who, what, when and where” of TV to help brands, agencies and networks improve campaign performance. The technology is deployed at 350 brands across 46 countries. Led by founder and CEO Calum Smeaton, the company is Edinburgh, UK-based and has offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Serial technology entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl was announced as chairman. TVSquared closed a $3M funding round and has now raised $5.5M in total funding. The company intends to use the capital to expand its global presence.

• DynamicAction

  Led · Equity · Aug 2016

  DynamicAction provides an analytics solution specifically built for retail merchandising teams, connecting and analyzing millions of data points across an organization. Its platform uses more than 600 proprietary algorithms to pinpoint margin-eating disconnects, prescribe actions and rank those actions by financial impact. The company has offices in London and Dallas and is a certified Demandware partner. Customers include Brooks Brothers, Sur la Table, El Corte Inglés, Tesco, Nine West and Cole Haan. Led by CEO John Squire, DynamicAction recently secured new funding and entered an alliance with Accenture to broaden go-to-market reach.

• Onzo

  Participated · Equity · Jun 2014

  ONZO is a UK-based global data science software company that compiles and analyzes household energy data taken from sensors to empower customers with personalized insights and control around their energy usage. Led by CEO Spencer Rigler, the company provides tailored information and advice derived from household energy data. ONZO received a £747K Energy Catalyst grant from Innovate UK to fund a two-year project in partnership with Imperial College London. The project will work with customers of a new energy provider in Scotland, presenting personalized information to spot energy waste and reduce demand. The effort aims to address fuel poverty by helping people who struggle to pay bills in winter better manage their energy use throughout the year and reduce costs. The Energy Catalyst grant program is established by Innovate UK together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to accelerate innovation and address the Energy Trilemma. Onzo offers a data analytics platform that enables utilities, home automation companies and industrial sectors to extract insights from energy usage and other data. Its platform delivers outcomes such as energy efficiency improvements, enhanced customer engagement and better targeting of sales and marketing. Clients can either license Onzo’s apps onto their own platforms or use Onzo’s platform to deliver services. The company is led by CEO Joel Hagan and is based in London, UK. Onzo raised £1.4m in funding to support its growth. The company plans to use the funds to further develop its offering and to strengthen its presence in the US.

• Ecommera

  Participated · Equity · Sep 2009

  eCommera offers data analytics software that ingests retailer data such as views, inventory and purchase history to help retailers make better decisions around customer service, merchandising and fulfillment. The company’s SaaS surfaces what is driving sales and growth on an e-commerce site and what is not working, for example identifying promoted products that are selling out and how that affects customer satisfaction. eCommera was founded by the former Chief Scientist of Amazon and the former Chief Strategy Officer of IBM Smarter Commerce. In 2013 the company processed and analyzed more than $4 billion in online orders for 70 brands across 32 countries, including Neiman Marcus, Brooks Brothers, Clarins, Sur la Table and Calendars.com. As more retailers put inventory online, eCommera positions itself to help them understand merchandising and customer service strategy. The company competes with IBM and other incumbents in the retail analytics space. eCommera provides e-commerce services to retailers, supporting online retail operations and digital commerce initiatives. Founded in 2007 and based in London, the company serves over 20 major retailers and employs more than 70 staff. In November 2009 it secured a £1.3m investment from private equity group ePlanet. That injection brought the company’s total fundraising in 2009 to over £6m following a £5m round two months earlier led by Frog Capital with West Coast Capital and GP Bullhound. The new funds will be used to drive geographic expansion, with an initial focus on Europe. The company’s recent financing activity underscores a push to scale its retail e-commerce services across new markets. eCommera provides e-commerce services to retailers, helping them improve their online commerce capabilities. The company is London-based and serves over 20 major retailers. It employs more than 70 staff. Shareholders include West Coast Capital, Frog Capital, GP Bullhound and management. The company secured new funding to expand the geographical reach of the services it offers to retailers. The articles do not disclose revenue or other financial metrics.

No current team members are available.