What’s the deal?

The £3.3m Series A funding round for RevLifter in November 2020. Gresham House Ventures and Maven invested £1.5m each, with remaining commitment coming from existing investors.

RevLifter uses AI technology to run a deal personalisation platform, which helps e-commerce businesses eradicate wastage of one-size-fits-all promotions by offering hyper-personalised, real-time deals. This improves online conversion rates and drives higher spend. It already works with high-profile customers including ASOS, Very, Currys PC World, AT&T, BT Broadband and EE.

Our investment will support further expansion, with the aim of increasing its US-centric customer presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific, as well as targeting industries such as finance and utilities. It will also enable the development of new features related to basket abandonment and product recommendations.

How were you introduced to the deal?

RevLifter was introduced to us by Damus Capital, which is a small, boutique adviser. It finds a lot of interesting, early-stage businesses that typically raise capital from networks of high-net-worth individuals. From introduction to completion took six months, which in the circumstances was reasonably quick. The initial interactions and negotiations around the deal were all done remotely, then face to face once restrictions allowed.

What was the attraction?

Our expertise lies in identifying differentiated businesses, targeting large markets through disruptive business models. RevLifter is one such transformative business and is well positioned to capitalise on consumer trends that have been accelerated by COVID-19. Its technology-driven model has proven resilient, and it has undoubtedly benefited from growth opportunities in e-commerce. Estimates suggest that the shift from physical stores to digital shopping has been accelerated by five years.

RevLifter also benefits from the growing focus on demonstrating the effectiveness of marketing spend and discounts. Retailers are wary of discounts, but, by personalising them, RevLifter can show incremental increases in conversion rates and basket value, avoiding the risks of potentially ineffective blanket discounts.

Who were the advisers?

Financial due diligence was carried out for us by a Buzzacott team led by Alex Judd. We used Validify for commercial due diligence, Confidas People for management referencing and psychometric testing. Shoosmiths provided legal advice and carried out the legal due diligence. Maven used the same advisers that we did. Damus Capital was RevLifter’s financial adviser and Taylor Wessing its legal adviser.

What were the challenges?

The challenge we face post-investment is to keep the technology operating effectively while building out new feature sets, as well as continuing the move from being commission based to offering a fully integrated platform with a recurring revenue model. That will have a number of benefits, but challenges as well, not least the person within a retailer you’re selling it to. On a commission basis, it’s relatively easy to get someone to take the product, as they only pay when it works. But selling a longer-term contract extends the sales cycle and brings in more decision-makers, as the customer needs to know the product will deliver value before buying.

We did a lot of work to understand the best way to sell the product, who they are currently selling it to, why that person was buying it and whether it was delivering incrementality to the marketing team. We wanted to know how to drive high-margin revenues, as opposed to unprofitable volume.

The CV

Thomas Makey joined KPMG in London in 2009, having graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in biology. He trained as an ACA in audit, then moved into transaction services, with a focus on private equity. In 2015, he joined Livingbridge as an investment manager in its growth team. In 2018, the team moved to Gresham House to form Gresham House Ventures. At the start of 2020, he was promoted to investment director. The firm is a Corporate Finance Faculty member.

Recent deals

• €5m investment in delivery management platform Scurri, in June 2021
• £5m investment in Rezatec, a geospatial data analytics business, in January 2020
• Undisclosed investment in Yappy, a personalised dog product business, in June 2019