Peak poised to open data development centres after £2.5m funding deal

Data analytics company Peak is set to open a development centre in Manchester after securing £2.5m in Series A funding in a round led by London-based venture capital firm, MMC Ventures.

Peak’s data analytics-as-a-service model helps companies of all sizes use data, machine learning and AI technologies to drive growth.

This latest funding round comes just over a year after Peak secured seed investment led by Manchester-based Praetura Capital.

These funds were used to commercialise Peak’s data analytics-as-a-service offering and to expand its operations; growing the internal team and opening development centres in both Manchester, UK, and Jaipur, India.

This latest injection of capital brings the total amount raised by the company so far to £3.5m. It will be used to will fund the company’s ongoing investment in machine learning and AI technologies, and further accelerate sales growth.

Peak was founded by Richard Potter, Atul Sharma and David Leitch, who hit upon their idea over a pint in their local pub.

The trio had become frustrated with the fragmentation of data services in the market and the associated costs.

They set out to create a platform that combined all the required data analytics services – unifying, processing, modelling and extracting insight – to help businesses grow. As a subscription-based service, Peak delivers this for businesses continuously.

Peak has attracted big name companies including The Economist, Morrisons and AstraZeneca, as well as SMEs and technology businesses such as Regit – enabling the latter to grow revenues by 27% through the adoption of predictive analytics. As a result, Peak has seen a sharp increase in demand for its service.

“We have seen incredible traction since launching our service in 2016,” said Richard Potter, co-founder and CEO of Peak.

“Our subscription revenues are growing in-line with the fastest growing global tech businesses, which demonstrates just how strong the demand for machine learning and AI technologies is in businesses across the spectrum.

“In that time, we have built an amazing data science and engineering capability, while delivering some incredible results for our customers. This round of funding will enable us to further develop both our technology and our team, while accelerating our commercial growth.”

Mike Fletcher, chairman of Peak and managing partner of Praetura Capital, said: “We took our time to assess the best funding route for the next stage of our growth.

“We wanted an investor with an understanding of B2B SaaS companies and how to scale them globally, as well as having an appreciation for the nascent machine learning and AI sector. In MMC Ventures we believe we have found the perfect partner and we’re delighted to welcome them into the company.”

Investing about £25m each year into early-stage businesses, MMC Ventures is one of the UK’s most prolific venture capital firms.

The firm has a strong focus on investing in enterprise software and consumer internet businesses. Recent investments, like Peak, have centered on business using artificial intelligence (AI) to drive innovation such as AI-powered media monitoring company Signal and marketing platform StoryStream.

Jon Coker, managing partner at MMC Ventures, said: “We believe that intelligent use of data will unlock huge value for companies over the next few years, and AI will be at the core of that value release. But AI is a noisy space and cutting through that noise to find providers who can really deliver measurable value for their customers is hard. That is what Peak’s platform does, and we are excited to be backing Richard, Atul and Dave’s vision for the future.”

“We are also pleased to be adding to our portfolio of investments in Manchester companies, including TyresOnTheDrive, SafeGuard and Interactive Investor.”