£1.5m of VC funds to help Manchester retail AI specialist recruit more staff and clients
A Manchester AI start-up has received a £1.5m investment from Praetura Ventures.
Sparkbox says its AI and in-depth data solutions help big brand merchandising teams make better stock buying and pricing decisions.
Clients include River Island and Matchesfashion.com. They use Sparkbox to forecast demand, optimise their pricing and promotions and plan inventory to reduce waste and the need for big discounts.
In a recent trial with a £500m+ fashion retailer, Sparkbox, which launched in 2019, improved cash margin on markdowns by 34% and paid back its client’s investment in 34 days.
It says its approach to data also has the potential to aid brand sustainability goals by preventing retailers from over-ordering stock, with reports that fashion alone is responsible for up to 10% of global carbon emissions.
Sparkbox will use Manchester-based Praetura Ventures’ investment to double its team and onboard further fashion, home and seasonal retailers, where deadstock is a constant challenge across the board.
The company was co-founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 inductees Lindsay Fisher and Matthew Wong, and Kevin Blackmore, who, prior to Sparkbox, was vice president of customer insights at Best Buy and a retail analytics partner at Accenture.
Collectively, the founding team has 50 years’ of global retail experience, including previous work with Arcadia and the Liverpool-based Very Group.
Colin Greene, an operational partner at Praetura Ventures who was formerly Apple’s director of US Consumer Retail, will join Sparkbox’s board.
Lindsay Fisher said: “As a team of former retailers, we’ve seen first-hand how the retail industry is advancing in many areas but falling behind when it comes to making data-driven decisions.
“We know how much potential there is for AI and machine learning to improve profits and reduce waste in retail, and we are thrilled to have Prateura join us on our mission to modernise merchandising and put data behind the important pricing and inventory decisions our users make every day.”
Colin Greene said: “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.”
Named one to watch in the North’s growing tech ecosystem, Sparkbox makes up the list of companies selected for Enterprise City’s second start-up exchange programme at Manchester’s Department Bonded Warehouse, which is supported by Praetura Ventures.
The deal was managed by Peter Carway and Louise Chapman from the Praetura Ventures investment team and supported by the legal team at Gateleys’ Manchester office. Sparkbox was supported by Adam Kaucher and his team at Irwin Mitchell in Manchester.
