Foresight has invested GBP2.15 million from Foresight VCT into Fresh Relevance Limited (FRL), a marketing technology platform for eCommerce businesses.
Fresh Relevance is a SaaS email marketing and web personalisation platform providing online retailers with personalised customer experiences and real-time marketing tools across desktop and mobile.
Key features of the platform include triggered emails, web personalisation and real-time behavioural marketing, all of which aim to replicate the personalised experience familiar across market leading eCommerce businesses.
Based in Southampton, Fresh Relevance was founded by Mike Austin, Pete Austin and Eddy Swindell, ex-employees of former Foresight private equity portfolio company SmartFocus. In line with the rapid growth of the USD2 trillion e-commerce sector, marketing technology is evolving at a similar rate as retailers try to engage with consumers in an increasingly competitive online market.
Foresight’s private equity team has continued to be very active after completing 12 investments in 2016, investing in five SMEs during the first quarter of 2017.
Rodney Appiah, senior investment manager, Foresight Group, says: “We are delighted to be working with Mike and the rest of the team to support Fresh Relevance’s growth plans. Their innovative and flexible marketing platform is addressing the demand for greater personalisation online and is already relied upon by hundreds of leading retailers.”
Austin says: "To date we have achieved major growth, with more than 300 customers now relying on the Fresh Relevance marketing hub. The significant investment from Foresight Group enables us to accelerate our expansion across North America, explore market opportunities in new territories and further extend our in-house development capabilities.
"Foresight Group is the ideal partner for Fresh Relevance, as they fully understand our business and its potential and share our ambition about how we get there together."
