Dublin-based ecommerce data analytics platform Conjura has raised €15 million in a Series A funding round that will further its expansion in Ireland and the UK and see it enter new markets.
The company, which was founded by Fran Quilty and Wayflyer chief executive Aidan Corbett, will also use the money to further develop its products, adding new features to its existing products and developing new ones. It will also be used to fund an expanded team, which Conjura has been building in anticipation of the funding round, and focus on markets such as the US.
The funding round was co-led by Act Venture Capital and MiddleGame Ventures, while Tribal VC also participated.
Conjura offers data analytics across the entire ecommerce operation on a single cloud-based platform, giving companies better visibility over their operations than previous solutions that offered a more siloed approach with multiple tools. The platform offers real-time analysis, pulling data from fulfilment, warehousing, and supply chain sources and combining it with online/offline sales, marketplace transactions and customer metrics. Among its customers are Naturecan, Wild, Saint+Sofia, Percival, CleanCo and CurrentBody.
The company has been operating largely in stealth mode for the past couple of years, chief executive Mr Quilty said, but was now preparing for growth.
“We’ve got big plans,” he said. “We definitely wanted a syndicate [of investors]. We can get value from them in different ways. We’re really pleased to have great partners, and it does give us some credibility, especially when we are growing internationally, to have well known Irish VCs behind us.”
Mr Quilty said the growth of ecommerce combined with rising customer expectations has made it more important than ever for businesses to stand out from the competition. However, companies were finding issues with data stuck in different parts of the business, leading to a failure to gather information or operate efficiently.
“It’s a hard problem to solve. It needs investment and time to build,” he said. “Some companies have tackled the space in a partial way, mainly because it’s easier and you can get there faster. With us, we came initially from a services background and we were keen to understand the full suite of problems. We definitely understood from working with our early customers that the current solutions were just still only solving part of the problem.”
The company has been signing up customers since its launch in 2018, but it has seen an increase in interest in the past couple of years as the pandemic shifted focus to the digital channel. Mr Quilty said businesses have tried to understand what they need to do better on, and value the data driven approach that Conjura can provide.
Further growth in staff numbers may be on the cards, provided Conjura hits the numbers it is expecting. It currently employs 65 people. The US market is next in its plans for growth. Conjura already has some customers there despite no concrete “go to” market strategy.
"E-commerce companies need data platforms that address all aspects of their business and Conjura uniquely offers that capability," said Debbie Rennick, general partner at Act Venture Capital. "It is a data driven decision making platform designed for next generation e-commerce. Their strong growth to date is testament to the market opportunity and the real need for Conjura's approach."
