Based in London, Uncrowd has developed a customer analytics platform enabling retailers to better understand customer preferences and behaviour, and giving them the capability to make immediate changes to marketing and operations in order to dramatically increase sales.
The award, the first of its kind, recognises Uncrowd’s entrepreneurial, customer-focused potential and the utility of its platform. Uncrowd was selected from companies who are delivering their services via Microsoft’s Azure platform worldwide.
Uncrowd enables retailers to configure up to 82 variables, model their impact on customer browsing and buying behaviour relative to competitors and take immediate, profitable actions.
Commenting on the award, Richard Hammond, co-founder and CEO of Uncrowd, said: “We’re thunderstruck by this endorsement from Microsoft, a global technology giant and hugely supportive partner. For us, it feels like the award equivalent of a Series A round. The buzz around our platform is intensifying and retailers are waking up to the importance of nuance and accuracy in insight. In the last few years, Board and operational tolerance of vague metrics have declined as better ways of understanding and modelling customer motivations have emerged. We’re at the crest of this wave and we’re delighted with this accolade. It’s yet another important endorsement of the calibre of the UK tech start-up community.”
The business has completed a seed funding round, with investments from key retail and tech entrepreneurs, private equity investors and VC funds. Uncrowd currently employs nine people, has a presence in the US, and is focused on the top 250 retailers worldwide.
Uncrowd is also expanding its advisory Board with the appointments of Joanne Webb, a senior commercial strategist who has held executive roles at the Walt Disney Company and Merlin Entertainments, and John Phillips, CTO at Havas.
Co-founder and CTO, Rocky Howard, said: “Our platform enables any of the top 250 retailers in the world to add a minimum of $1 million to their operating profit without getting close to Uncrowd’s full potential. There isn’t a platform in the world that gives retailers as clear a set of actionable insights about their customers. It’s the sort of management information that makes a minute by minute difference to sales performance, grounded in practical utility.”
