The former CEO of software giant Sage has invested in Bristol company 3radical.
Stephen Kelly and ex-Salesforce chairman for the EMEA region Steve Garnett have invested in the software firm which is accelerating the rollout of its audience engagement platform.
They will provide advisory services to the SaaS firm, which has received £1 million investment.
3radical is a SaaS company that enables organisations to achieve substantial improvements in customer and employee engagement, as well as referral marketing.
It was launched by British entrepreneurs David Eldridge and Mike Talbot in 2014 in Southeast Asia, with Australia and the UK added in 2015.The current funding round brings the total amount raised by 3radical to over £7m.
More than two million individuals worldwide have engaged with digital content generated by 3radical Voco to date.
Kelly has over 35 years’ experience with high-growth businesses and has been CEO of three successful public companies in the UK and US: FTSE100 company Sage, NASDAQ-listed Chordiant and FTSE Micro Focus – as well as COO of UK Government.
“Individuals – be they consumers or employees – understand the value of their data and are becoming increasingly discerning about which organisations they trust and engage with, and what they share about themselves,” said Kelly.
“Getting, and keeping, their attention, support, loyalty and business means your communication has to be mutually rewarding, interactive and even entertaining. It also has to be delivered where and when they want it.
“Trust is table-stakes for today’s great companies. 3radical has created a SaaS platform that makes it easy for organisations to do just that, and address the huge challenges this creates, reaping the rewards of better communications execution.
“This ability to easily configure and deliver interactive, rewarding digital content personal to every individual in the moment simply isn’t available from existing marketing or employee communication platforms, but is critical to organisations’ future success.”
Garnett was chairman of Salesforce in EMEA for 13 years prior to retiring in 2016. Before Salesforce, Steve’s experience includes leading Siebel in EMEA and he was VP of Oracle.
He said: “3radical has done a fantastic job with its Voco platform and has made good progress rolling it out to organisations across the UK and Asia Pac. We look forward to helping 3radical accelerate its growth in these markets as well as the US.
“There is huge untapped potential for the company and its software. Every organisation needs to rethink how to engage with consumers and employees effectively based on the huge shift in individuals’ expectations we are seeing.
“3radical addresses the issues this raises plugging a critical gap in the existing marketing or employee communication technology stack they have today.”
David Eldridge, CEO of 3radical, said: “It is fantastic to have investors and advisors with the experience and global network of Stephen and Steve getting behind 3radical. Their support endorses our belief in the tremendous scale of the opportunity ahead for us, particularly in the US. The business will benefit greatly from the experience and network they have built leading first-class global software businesses.”