Silicon Valley unicorn Quotient Technology has acquired UK start-up Elevaate to boost its eCommerce offering.
Elevaate drives eCommerce sales through sponsored search and product ads, both on retailers’ properties and around the web.
This is the first acquisition in the UK by Quotient and will allow the company to help its retailer partners boost eCommerce media and sales. This is particularly key at a time when shoppers are increasingly buying online.
Elevaate matches brand product ads to relevant placements throughout the eCommerce purchase process using a mix of algorithms, flexible bidding models and rich analytics.
Elevaate founder and CEO Scott Weavers-Wright will leave the business to concentrate on new opportunities and the rest of the team will continue to be based in Stamford. Engineering teams will be tripled to support the US roll-out.
“I am very proud and excited for the team to be part of a billion-dollar business based in California,” said Weavers-Wright, who sold previous company Kiddicare for £70 million to Morrisons PLC.
“After all, it’s not every day a Silicon Valley giant acquires a tech platform in Stamford. It’s been an incredible journey over the last four years.
“In the early years of my career I always got asked by suppliers and brands if I could elevate their products higher up search results pages. Limitations on technology meant it wasn’t possible.
“In the following years I discovered supplier contribution formed a critical part of the trading arrangement between suppliers and the retailer at a global scale.
“After asking ‘why is nobody doing this?’ I took the plunge, and this is now one of the biggest technology acquisitions in the UK this year. Having had such great success here, I fully intend to continue investing in digital businesses in Stamford.”
In the past year, Silicon Valley investment in the UK has broken the £1 billion threshold for the first time, representing a surge of 250 per cent in the past five years.
The vast majority of investment goes to tech companies operating in the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ of Cambridge, London and Oxford.