London-based app commerce startup Poq has secured € 3.6 million in a Series A funding round, led by venture and growth investor Beringea and additional funding from existing investors. Seed investors include Seedcamp and Venrex.
This funding will be used to triple Poq’s development team, kick-start its international expansion outside of Europe and empower retailers to bring online shopping into the store. The investment round closed as Poq signed two new clients – Holland & Barrett, the UK’s leading health retailer with over one thousand stores globally, and etailer Made.com, which made € 50 million in revenue last year.
Poq provides a software-as-a-service platform that enables retailers to offer highly effective customer-facing shopping apps. It allows retailers to make use of in-app and in-store data to gain actionable insights in customer behaviour and to identify the best growth opportunities. App allows to build stronger brands, sell more of their products, deepen customer loyalty and deliver highly relevant content, communications and rewards. Poq has coined the term “app commerce” which refers to shopping via mobile apps.
Oyvind Henriksen, CEO and Co-Founder of Poq: “The app economy is the world’s fastest growing economy. Our platform is no exception, having already hit € 120 million in app revenue and growing 600% year-on-year. Our mission is to drive more revenue through more advanced native app technology comparing to previous-generation web-based commerce platforms. Apps provide the best shopping experience on mobile, where customers are logged in forever and can pay with a fingerprint. And retailers who don’t offer apps will lose out to those who do. We are really excited about closing this funding round and continuing to lead the app commerce revolution.”
Launched in 2011, Poq has since established itself as the market leader in the app commerce space, powering the apps of large international retailers such as House of Fraser, Missguided and Liberty.
Nitin Passi, the Founder and CEO of leading UK fashion etailer Missguided: “The revenue run-rate of the Missguided shopping app went from zero to £30 million within just four months from the app launch. The partnership with Poq has proven extremely valuable in a very short space of time, and the app now makes up 13% of our online revenue. We look forward to leveraging the Poq platform while we expand our international and offline presences.“
