UK-based Ramp is on a mission to rewrite the rules of forecasting by unlocking the power of cohort-based forecasting. The startup has just secured about €4.7 million ($5 million) to scale.
It’s reported that in 99% of businesses, financial modelling and forecasting are still done with the humble spreadsheet. In today’s constantly changing digital world, this tool has become outdated. Spreadsheets are often inaccurate, time-consuming and can be open to interference from different areas of the business with their own agendas.
Inaccurate forecasting, caused by relying on spreadsheets, is causing inefficient processes for many businesses and is also a cause of missing quarterly targets. With better forecasting, more accurate targets can be made, and better plans put in place to achieve them.
Ramp, a startup born in London, has been developed to help change this. The startup has just secured new funding to scale.
Funding details
- €4.7 million ($5 million) raised in a seed round
- The round was led by AlbionVC and Eurazeo
- Triple Point Ventures participated in the round, alongside angel investors Barnaby Hussey-Yeo CEO at Cleo, and Stephane Kurgan, Ex-COO at King.com, among others.
Founded in 2018, Ramp aims to take the guesswork out of forecasting. The analytics platform runs scenarios to make forecast predictions in minutes. It predicts customer behaviour, future revenue and the annual growth of a firm. The idea is that it can put an end to the consequences of incorrect resource allocation, wasted marketing spending, underinvesting, and missed targets.
Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder Angus Lovitt: “Our platform dramatically increases the accuracy of revenue forecasting in a fraction of the time it would take in spreadsheets.”
The London-based team, led by Angus Lovitt, Daniel Marcus and Jan Pickard, have built the platform based on cohort-based forecasting. This is a technique that identifies and analyses the behaviour of different groups of customers for a product or service, from the moment they sign up. It’s not really been used at scale until now, as it can be very complex to build up the layers of data.
Ramp, though, uses multiple dynamically selected statistical models for different cohorts in any forecast. It uses an opinionated view of modelling the interactions between the different levers of a business and with additional models to optimise inputs such as seasonality and live ops.
Angus Lovitt: “What took us all a day in terms of number crunching we can now do in minutes. Yet what really excites me about the platform are the strategic decisions we empower businesses to make. Our platform has given some businesses the confidence to invest in growth through marketing, while others the evidence to cutting costs or shuddering services. The insight we deliver can be game-changing.”
Users of Ramp’s platform can control the inputs and determine the reporting metrics that suit their business needs. The platform also enables companies to directly compare the forecast with reality and see just how accurate it is. The forecast is then positioned alongside data-driven, intelligent insights backed by the Ramp team’s legacy in the business.
Put simply, the tool allows for fast and frictionless forecasting, which helps finance and management teams to better predict customer behaviour and future revenue to avoid wasted marketing spend and missed targets.
Dan Marcus, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Ramp said: “Our long-term goal is to position Ramp as a single source of truth for the future of businesses, from which prescriptive and proactive analytics services can stem. We’re at the forefront of this new product category and it’s great to have such renowned investors believe in this vision and join us on this journey.”
Paul Lehair, Investment Director at AlbionVC: “We are very excited to support Ramp in this next phase of growth by co-leading their seed round. As an ex-CFO of a B2C startup, I was blown away by Ramp’s unique approach to solving the business-critical problem that is forecasting. We are thrilled to back the team and their ambition to create a new category leader in this space.”
Since its launch, the startup has already acquired a reputable portfolio of gaming clients. It recently welcomed Space Ape Games, FRVR; Pixel United and Netspeak Games. The company will use the funds to support streamlining the onboarding to allow for scale.
Space Ape Games CFO Hong Nguyen: “We immediately saw the benefit of receiving sophisticated forecasts in minutes so we are deploying Ramp on new and existing titles.”
Tara Reeves, Managing Director – Venture at Eurazeo: “As a former product manager, I was impressed by Ramp’s innovative solution for forecasting, which is a crucial aspect for any business. I believe its product will be of great value for teams in product, finance, and marketing.”