![]() The team started trading in 2019 and already counts River Island and as customers. Sparkbox was founded by a team of retail professionals who previously worked with Arcadia, The Very Group and American retailers Best Buy and Target. The company’s software solutions use machine learning to help retailers make data-driven pricing and inventory decisions, ultimately improving profitability and reducing waste. Sparkbox is a retail technology startup based in Manchester that is on a mission to help retailers run on data. Sparkbox was supported by Adam Kaucher and his team at Irwin Mitchell in Manchester.įor more information or to arrange a chat with Sparkbox, please contact: ![]() The deal was managed by Peter Carway and Louise Chapman from the Praetura Ventures investment team and supported by the legal team at Gateley’s Manchester office. In addition, the team has been named a top retail technology start-up by Retail Week and were winners of Fashion District’s Retail Innovation Challenge in 2019. ![]() Named one to watch in the North’s growing tech ecosystem, Sparkbox makes up the list of companies selected for Enterprise City’s second start-up exchange programme at Department Bonded Warehouse, which is supported by Praetura Ventures.Ī graduate of the Google for Startups UK immersion program, the company is also a current member of Tech Nation’s Applied AI 3.0 cohort and has previously been recognised as a Tech Nation Rising Star. The wider Praetura team are excited to be backing another fantastic Northern tech business and providing more than money support to make Sparkbox a go-to solution for even more household brands.” I’m looking forward to working with the team and sharing some of the lessons I’ve learnt from my time at Apple and the other tech businesses I’ve been lucky to work closely with over the years. “Sparkbox’s approach to inventory optimisation has the power to bring about massive changes in fashion and home retail, which is clearly behind the times when it comes to technology adoption within merchandising. We know how much potential there is for AI and machine learning to improve profits and reduce waste in retail, and we are thrilled to have Prateura join us on our mission to modernise merchandising and put data behind the important pricing and inventory decisions our users make every day.”Ĭolin Greene, operational partner at Praetura Ventures, added: “As a team of former retailers, we’ve seen first-hand how the retail industry is advancing in many areas but falling behind when it comes to making data-driven decisions. Sparkbox’s co-founder, Lindsay Fisher, said: In line with Praetura Ventures’ commitment to providing more than money support to the businesses it backs, Colin Greene, an operational partner at the VC, who was formerly Apple’s director of US Consumer Retail, will also join Sparkbox’s board. The team started Sparkbox after seeing an opportunity to innovate in a sector that still relies heavily on spreadsheets, guess work and gut feelings to make important commercial decisions. The company was co-founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 inductees Lindsay Fisher and Matthew Wong, and Kevin Blackmore, who prior to Sparkbox was vice president of Customer Insights at Best Buy and a retail analytics partner at Accenture.Ĭollectively, the founding team has 50 years of global retail experience, including previous work with Arcadia and The Very Group. Sparkbox will use Praetura Ventures’ investment to double its team and onboard further fashion, home and seasonal retailers, where deadstock is a constant challenge across the board. In addition to protecting retailers from profit losses, Sparkbox’s approach to data also has the potential to aid brand sustainability goals by preventing retailers from over ordering stock, with wide reports that fashion alone is responsible for up to 10% of global carbon emissions.
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