Partner possesses “the potential to change the way marketing and brand managers work.”
Venture capital fund manager Mercia Fund Management (MFM) today announced a Seed Enterprise Investment (SEIS) in online marketing start-up Metric.
Set to launch in January 2014, the company offers a suite of tools to create, manage and analyse e-marketing campaigns and promotions in real time. MFM has recently introduced a new Digital and E-commerce division, headed up by former SEGA CEO Mike Hayes, and this investment is the first in these growing sectors.
Mike commented: “What I see in Metric is a powerful set of tools and a business model which has the potential to change the way marketing and brand managers work. Metric’s technology provides brands with a new way to connect with their customers, providing real time customer data and insight through a truly innovative interface.”
James Wood, founder and CEO of Metric, says of the deal: “MFM has completed an initial Seed EIS investment, and we hope will invest further as our company expands. We chose MFM as we wanted to find a long-term partner for investment, mentoring, advice and support services. We have a great rapport with the team as they offer value added services, rather than being purely a source of funding.”
Metric is yet another company to benefit from SEIS funding from the Mercia Growth Fund suite of funds, (MFM’s hybrid EIS/SEIS funds). The funding will be used for product development and roll-out, marketing and sales operations targeting marketers and brand managers.
Metric was founded by James Wood who, over the last few years, has designed and built bespoke e-marketing campaigns deployed over social media networks. With his extensive knowledge of the Facebook Platform and status as a Preferred Marketing Developer partner, he has worked with major brands and digital agencies. Using this knowledge and expertise, the Metric team has created a platform to provide marketers and brand managers with a single e-marketing campaign solution for the first time.
Mark Payton, Managing Director of MFM, added: “With over £19 million under active management, we are seeking exciting scalable businesses such as Metric that come from a new stable of companies from the digital, e-commerce and gaming sectors.The expanding team here at Mercia Fund Management continue to look for businesses seeking funding from start-up through to development and expansion capital”.
Metric’s software-as-a-service business model enables both large and small brands to undertake campaigns cost effectively. Everything is automated and delivered by Metric’s advanced distributed cloud infrastructure.”