Shopping tech firm Mallzee raises £1.9m

Multi-retailer shopping app Mallzee has raised £1.9 million, taking its total funding to more than £5m.

The latest cash injection came from new investors Equity Gap and London Scottish Investment Group, as well as existing investors such as the Scottish Investment Bank and Par Equity.

The new round also coincides with the appointment of retail expert Peter Robinson to Mallzee’s board. His previous roles include leading the e-commerce operations at Marks & Spencer and heading Selfridges’ move to multichannel retailer.

The funding will help boost sales of its data insights offering Product Future aimed at upping retailer margins. The service captures feedback, and Mallzee says it can improve new product success rates by up to 10 per cent, which can be “the difference between a profit or loss for many retailers”.

The Edinburgh firm is also focused on the consumer preference data generated in-app to help retailers “survive the retail apocalypse”, with new product failure estimated to cost retailers billions every year.

Its founder and chief executive Cally Russell looked at the firm using its engaged audience to test partners’ new products. “The interest we’ve had speaks for itself – we’ve seen more companies test products last quarter than in the rest of 2017 combined.”

Mallzee launched in 2012, has racked up more than 1.4 million downloads and has seen in excess of 150 companies list on its platform, driving more than 25m visits to partner sites. 0 Founder and chief executive Cally Russell