Haatch and Wealth Club have led an investment round of £1.67 million into Advanced Commerce, alongside other private and institutional investors.

Advanced Commerce is a provider of merchandising software for small and medium-sized online retailers. The platform, GrapheneHC™, helps retailers arrange their products on their websites to maximise results, the e-commerce equivalent of arranging shelf space in a physical store. This can help convert browsers into buyers, reduce bounce rates by taking customers to the products they are looking for, plus optimise up-sell or cross-sell opportunities – driving online revenues, higher order values, and lower returns and cancellations. 

The Company was founded in 2018, the second venture in this space by Founder and CEO André Brown. Previously founder of Attraqt, a platform working with the likes of Boohoo, Matches Fashion and ASOS. GrapheneHC™ was launched in February 2021, and in March 2021 was recognised as one of the Top 10 merchandising solution companies in Europe by Retail Tech Insights. GrapheneHC™ has been built with flexible infrastructure, designed to integrate with the customers’ existing e-commerce software and allow for future integrations with new e-commerce software providers. 

The e-commerce market was estimated to be growing c.15% before the pandemic. The pandemic has accelerated this growth, with many forced to shop online during the different lockdowns. UK online retail sales grew 31% during 2020 and it is widely expected that the growth in online shopping is established and unlikely to go back to pre-pandemic levels, although this is not guaranteed. 

The Company is expected to use the monies to help grow the sales and marketing team and for further platform development. 

The Company’s founder, André Brown said “I’m delighted to be working with such experienced investors who understand the online retail space and back my goal of establishing the GrapheneHC as the gold standard for merchandising.”

Fred Soneya, Co-founder & Partner at Haatch said "What makes Advanced Commerce stand out is their previously exited founder, Andre and approach to their go-to-market strategy with the launch of an initial merchandising offering which is already seeing significant demand from enterprise brands and retailers globally. The platform is one of the most exciting e-commerce technology businesses we have seen since founding Haatch. Having known Andre and his successes for over 20 years we are excited to work alongside him and the team in this next venture."

Alex Davies, founder and CEO of Wealth Club said “An opportunity to invest in a startup where the founder has done nearly exactly the same thing before and done it successfully is hugely attractive and also quite rare. We have been very impressed with Andre’s knowledge, thoroughness and commitment to the business and are very excited about the business’s future.“