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UK tech start-up Elevaate, which helps retailers and their suppliers to execute trade funded activity online, has been acquired by Quotient Technology.
This is the first acquisition in the UK by the Silicon Valley giant, and will enable the company to help its retailer partners boost ecommerce media and sales “at a time when shoppers are initiating an increasing number of trips directly on retailer websites”.
Elevaate was designed and created by entrepreneur Scott Weavers-Wright, based on a transactional CMS and bidding platform allowing brands and their agencies to bid for product platform on their retailer network. The technology matches brand product ads with relevant contextual placements mapped throughout the ecommerce purchase process.
While Elevaate’s technology will be rolled out across Quotient’s customer base, founder and CEO Weavers-Wright will leave the business to concentrate on new opportunities. Elevaate will continue to be headquartered in Stamford in the UK. Engineering teams will be tripled to support US rollout.
Weavers-Wright, who sold previous company Kiddicare for £70m to Morrisons PLC, said: “I am very proud and excited for the team to be part of a billion-dollar business based in California. After all, it’s not every day a Silicon Valley giant acquires a tech platform in Stamford. It’s been an incredible journey over the last four years – in the early years of my career I always got asked by suppliers and brands if I could elevate their products higher up search results pages. Limitations on technology meant it wasn’t possible.
“In the following years I discovered supplier contribution formed a critical part of the trading arrangement between suppliers and the retailer at a global scale. And after asking ‘why is nobody doing this?’ I took the plunge, and this is now one of the biggest technology acquisitions in the UK this year. Having had such great success here, I fully intend to continue investing in digital businesses in Stamford.”
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