Irish gifting platform &Open has raised $26 million in a series A funding round that will see it expand its operations, adding staff and opening a new office in the United States.
The Dublin-based company is also planning to launch a new on-demand product aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises.
The latest round was led by Molten Ventures, with participation from existing investors First Round Capital, LocalGlobe and Tribal VC. New investor Middlegame Ventures, which counts data analytics platform Conjura, Cork-based payments company Trustap and Mayo-based payroll technology company Payslip among its investments in the past year, also participated in the round.
This is the largest fundraising round for &Open to date; in May last year it raised $7.2 million from backers that included First Round Capital, LocalGlobe, PCH founder Liam Casey, Intercom co-founder Des Traynor and Brian Caulfield, a venture partner at Draper Esprit. In total, the company has raised $33.2 million.
The money will be used to further expand &Open’s sales and engineering team, with the company to add 40 jobs before the end of the year. About 10 of those jobs are expected to be on the engineering side of the business, with a sales team to support its New York office that is due to open within the year. The company currently employs more than 90 people across Ireland, Britain and the US and is active in more than 120 countries. &Open clients include Intercom, Wayflyer, Airbnb, Spotify and Peloton.
Founded in 2017, by Ciara Flood, and Jonathan and Mark Legge, &Open’s corporate gifting platform is aimed at making it easier for brands to send curated, responsibly-sourced gifts to customers to boost loyalty and engagement and improve customer retention. It handles the process on behalf of the sender and offers data to clients through a reporting dashboard that outlines the performance of each campaign, inventory and feedback from recipients.
“What’s so exciting is like there’s so much so much opportunity out there for us to go after,” said Jonathan Legge. “As soon as the company knows they have a tool that makes their gifting easier and automates it and gives them a higher level of reporting, they put all their gifting through our tool. So our accounts grow.”
Covid has also been a boost for the business, with about 40 per cent of &Open’s clients also sending gifts to employees, as well as their corporate customers.
“I think it’s part of a new way of working and a new way of doing business,” said Ms Flood. “Gifting is just another tool to help amplify and connect with people.”
&Open is now targeting smaller enterprises, opening the wait list for the public beta launch of its new &Open On-Demand marketplace, which is designed to make its gifting more accessible with a pay-as-you-go option. It will also provide a platform for emerging brands, local vendors, causes and subscription services.
“We’ve focused on enterprise because that’s what we’ve known, we’ve built pretty great relationships with the likes of Airbnb, on Spotify. But we regularly have to turn away smaller clients because it just isn’t commercially viable for either side,” said Mr Legge. “&Open On-Demand, opens up a whole new world of gifting to those businesses.”
Customers can search for gifts that align with their values, such as supporting female-owned companies or sustainably sourced gifts, with more than 250 options that include food and flowers to subscriptions and donations. Among the suppliers signed up to provide gift options for &Open On-Demand are FLOWERBX, Flamingo Estate, MasterClass and Momofuku.
“We’re trying to fix what we see as a broken industry. We’re not trying to create further landfill,” said Ms Flood. “It is really important for us that the gifts are the best gifts from the best vendors, the things people want. And if they don’t want the gift, they have an opportunity to donate to charity instead, just refuse to receive the gift, which I think is a really important part of the platform.”
Nicola McClafferty, partner at Molten Ventures, said that thoughtful element of the platform was an attraction for the VC.
“Now, more than ever, companies are looking for ways to retain employees and foster real connections with customers and partners. Working with some of the largest global businesses and brands, &Open has proven that gifting, when done right, is an incredibly powerful tool to increase brand loyalty and build advocacy,” she said.
“We’ve been highly impressed with how the team have built out a global platform that makes carefully crafted, sustainably-sourced and beautiful gifts more accessible to people and companies across the globe. Jonathan, Ciara, Mark, and the team approach the business in the same way they do gifting – with immense thoughtfulness, attention to detail, and a focus on how to make a difference.”
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