Duel, a London-based brand advocacy platform, has secured $3M in a Seed funding round led by SuperSeed, a London-based seed-stage VC firm.
Earlier this year, the SuperSeed picked up the £31M in the first closing of its Fund II. The final target of this fund is to close £50M. The London VC firm will invest £500k to £1.5M in nearly 30 to 35 B2B startups in the UK in the next 3 to 4 years.
The investment will enable Duel to continue its 13% monthly growth rate in 2022 and better serve its expanding global client base.
Duel was founded by adventurer and former brand ambassador Paul Archer in 2020, alongside viral games developer Naio Tsarouchis.
Paul Archer, co-founder, and CEO of Duel, says, “We’re in the depths of a people-powered revolution when it comes to growing consumer brands, as now content created by real people influences so many of our purchase decisions, not ads generated by businesses.
He adds, “The biggest problem larger brands face in unlocking the potential of this opportunity is managing the scale required to build and nurture relationships with all their advocates. We created Duel to do just that. This investment will be instrumental in helping us work with more global brands looking to grow revenue through social platforms without having to pump huge sums of money into advertising.”
The company comprises psychologists, brand experts, and community builders from companies including lululemon, Mimecast, Amazon, Treatwell, Contagious, and Bain – as well as young entrepreneurs, psychologists, and a host of brilliant brand builders.
Organic growth through advocacy
Duel has developed the technology and methodology to enable purpose-led brands to drive organic growth through word of mouth and advocacy.
The company’s SaaS technology enables consumer brands to engage with and grow through their communities of advocates, including existing customer ambassadors, socially active followers, and industry professionals.
The UK company scales management of the brand’s relationship with thousands of its advocates through Advocacy Programs that engage, retain, and drive word-of-mouth sales.
The platform combines different advocacy tools (including brand challenges, UGC, referrals, loyalty, affiliates, and surveys) under one platform.
Mads Jensen, the Managing Partner at SuperSeed, says, “For too long, consumer brands have been forced to rely on expensive ads to drive revenue. Duel’s technology is a game changer, as it helps brands reduce their reliance on ineffective advertising strategies and instead use their communities to grow.
He adds, “Thanks to Duel, consumer brands can track, measure and coordinate thousands of their advocates at scale, massively accelerating social commerce, a market opportunity set to be worth $1.2 trillion by 2025.*
“We believe this company has the potential to become one of the most important SaaS companies to emerge from the UK in years. So watch this space,” he concludes.
