Episode 1 is coming together with existing investors EC1 Capital and the FSE Group to back the growth potential of Berkshire-based User Replay.
The business has built a software product that identifies technical, usability and navigation problems and is described as a ‘black-box recorder’ for e-commerce users. Tracking of customer movement is combined with reporting barriers to conversation.
On the back of the $3.25 million deal, User Replay has now raised a total of $5.9 million – alongside a further $400,000 grant injection from the Technology Strategy Board.
User Replay CEO John Thompson says that customer experience management (CEM) software services have previously required on-premise installation, behind a firewall, then needing an external hosting provider.
‘Now CEM is available on demand customers can try it without investing in hardwired, and we have found that significant and previously unknown conversion barriers can usually be identified and fixed within two weeks,’ Thompson adds.
‘Episode 1 Ventures was very quick to spot User Replay’s potential, backing it with a significant investment. We’re delighted that EC1 Capital and the FSE Group have both made further investments in the company too and feel that we have a set of backers whose experience and knowledge will help us achieve the ambitions we have set ourselves.’
Joining the three venture capital backers are also User Replay’s historical angel investors, all coming together to fund a new cloud-based service, expansion in Europe and opening of a US office to support a customer base in the country.
Previous funding rounds for User Replay have included a £335,000 deal in September 2013 led by EC1 Capital.
Adrian Lloyd, founding partner at Episode 1 Ventures, comments, ‘User Replay is solving a significant problem for all transaction-based websites so it is an enormous market but it also has a very experienced team and is already showing excellent traction.
‘This is also a space we know and like, having previously invested in an e-commerce-enabling business, so it didn’t take long to make our decision.’
