London, UK, 25 October 2022: Penny Blackan e-commerce platform that turns packaging into a new marketing channel has secured an additional £1.3m in seed funding from AGFAand venture capitalist, ninety-five.
Incubated in known AGFA innovation laboratorybacked by ninepointfive, Penny Black has launched independently in the UK and Europe April 2022. Its software seamlessly connects e-commerce stores, marketing tools and fulfillment operations to deliver a personalized experience the moment customers open their e-commerce packages.
Penny Black’s approach results in an average ROI of 300 per cent, with brands generating £2.00 in additional revenue per recipient – 22x more than SMS and 11x more than post-purchase emails . But the marketing platform approach has proven to improve more than just bottom line: personalized packaging also boosts customer loyalty, retention, customer value and conversion rates.
This latest funding follows the award-winning success of Penny Black, which has seen the company quickly become a trusted partner for ambitious consumer brands including luxury jewelery and watch retailer PAUL VALENTINE, tea mixology company Bird & Blend and online contemporary decor retailer children’s rooms. , Modern kindergarten. Additionally, with its expert management team, Penny Black partners with industry leaders, global e-commerce providers such as Radial and Cloud performanceas well as marketing automation innovators, Clavio.
Creating tactile, meaningful moments
Peter Van de Velde, founding partner of ninepointfive, which invested £650,000 in this latest round, said: “Penny Black is one of the few players who engages (and succeeds in achieving) this ‘physical touchpoint’ on a thriving e-commerce market where there is a growing need to diversify channels to reach customers.
“In the blink of an eye, Penny Black has firmly established its position in the e-commerce ecosystem as a venture capital firm, and we are thrilled with its success and look forward to its future growth.”
Jorge Thomas, vice-president of strategy and corporate development at AGFA, which also invested a further £650,000, added: “Penny Black’s end-to-end solution combines the best of digital and tactile personalisation, creating opportunities to strengthen the ever-important brand loyalty. We are always committed to supporting and developing industry-transforming innovations. Through an integrated approach using data, technology and partnerships, Penny Black aims to do just that.”
As Stephanie Donat, Head of Supply Chain and Logistics at PAUL VALENTINE commented:
“We’re always looking for ways to understand and connect with our customers, and by using Penny Black’s technology, we can deliver truly personalized brand experiences that have an immediate impact. For example, using Penny Black’s personalized approach, we saw a 7% scan rate, which resulted in a 15% conversion rate for second purchases.”
Jordan Bourchier-Lee, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Klaviyo, added:
“Penny Black is a really exciting new integration for Klaviyo customers. This integration opens a new channel for our brands to continue to communicate and build long-term relationships with their customers. I love the concept of hyper-personalizing the unboxing experience while encouraging customers to come back, check out new content, and even subscribe to newsletters.”
Reflecting on the company’s early success, Douglas Franklin, CEO, Penny Black said:
“The rapid growth of e-commerce means that packaging is fast becoming the only physical contact brands have with customers. This makes it a very influential content channel in its own right, which has until now been staggeringly underutilized due to the complexity of personalizing the fulfillment process. Raising this latest funding will help us deepen the platforms we integrate with, strengthen our relationships with our fulfillment partners and enable brands to leverage the unboxing moment to deliver recurring and recurring revenue.”
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Notes for editors
About Penny Black
Penny Black is the only 100% open rate marketing channel that allows brands to use the unboxing moment to retain customers, increase CLTV and build loyalty. The marketing platform and print technologies help e-commerce marketers create hyper-personalized campaigns and flyers that can be added to customer orders during the pick and pack process.
Penny Black has been shortlisted for the UK Ecommerce Awards 2022 and won the BeCommerce 2020 Special Jury Award.
