London-based brand advocacy platform Duel secured $3M in a Seed funding round led by SuperSeed, another London-based seed-stage VC firm.
SuperSeedVC is a London VC firm that invested in 31 million British pounds in its Fund II early this year. Its final goal is to close 50 million pounds, and it will invest between £500k and £1.5M in approximately 30 to 35 British B2B startups over the next three to four years.
Duel’s 2022 growth rate will continue to increase thanks to this investment. The investment also allow them to serve their growing global client base.
In 2020, Paul Archer — an adventure ready and former brand ambassador — partnered with viral games developer Naio Tsarouchis to found Duel.
Paul Archer, co-founder and CEO of Duel, says that we’re currently in the middle of a people-powered revolution. This revolution is when real people create content that influences many of our purchasing decisions— not ads created by businesses.
Smaller companies have an edge when it comes to building meaningful relationships with their customers. As the saying goes, it’s easy to charm the customers you know. Larger companies have a harder time with this because they need to focus more effort on building these connections in a scalable way. This is why Duel was created— as an investment that will help large brands grow their revenue through social platforms without spending excessive funds on advertising.
The company includes brand experts, community builders, young entrepreneurs and psychologists from Bain, Mimecast, lululemon, Treatwell and Amazon.
Organic Growth Through Advocacy
Duel’s methods involve growing brands through word of mouth and endorsements. They’ve developed the technology necessary to accomplish this.
The company’s SaaS technology engages and grows their customer base through existing customer ambassadors, social media savvy followers and professional industry members in their community.
The brand’s relationship with its thousands of advocates is managed by the UK company scales through Advocacy Programs. These programs retain and drive sales through word-of-mouth while engaging advocates.
The platform combines several advocacy tools into one platform including brand challenges, user generated content, loyalty, surveys and affiliates.
SuperSeed’s Managing Partner Mads Jensen says that consumer brands have relied on expensive ads for too long. With the help of Duel’s technology, brands can shift away from ineffective advertising methods and instead grow their community.
By 2025, the social commerce market will be worth $1.2 trillion. Thanks to Duel, thousands of consumer brands can track, measure and coordinate their advocates at scale. This will accelerate the growth of social commerce by a massive amount.
He finishes by saying, “This company has the potential to be one of the most significant SaaS businesses to emerge from the UK in years. Keep an eye on them.”
