British retail analytics platform named Microsoft’s Start-up Partner of the Year

Uncrowd, a British company that is developing an actionable customer analytics platform for retailers, is this year’s recipient of Microsoft’s first global award for Start-Ups.

Founded by retail experts, Uncrowd offers a customer analytics platform that enables retailers to understand customer preferences and behaviour, make immediate changes to marketing and operations, and dramatically increase sales.

The Microsoft for Startups Partner of the Year Award was launched to recognise, on an international scale, a B2B startup organisation that built and launched an innovative and unique solution leveraging Microsoft technology—Azure, Power Apps or M365—with one or more solutions available in either Microsoft AppSource or Azure Marketplace.

Commenting on the award, Richard Hammond, Co-Founder and CEO of Uncrowd, said: “We’re thunderstruck by this endorsement from Microsoft, a global technology giant and hugely supportive partner. For us, it feels like the award equivalent of a Series A round.

"The buzz around our platform is intensifying and retailers are waking up to the importance of nuance and accuracy in insight. In the last few years, Board and operational tolerance of vague metrics have declined as better ways of understanding and modelling customer motivations have emerged.

"We’re at the crest of this wave and we’re delighted with this accolade.  It’s yet another important endorsement of the calibre of the UK tech start-up community.”

The business has completed a seed funding round, with investments from key retail and tech entrepreneurs, private equity investors and VC funds. London-headquartered Uncrowd currently employs nine people, has a presence in the US, and is focused on the top 250 retailers worldwide.

Uncrowd is also expanding its advisory Board with the appointments of Joanne Webb, a senior commercial strategist who has held executive roles at the Walt Disney Company and Merlin Entertainments, and John Phillips, CTO at Havas.

Co-Founder and CTO, Rocky Howard, said: “Our platform enables any of the top 250 retailers in the world to add a minimum of $1 million to their operating profit without getting close to Uncrowd’s full potential. There isn’t a platform in the world that gives retailers as clear a set of actionable insights about their customers.

"It’s the sort of management information that makes a minute by minute difference to sales performance, grounded in practical utility. It makes Net Promoter scores look like vague, redundant hearsay by comparison.”