At SparkLayer, we've been on a mission to simplify B2B eCommerce for retailers and - over the course of just over a year - we've been building a toolset that has allowed them to more easily build and scale their B2B operation. B2B eCommerce is a huge area of focus as retailers look to expand their wholesale channels; we've had the privilege of working with hundreds of companies of all sizes and from all over the world and playing a part in their growth stories.
Today, we are thrilled to announce the next chapter of our own story, as we successfully raise our first investment round. This is a significant milestone for SparkLayer and is testament to our investor's belief in our team, our product, our loyal customer base, and the exciting plans and vision we have in store for the near future.
Our investment team.
Our investors comprise a carefully selected group of individuals and companies that each bring their own unique insight and expertise to SparkLayer. Their backgrounds range from running and advising successful eCommerce and technology companies, multi-national DTC and B2B brands, as well as expertise within the investment and finance arena.
Fuel Ventures
Early stage fund
Founded by Mark Pearson
Fuel Ventures is one of the most active early and growth stage investors in the UK, working with leading fast growth technology businesses. Fuel Ventures invest in the most ambitious entrepreneurs in the sectors covering globally scalable marketplaces, platforms and software (SaaS). They invest in companies at an early stage and work closely with the founders providing hands-on support and a collaborative ecosystem.
irrvrntVC
Early stage fund
Founded by Andrew Gluck
irrvrntVC is an early-stage fund with a strong focus on AdTech, Ecomm Enablement, Vertical SaaS, and Marketplaces. They make investments into relentless founders who demonstrate strong founder-market fit building within large and growing markets. Their commitment to investing early has been exemplified by leading the preseed rounds of companies such as OpenAds and Revenue Roll, and the seed round of Split.
Neil Kuschel
Non-exec Director
Former CEO Global-e Europe
Neil is an experienced eCommerce technology specialist, Board Advisor, Investor, and Non-exec Director who has helped UK and European brands enhance their cross-border DTC and B2B experience. As the former European CEO for Global-e, he grew the business from 64 to 1000 retailers, processing $2.4bn in cross-border sales. He is also a Non-exec Director at Patchworks and Cross-Border Advisor for IMRG. Neil holds a BA in Economics from the University of Sheffield and enjoys skiing, rugby, and golf.
Adii Pienaar
Investor & Board Advisor
Founder, WooCommerce
Adii is a technology entrepreneur who has founded and sold two global businesses. In 2007, Adii founded WooThemes & WooCommerce before it was acquired by Automattic and then went onto found Conversio, acquired by Campaign Monitor in 2019. Adii is currently CEO of Cogsy, a demand planning tool for fast growing brands. He's also a published author and enjoys running, collecting wine, and supporting Manchester United. Adii lives with his family in the Cape Town winelands.
David Wiltshire
Investor & Board Advisor
Founder, Patchworks
David is an eCommerce expert, a seasoned software and agency CEO, Founder, Board Advisor & Investor. A creative entrepreneur with a design background, David founded and pioneered Patchworks, the world's first cloud middleware for ecommerce, ERP, and WMS/3PL integrations. His company has since served high-volume brands like Huel, Gymshark, Lounge, Castore and Mercedes F1. In his spare time, David enjoys playing tennis, golf & football.
Trayl Wallace
Investor & Board Advisor
Co-Founder, Sci-MX Nutrition
Trayl is an entrepreneur, Investor, Board Advisor and early pioneer of the UK sports nutrition industry. He co-founded Sci-MX Nutrition in 2007 and built the brand into a global player sold in over 40 countries via both traditional retail distribution as well as eCommerce channels. Under his leadership as CEO, Sci-MX was acquired in 2015, and he has since advised a range of brands in the B2B & DTC space. Trayl enjoys water-sports, the outdoors and keeping fit.
Patrick de Laive
Investor & Board Advisor
Founder, The Next Web
Patrick founded TNW, Europe’s largest tech media outlet, now owned by the Financial Times. He’s a curious and creative entrepreneur and scaleup advisor who loves digital scalable businesses. Patrick lives in the Netherlands with his wife and 2 young kids. Patrick is a global connector and has an extensive global network in the tech world.
Learn more about our investors and their background.
"We are extremely excited to be working with our new investors," said Chris Mattingly, Co-Founder of SparkLayer. "Their experience and expertise in their respective industries will be invaluable as we continue to scale and bring our innovative eCommerce software to even more retailers around the world."
Working with such a broad depth of customers has put SparkLayer in a unique position to understand the pain-points and requirements many retailers have within B2B eCommerce. The team at SparkLayer has already set out to deliver some truly game-changing features and enhancements over the next 6-12 months.
Rhys Laval, CTO of SparkLayer, said: "What we've achieved with such a small team has been remarkable and we've consistently delivered new features and improvements every month. This investment will help us grow our engineering team, deliver upon our product roadmap, and ensure we provide exceptional support and service to our customers".
With the investment in place, SparkLayer is in a strong position to continue its rapid growth and establish itself as a major player in the B2B eCommerce market.
About SparkLayer.
Founded in 2021 by Chris Mattingly and Rhys Laval, SparkLayer is a B2B platform that allows retailers to rapidly enable B2B functionality on their eCommerce store, specially optimised for their wholesale customers. With integrations with leading platforms such as Shopify, retailers can easily deploy an enterprise-level B2B channel and integrate it with key back-office systems such as their ERP or CRM.
Chris Mattingly
Co-Founder & CEO, SparkLayer
Chris is an experience eCommerce specialist, co-founding UK eCommerce agency blubolt in 2006. For over a decade, Chris helped build and oversee their proprietary platform and worked with some of the UK's fastest growing retailers. At SparkLayer, Chris oversees the product strategy and - when he's not playing peekaboo with his daughter - enjoys staying active with golf, tennis, climbing, and hiking to name a few!
