- Please can you tell us a little bit about yourself – what does your business do and what’s your role?
My name is Richard Bendelow, I founded one of the largest ecommerce agencies in the UK, Visualsoft. After exiting the business in 2014 via a management buyout, I started Aero Commerce as CEO in 2018 with co-founder Matt Burton.
Aero is a new, powerful ecommerce platform designed with the evolving needs of retailers in mind. Our solution combines a modern technology stack with a fresh approach to building online shopping experiences. The result is a lean, robust platform that is changing the face of ecommerce.
The Aero team has deep roots in retail, agency and software development, which means we have experienced the shortcomings of legacy ecommerce systems from every perspective. We’re answering the call for something better with a truly scalable solution built around industry-leading performance and first-class customer experience.
Aero is designed to come naturally to retailers, agencies, and developers. Above all, the platform offers uncompromising flexibility by giving stakeholders the tools they need to increase conversions, reduce administrative and infrastructure costs and improve the shopping experience for customers.
- How did your search for funding lead you to Maven and what attracted you to Maven as a funding partner?
I personally invested in Aero to provide the seed capital required for the initial build of the platform. The search for funding was born more out of the support an investor could provide to assist in building a truly global business in the shortest possible time. We worked closely with the corporate finance team at UNW to help us find the right investor for the business that could offer more than just that injection of cash. After speaking to a number of potential investors and after receiving numerous offers, we chose Maven. Maven, from the outset completely understood our business model and had faith and belief in the management team that were pre-revenue. We firmly believed that Maven were the best fit for the company to help us take the business forward.
- How has the investment impacted your business?
The investment has enabled us to build the foundations of the business correctly and not have us chasing revenue just to keep the business afloat, this has led to a stronger base product and better decision making at the critical early stage of a business. Ecommerce platforms are a huge initial investment due to the amount of tech work required before its ready for market, with decades of experience, the Aero team we were able to build the new innovative platform in the shortest amount of time. Without the initial investment and belief in the management team, it would have been difficult to get Aero to the point where retailers can truly benefit from the innovation and the business may have suffered or even failed as a result.
- Knowing what you know now – is there anything you would have done differently when you began your funding journey?
We have built multiple ecommerce platforms in the past, this meant we had the knowledge of what we wanted to do differently, from what we had built in the past, this has led to a much stronger core platform than we have ever built before. In terms of investment, we wasted a few months being courted by an investor and didn’t employ a corporate finance team to help us understand the wider market options. That investor decided not to invest at the last stage of the journey and we had to effectively start again, this time with corporate finance advisors at UNW managing the process.
- What would you say to a business that is put off by taking on investment and would prefer to grow their business organically?
We have found the investment a positive experience, we are very focussed on what the business should be doing and having that overseeing eye definitely helps us keep that focus. However, investment isn’t for everyone, you lose a degree of control of your business, you add administrative tasks that you may not be able to find time to do and you can, at times, feel like you are working for someone else in your own business. That being said, we believe that entering the next stage of our business will be very well supported by Maven as they have vast experience of taking companies to the next level.
- What are the long-term goals for your business, and how will the funding you secured through Maven help you to achieve them?
Our medium-term plan is to continue to build our UK agency relationships and train them on building best in class stores for retailers, we aim to be one of the top 3 platforms used in the UK by the end of 2021. In the longer term we have plans to take Aero global, the tech we have built is built for the international market and we believe with Maven’s support and help that we can truly take the product we have developed global.
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