YFM makes £3m follow-on investment in product intelligence platform Vypr

Fast-growing consumer insights business Vypr has received an additional £3m of investment from YFM Equity Partners through its British Smaller Companies VCTs to fund strategic sales and product development as the business continues to scale.

Vypr has developed a market-leading, cloud-based, product intelligence platform, enabling companies to save time and costs, and increase product success by providing insight into every aspect of their product innovation. This ranges from concept screening and packaging design to product claims and marketing. Its client base includes market leading companies such as M&S, Leon and Ella’s Kitchen.

Over the 18 months since YFM’s initial investment in January 2021, Vypr has seen revenues double and rapid growth of its client base, whilst continuing to invest in its sales and marketing team and technology. It has also made several senior hires including appointing Kevin Baldwin as CEO, Chris Williams as CFO, and Adam Warburton as CPO as it continues building its management team.

YFM’s additional funding brings its total investment in Vypr to £5.5m. It will enable the business to continue its rapid growth trajectory through product enhancement and investment in its commercial teams.

Kevin Baldwin, Vypr CEO, commented: “We are delighted YFM has followed up its 2021 investment to help us achieve our ambitious growth plan over the next few years. The funding will bolster our commercial functions, building on the strong ARR growth achieved since 2021 and the significant improvement in renewal rates – an indication our clients are delighted with the insight Vypr brings. We will also be investing heavily in our product team, enhancing the client platform and consumer app to provide new functionality and insight. YFM’s involvement has helped us to navigate the market and pushed us to think bigger.”

Richard Law, Vypr chairman, commented: “I’m confident that our market will continue to grow strongly as consumers demand better products in shorter development cycles and as more business continues to move online. I’d like to congratulate the Vypr team on their success both in growing the business and attracting this new funding, and thank our shareholders for their ongoing support.”

YFM partner Steve Harrison, said: “We have been really impressed by the power of the Vypr platform and how rapid and robust consumer-validated insights help clients to streamline their product intelligence processes and reduce waste and cost. We continue to be excited by the market opportunity and look forward to Vypr further developing its market-leading proposition.”

The YFM investment team comprised Dan Freed and Steve Harrison. Advisers included James Bagan of Sales Forensics (sales and marketing DD); and Irwin Mitchell (legal advice). The company was advised by Freeths (legal).

Picture shows (L-R): Steve Harrison, partner, YFM; Kevin Baldwin, CEO, Vypr; Richard Law, chairman, Vypr; Tasmin Sibbald, client & operations director, Vypr; Ben Davies, founder, Vypr