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Oxford Capital Leads Intent HQ Funding Round

Oxford Capital has led a £4.75m investment in London-based software company, Intent HQ.

Intent HQ’s software helps its customers, who include major publishers and consumer brands, generate more revenue from their websites. The software creates a ‘fingerprint’ of each website visitor’s interests and preferences, based on deep analysis of their social media data and online behaviour. Onscreen content, including advertising, is then automatically tailored so that users spend longer on the site, visit more pages and share more content with their friends. The end result is a significant increase in sales conversions rates, and a dramatic improvement in the impact and value of onscreen advertising.

Oxford Capital joins existing investor, Edge Performance VCT, which has backed the business from an early stage. The investment will enable Intent HQ to further enhance its platform and accelerate its global marketing and sales activity.

Colin Watts, Partner at Oxford Capital, said:

“A detailed knowledge of an audience and its social content is the next critical element in the competition for consumer engagement and advertising budget. We are delighted to have partnered with Intent HQ in this exciting market.

“Intent HQ has already attracted commercial relationships with leading media publishers in the UK, such as The Telegraph, Sky Italia, Food Network and IDG UK. Its ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) business model also provides a reliable and growing revenue stream and low cost integration with the customer’s infrastructure. The company’s management team has an outstanding track record and we believe it has the vision and skill to ‘win the market’ for audience intelligence and deep personalisation.”

Jonathan Lakin, Chief Executive Officer, Intent HQ said:

“Throughout the investment process, Oxford Capital helped us gain new insights into our business and refined our strategy. They really understand our space and are a great partner for our next phase of international growth.

“This funding round allows us to accelerate our global distribution and marketing and marks an important step forward in our commercial development. We are very excited about the prospects for further rapid growth in demand for audience intelligence, where our platform gives our clients an amazing opportunity to identify, access and action unique consumer intelligence.”

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Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  1. You could lose all the money you invest
    1. If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invested. Most start-up businesses fail.
  2. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong
    1. Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here.
    2. Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
  3. You won’t get your money back quickly
    1. Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.
    2. The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.
    3. If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.
  4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
    1. Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
    2. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest
  5. The value of your investment can be reduced
    1. The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.
    2. These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.