Universal Avenue raises USD 5 million to fuel growth

Universal Avenue, the Sales-as-a-Service platform which gives businesses on-demand access to a direct sales team in any location around the world, announced today that it has raised an additional USD 5 million to fuel expansion. This latest round is led by Northzone, with contribution from Salesforce Ventures along with existing investor MOOR.

Universal Avenue has quickly established itself as a growth partner for a high number of the world’s leading online brands. Universal Avenue Brand Ambassadors join the platform as freelancers with full flexibility of when and where they work, as well as which brands they choose to represent.

With local offices and teams now in Sweden, UK and Greece, Universal Avenue has begun to expand its European and global reach. Additional financing will be used to spur product growth and additional investments in sales and marketing.

“We have seen significant interest in our platform and will now continue to help accelerate the global growth of the world’s leading online brands”, says CEO and Co-Founder Johan Lilja. “With Northzone and Salesforce Ventures complementing MOOR we have a dream team on the investor side. They bring a wealth of operational and investment experience that add strategic value, as well as support and guidance for continuous growth.”

Tim He, Principal at Northzone says: “Through their unique marketplace approach to sales and brand ambassadorship, Universal Avenue is disrupting the market. The opportunities for brands in connecting with a distributed network of talented ambassadors on-demand are huge. We are very excited to be working with the team as they continue to build a global community.”

“Universal Avenue combines beautifully the most important ingredients of a start-up; high caliber renegades with a unique, scalable idea. This first year has been about proving the model. We are excited to continue the momentum achieved by the team already, which this new funding further accelerates”, says Bengt Häger, Partner at MOOR.

About Universal Avenue

Universal Avenue is a global Brand Ambassador and Customer Acquisition solution that accelerates the growth of innovative solutions, through an on-demand direct sales force that can be activated instantly in any location around the world.

They look at sales from the perspective of representation – selecting and training talent to become Brand Ambassadors for leading online brands.

Universal Avenue are creating a new way of working – their Brand Ambassadors are located all over the world, set their own schedule and are free to work wherever they choose to travel. Together they form a distributed network that gives brands the freedom to grow in any market, at any time.

The company is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Greece and the UK.

About Northzone

Northzone is a technology investment partnership. Founded in 1996, Northzone has to date raised seven funds and invested in some 100 technology companies. The current portfolio includes companies such as Spotify, Avito.ru, Trustpilot, WideSpace and SpaceApe. The company has offices in London, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and New York. For further information, visit www.northzone.com

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce Ventures – Salesforce’s corporate investment group – invests in the next generation of enterprise technology to help companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world’s largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce’s innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce has invested in more than 150 enterprise cloud startups since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures

About MOOR

MOOR is a leading Nordic early stage investment firm focused on digital innovation. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, MOOR invests in teams with unique ideas and the capability to reach global scale. As an active investor, MOOR utilizes its network and experience to catalyse growth in their portfolio companies. MOOR is backed by serial entrepreneur Kaj Hed, who founded Trema and is the majority owner of Rovio Entertainment, creators of the Angry Birds mega brand. For more information, please visit www.moorcap.com

Press Contact

Georgina Varadi
Head of Brand Communications
press@universalavenue.com
+46 (0) 73 426 56 69