“Fundraising is like marriage: you're looking for a partner and 'stuck' with them for a long time. So, it's more than just money.”
How are things with Stravito? 3 years after Endeit’s investment
In 2021, Endeit Capital led a €12.4 million investment in Stravito, with additional backing from existing investors HenQ, Inventure, and Creades. At the time, Stravito was already showing great promise. Founded by four experts in market research and technology, the Swedish company has seen significant growth over the past seven years. Recently, we had the pleasure of interviewing Thor Olof Philogène, one of the founders, to discuss Stravito’s journey, our partnership, and their future plan.
Stravito’s inception is driven by the founders’ deep understanding of technology and market research. Thor, with nearly 20 years in the tech industry, had previously founded a social media company that Second Life acquired. Some co-founders brought experience from a shopper company acquired by GFK, now part of Ipsos. Their diverse backgrounds and firsthand experiences with data in different settings highlighted a critical issue: the challenge of adequate information storage and sharing within organizations.
A problem-solution approach
The idea for Stravito emerged from the founders’ frustration with inefficient data sharing. Thor explains, “Data is crucial for growth, but if you can’t access it, it can’t serve the business.” Studies show that companies that leverage customer insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and over 25% in profit margins. Yet, many large organizations struggle to find their data. Thor says that workers spend up to 20% of their time searching for information, while half goes unused. Without accessible data, companies face data duplication, uninformed decisions, and missed opportunities, ultimately impacting revenue. Stravito was designed to provide easy access to crucial data.
What makes Stravito unique
“We democratize data to understand human behavior and provide a legacy solution with Stravito,” says Thor. Stravito aims to be user-friendly, combining a seamless user experience with advanced AI capabilities. This focus has been a critical differentiator for Stravito, setting it apart from other solutions in the market.
“I believe that we are successful because we don’t try to solve all kinds of problems for all kinds of companies,” Thor says. He adds, “We solely focus on market research and insights for the largest global companies and narrowed down our scope to store, discover, and integrate knowledge.”
A partnership with Endeit
When it comes to fundraising, finding the right partner is crucial. Thor explains: “Fundraising is like marriage: you’re looking for a partner and ‘stuck’ with them for a long time. So, it’s more than just money.” Endeit’s experience with companies in the same space and the expertise of partners like Jelle Jan Bruinsma, who has worked at Google and YouTube, made Endeit a perfect match, according to Thor.
Since our investment in 2021, Stravito has reached significant milestones, including achieving €10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). This growth also includes impressive clients like Burberry, Heineken, and McDonald’s. Together, we have continuously stepped up Stravito’s game, focusing on building the best team and expanding product development. Furthermore, in March 2024, Stravito was included in the Financial Times prestigious FT1000 recognizing the fastest-growing companies in Europe.
Newest feature: conversational assistant
Stravito has embraced AI since its beginning. Thor highlights their commitment: “We applied machine learning from the first line of code.” Recently, the company introduced a new generative AI feature: ‘Stravito Assistant,’ which enhances the user experience by helping users ask better questions and find relevant data more efficiently. Thor adds: “You don’t always know which data you want or what you want to know about it, and the assistant helps you with that.” Despite the advancements in AI, Stravito maintains a strong emphasis on trust and confidentiality, holding an ISO 27001 certification to ensure data security.
Future focus and plans
Stravito’s focus was always on rapid and sustainable growth. Looking ahead, the company aims to further empower employees by making knowledge easily accessible. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Stravito found that using Stravito can reduce the time spent finding information by 70%. With the integration of generative AI and their conversational assistant, Stravito plans to enhance this efficiency further.
Stravito wants to expand to North America, focusing on Fortune 500 companies. While breaking into this market is challenging, Thor is optimistic about the potential. Additionally, Stravito values a diverse and global team with 90 colleagues. “It’s hard to be on the same page with 30 different nationalities, but it’s worth it,” Thor says. “When you have a diverse organization, you have more conflict. It forces us to have tough conversations, but ultimately, it helps us find more value for our customers and end-users.”
Stravito’s journey from a visionary idea to a leading market research and insights platform has been remarkable. Our partnership with Stravito highlights the power of strategic alignment and shared goals. We are excited about their continued growth and impact in the global market.
The four founders of Stravito
www.stravito.com
