Within the vertical software practice at Delta-v, there’s a through line across all of the investments that we have made, whether the end market has been local government, energy, or elite sports. In each case a wave of digital transformation was washing over the market, causing customers within those verticals to adopt new technology.
Software displaces manual processes, home grown solutions, or even “doing nothing.” Once users get their hands on the technology, there is no going back to the old way of work. These solutions become engrained in their customers’ workflow, and users can’t imagine doing their jobs with them.
Our most recent investment in EDITED follows the same pattern, this time within the retail industry. A market-leading data and analytics platform for soft good brands and retailers, EDITED combines first- and third-party data to enable customers to drive speed-to-insight in critical operational areas – from merchandising to inventory planning – and take actions that drive higher revenue, reduce costs, and improve operating efficiency.
EDITED's 3-Pronged Solution for Retail Analytics
Before EDITED, customers didn’t have a scalable way of incorporating data into strategic decisions such as product creation, merchandising, and pricing. Instead, teams relied on manual methods like store visits and/or time-intensive ad hoc research to inform their internal operating rhythms (if they were leveraging data at all; “gut feel” was also a common rubric).
But EDITED’s Market Intelligence product changed all of that.
Market Intelligence is the world’s largest source of retail market data, tracking 12 years of historical data and 4 billion SKUs across over 6,000 brands and retailers. It’s one of the first pieces of technology that merchandisers open when they sit down to start their week, as it provides them with access to immediate, data-driven answers to questions ranging from assortment planning to geographic expansion.
EDITED also offers a tool – Enterprise Intelligence – that ingests customers’ first-party operational data (e.g. product catalog, costs, inventory, etc.) to drive real-time insights about performance and, importantly, identify opportunities to make changes that will drive improvement. Enterprise Intelligence’s AI and out-of-the-box data models signal the best next action to take, such as which products should be promoted based on existing inventory levels and unit contribution margin, and which product pairings drive the greatest lift. And, taking it one step further, the company’s Automation add-on allows users to set rules that automatically take steps on those signals.
Before EDITED, business leaders’ only way of uncovering these insights was through manual Excel models or hiring a team of data scientists to develop custom solutions. However with Enterprise Intelligence’s predictive and prescriptive insights, EDITED users have a highly configurable tool that uncovers opportunities to drive real impact for their business and, ultimately, helps users do their jobs better.
Together, the combination of Market Intelligence, Enterprise Intelligence, and Automation offers a powerful decisioning platform that marries external market data with internal operational inputs to drive automated actions that drive profitable strategy for global retailers and brands.
Why We Invested
As we spoke with customers who use EDITED’s solutions, we heard a consistent refrain: users had crossed the Rubicon. Having experienced the benefits of a software solution built specifically for their needs, none of them could fathom doing their jobs without EDITED.
As investors, we see that type of advocacy as a clear indication that a company has found product-market fit, that customers view the product as “need to have” and will continue to invest (even despite macroeconomic headwinds) and that the company has an opportunity to capitalize on its market leadership position by further investing in growth.
Which brings us to our investment: the proceeds from Delta-v’s investment in EDITED will go toward accelerating product development, investing in partnerships, and capitalizing on opportunistic M&A that expands EDITED’s value proposition to customers (a playbook that Teamworks, another Delta-v portfolio company within vertical software, has deployed with success).
We’re thrilled to partner with existing investors Wavecrest, Beringea, and Hermes. We believe that the tailwinds that have propelled EDITED’s growth – the proliferation of data from digital channels, faster fashion cycles, globalization, and the growing importance of customer centricity – will persist for many years, and we are excited to work with Doug Kofoid and the EDITED management team on what lies ahead.
