New York, NY. - WeStock, the preeminent first-party data platform for consumer brands, announced today that it raised a $2.2 million series seed funding round led by Laconia. 

The investment comes as seismic shifts in retail and consumer behavior occur post-covid. As brands struggle with iOS 14 changes and decreasing Facebook ROAS, consumer brands are focusing more on retail growth. WeStock, which enables brands to seamlessly capture first-party data from consumers and use it to grow their retail business, has doubled revenue since April due to this shift. 

With the acceleration of product market fit, WeStock is capitalizing on the current retail climate as investors started to see the omnichannel future. "Brick-and-mortar sales still account for over 80% of US retail spend. WeStock's unique platform bridges the offline/online data gap, empowering brands to meet customers wherever they are and grow their businesses sustainably,” said Geri Kirilova, Managing Partner at Laconia. 

WeStock, which works with brands like Avaline, Chomps, Utz, and Athletic Brewing, has over 500 brands on the platform and over 130,000 active consumers. Brands use WeStock to understand where customers shop, learn more about consumer behavior, and capture qualitative feedback to grow their retail sales. 

“We have seen an outpouring of funding go to eCommerce tools over the past two years. I think everyone thought the consumer behaviors we experienced during covid were going to stick; brands realize now they need to prioritize being omnichannel earlier in their lifecycle and we want to be there to help them with their retail goals,” said Cameron McCarthy, WeStock’s CEO. 

According to Harvard Business Review, over 30,000 new products are introduced annually, and 95 percent fail. It’s WeStock’s mission to decrease this failure rate over the next few years by providing more data transparency to consumers, brands, and retailers. 

“We are entering an era of CPG where channels are colliding. Retail, eCommerce, and DTC all have their place, and understanding how to navigate all three successfully will be the hallmark of the next cohort of CPG successes. WeStock is at the frontier of this transition and is arming its clients with the tools and data analysis to be successful in this new world.” commented Carlton Fowler, Partner at Goat Rodeo Capital.

Added Cameron McCarthy, “When brands build their online business, they have various tools and platforms that can help mitigate that failure, but when it comes to retail, it is still such an antiquated industry, and the tools that brands have access to are much more limited.”

Other investors in the round include Goat Rodeo Capital, Kubera Venture Capital, Techstars, AperiamVentures, Consumer Ventures, Incisive Ventures, and Airframe.

The raise allows WeStock to continue to build its industry-leading tools while focusing on increasing its consumer reach. WeStock has successfully piloted multiple data visualization and warehousing tools for its top customers this year. They plan to expand these product features to all their customers in the coming months, focusing on how machine learning can help brands make better business decisions from the data they collect daily. The company is also eyeing direct retail partnerships in 2023.