Glasgow-based marketing technology platform Triyit, founded by a University of the West of Scotland (UWS) graduate, has secured an £850,000 investment from IFS Maven Equity Finance to support further development of the company’s data science function and bespoke platform.

UWS graduate and Founding CEO of Triyit, Alex Barron, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to announce this investment from Maven, facilitated by the Investment Fund for Scotland, which comes at a very exciting time for our business.

“Working with the team at Maven will help accelerate our plans for international growth and enable Triyit to fully achieve the long-standing vision of connecting consumer and brands like never before.”

BA Digital Art graduate Alex founded Triyit in 2016 and the company works with a wide variety of brands, across all fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories, from startups and challenger brands to market leading, global enterprise organisations like AB InBev, Costa, Arla, Mars and Kellogg’s.

Triyit connects FMCG brands with target consumers through its innovative performance sampling and research campaigns. With over 1 million organic sign ups to the consumer facing “product discovery” side of the platform, Triyit offers brands a unique way to hyper-target and engage the right audience, with built-in campaign mechanics delivering deep consumer insights, quality user-generated content (UGC) and high value earned media influence as part of each activity.

Globally, brands spend over £100 billion on sampling, consumer insight, content, and influencer services each year. Triyit is paving the way as brands make the shift from outdated mass drop sampling and old-school research services, to a more targeted, measurable and cost effective approach to driving growth.

With agile consumer insight, authentic UGC and trusted earned media influence all forming a critical part of the strategy behind any fast growing FMCG company, Triyit is well positioned to help brands embrace the change into a truly digital-first landscape. This investment will support further development of the company’s data science function, bespoke technology platform, and most significantly, the planned expansion of the wider service offering in the UK and international markets.

Rob Stevenson, Investment Manager at Maven said: “Technology enabled product sampling is an exciting and fast growing market. Triyit is well positioned in the space with a strong consumer following and traction gained with a number of well known, established brands. The company has achieved impressive growth to date, and we look forward to supporting Alex and the team as they embark on the next stage of their strategy.”

Sarah Newbould, Senior Investment Manager, Nations and Regions Funds, at the British Business Bank, said: “High-growth technology businesses are increasingly becoming a mainstay of the Scottish economy and represent a core focus for the Investment Fund for Scotland. Through our fund managers, we are committed to helping entrepreneurs all over the country with better access to funding opportunities to support their growth and development.”

This marks the sixth investment made by IFS Maven Equity Finance. IFS Maven Equity Finance covers the whole of Scotland and provides equity investment up to £5 million to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The purpose of IFS is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across Scotland. IFS will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses in Scotland, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.