Month: June 2023

Double Dutch, the producers of award-winning premium mixers and tonics, has announced the completion of its latest funding round, securing £4m investment.
The news comes after the female-founded brand grew distribution by 63% in the last year alone.
As the market player with the fastest volume growth in category, the premium drinks brand has completed this latest round of funding to grow the brand in the UK, strengthen its sales team and drive growth in export, with a primary focus on its secondary home market, Benelux, the UAE, and planning entry to the APAC region.
As part of its mission to double the expectations of mixers, Double Dutch has now secured the backing of more than 40 F&B and hospitality industry investors, including the likes of the Heineken – De Carvalho Family.
The new funding is part of plans to ready the drinks brand for its next stage of growth, where Double Dutch will be using a proportion of the £4m funding secured towards strengthening the brand in its UK domestic market to build brand awareness.
Innovation continues to be a key brand focus, with new trending mixer flavours planned over the next two years to meet consumers’ tastes. The brand also plans to expand the drinking occasions for Double Dutch consumers, expanding into new adult soft drink categories, and supported with a social-first strategy and integrated marketing campaigns to ensure the brand remains first-to-market with innovative new product development.
The investment will be used to drive deeper distribution in the on and off-trade, including new markets, with the UAE pinpointed as a key target for its all-year-round no/low opportunity.
The rapid growth has also led the inspiring drinks brand to expand the Double Dutch team across sales and HR, both in the UK and in export markets. The appointment of an HR manager brings with it a new global recruitment strategy.
To cement its position in the UAE region, Double Dutch has appointed Benita Bohsali as Head of International Growth, who has previously supported businesses including MMI, Red Bull and Heineken. In her new role, Bohsali will be responsible for strategic and commercial planning, with a focus on the key cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to increase on and off-trade listings and drive overall growth for the brand.
Raissa & Joyce de Haas, co-founders of Double Dutch, commented: “We’re delighted with the continued support from our investor partners and looking forward to them being a part of the next stage of our journey. We’re super proud to now be one of the fastest-growing mixer brands and can’t wait to see our further growth in the UK, Benelux and beyond.”
Ewan Venters, CEO at Hauser & Wirth and Investment Director at Double Dutch, added: “Watching Double Dutch grow into one of the most dynamic businesses in the drinks industry today has been a real pleasure. Their stratospheric rise in the world of mixers has been through incredible hard work, a robust strategy and an unwavering vision to shake up the mixer market. As their Investor Director, it’s been exciting to help shape the next stage of business acceleration with the planned impact of this fundraise on their growth ambitions. This brand is one to watch.”
Double Dutch is now stocked in more than 45 countries around the world, including as the exclusive tonic for Soho House globally.
The drinks take inspiration from the world of natural flavours, with unique, bold and unexpected flavour pairings, made with high quality ingredients and no artificial flavouring, colours or preservatives.
All the products are naturally vegan and gluten free, and as part of the twin founders’ mission to do business the right way, the brand is proudly Carbon Neutral and is pursuing B-corp status.
The full range of Double Dutch flavours are available via the Double Dutch website or Amazon, with a select range of the brand’s mixers available at Waitrose or Ocado and Tesco.
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Double Dutch mixer brand secures £4M in funding to supercharge growth

The windfall tax on oil and gas firms will be suspended if prices fall to normal levels for a sustained period, the government has announced.
Halting the windfall tax would cut the overall tax rate on energy firms from 75% to 40%.
A windfall tax is used to target firms which benefit from something they were not responsible for.
It was introduced last year to help fund a scheme to lower energy bills for households and businesses.
Energy firm profits have soared recently, initially due to rising demand after Covid restrictions were lifted, and then because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised energy prices.
But oil and gas prices have now come down from their highs.
In a statement, the Treasury said the windfall tax would remain until March 2028 but that the tax rate would fall if the average oil and gas prices fall to, or below, a set level for two consecutive three-month periods.
The level has been set at $71.40 per barrel for oil and £0.54 per therm for gas.
Brent crude oil was trading at $75 per barrel on Friday morning, with gas prices at around £0.62.
Energy firms have been urging ministers to reduce the windfall tax, warning that it was causing companies to pull back investment.
In April, the UK’s largest oil and gas producer Harbour said it would shed 350 UK onshore jobs as a result of the windfall tax. French oil giant TotalEnergies also said it would cut its planned 2023 North Sea investment by a quarter – £100m – because of the extension to the windfall tax.
The Treasury said its decision had reflected those concerns.
It said any fall in investment “puts the long-term future of the UK’s domestic supply at risk, meaning we would be forced to import more from abroad at a time when reliable and affordable energy is a focus for families and businesses”.
Trade body Offshore Energies UK welcomed the announcement, but warned the industry still faced challenges.
Its chief executive David Whitehouse said: “This is a step in the right direction, but many more will need to be taken to restore confidence to our sector.
“We will now work closely with government and lenders to understand the detail of the measure and its effectiveness at unlocking investment.”
However, the possible suspension of the windfall tax was criticised by the Green Party.
“The government seems happy to allow these huge corporations to not only wreck the climate but to profit off the back of the cost-of-living crisis which they themselves have contributed to,” said Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay.
“Instead, the government should be tightening the tax, closing the loopholes and ensuring the money raised helps people through the cost-of-living crisis and funds the sustainable green energy jobs in the renewable sector we urgently need.”
Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner, Georgia Whitaker, said: “Irrespective of what happens to the price of oil and gas, the tax these companies pay should be higher, permanently.
“This cash should be used to help insulate homes and transition the UK to cheap, clean energy, not fill the bank balances of already wealthy shareholders.”
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Windfall tax to be suspended if energy prices drop

HMRC has announced that it will pilot a new ‘seasonal model’ for its self-assessment helpline in an attempt to relieve pressure on its phone lines and prioritise urgent queries.
The initiative, set to run for three months from 12th June 2023, will experiment with directing self-assessment queries from the helpline to HMRC’s digital services, which include its online guidance, digital assistant and webchat.
The vast majority of self-assessment customers use HMRC’s online services, with 97% filing online, the tax authority said.
HMRC has faced significant pressure to improve service levels in recent months, having downsized its customer service workforce from 25,500 to 19,500 in the past five years due to its push towards digitalisation.
But the fresh initiative, according to the revenue body, will free up 350 advisers to answer around 6,600 “urgent” self-assessment calls each day.
“A seasonal helpline will make more of our expert advisers available where they are most needed during the summer months,” said Angela MacDonald, deputy CEO and second permanent secretary at HMRC.
“Our online services, including the HMRC app, are quick and easy to use and have been significantly improved. I urge customers to explore these fully before deciding to wait to speak to us on the phone.”
But according to Seb Maley, CEO at IR35 consultancy firm Qdos, the timing of the new pilot scheme is inappropriate and merely “highlights chaos” at the tax office.
“We’re in a cost of living crisis, the self-employed are being hit with tax rise after tax rise and instead of increasing the support available, HMRC reduces it.
“HMRC can dress it up however its wants, but closing the phone lines for self-employed taxpayers is only going to result in problems.”
Maley also argues that the move runs counter to HMRC pleas earlier this year for self-employed workers to file and pay their tax bills, calling the plans “illogical”.
In similarly critical fashion, Chris Etherington, private client tax partner at RSM UK argues that the Summer pilot scheme could pile undue pressure onto the phone lines when they reopen in September.
According to HMRC, the self-assessment helpline receives far fewer calls over the Summer, with calls around 50% higher between January and April compared with June to August.
But Etherington argues that a summer closure is likely to worsen the already extensive waiting times at the beginning and end of the year and cause some taxpayers to face a “bleak winter”.
“The closure could come as an unwelcome shock to many taxpayers and could be a short-sighted move. HMRC already struggles to deal with the level of phone calls that come through in the winter ahead of the 31 January deadline, and this could make the problem worse.”
Taking a more optimistic stance, Glenn Collins, ACCA UK’s head of technical and strategic engagement, says he is “pleased HMRC is looking at all the options to tackle the current poor performance”, praising the tax authority for being “flexible and adaptable”
However, he goes on to echo Etherington’s views, pointing out the “tension” between HMRC urging taxpayers to file their returns early whilst closing one of the key mechanisms for this.
“It’s all very well picking the lowest demand point to force people onto a platform which many aren’t comfortable with, but not if you’re going to try to increase demand by encouraging early filing at the same time.
“HMRC will not be able to effectively measure the change in behaviour, as the alternative has been removed. What HMRC should be focusing on is the proportion of queries settled in one interaction, this is not currently good enough and the fear is that this may get worse.”
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HMRC to close self-assessment helpline for three months

The UK’s cost of keeping energy bills down for homes and businesses over the winter months added up to almost £40bn, the first official government total shows.
The Treasury pegged the final cost of keeping a lid on the UK’s energy bills at £39.3bn between October 2022 and March 2023 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine propelled energy market prices to record levels.
The unprecedented jump in wholesale energy costs forced the government to make its biggest ever intervention on energy bills at a cost to the exchequer of about £2,500 every second since October, it said.
Home energy bills had been on course to more than triple in the space of a year to reach an annual average of £4,300 in the first quarter. In response, the government spent £21bn to cap the average dual fuel bill at £2,500 through its energy price guarantee. It spent a further £12bn to give every household a £400 rebate in order to reduce costs further.
The National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the schemes for offering support to millions of households that were still able to afford their energy bills. The NAO had forecast that the government’s support plans would cost £69bn, but falling market prices have reduced the cost of the schemes.
The Treasury also spent £5.5bn over the winter through its energy bill relief scheme, which provided a discount to businesses and public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals between October and March.
The government has sharply curtailed its support as energy market prices have tumbled from their highs last year, but experts have warned that market prices could remain well above pre-pandemic levels until the end of the decade, keeping 6.5m households in fuel poverty.
Household bills are now protected by a price cap set by the energy regulator, Ofgem, equivalent to £2,074 for the typical household’s annual gas and electricity consumption from July, which is still double the rate before energy market prices began to climb.
Ministers have replaced the government’s energy price guarantee, and its one-off £400 grants, with a series of payments targeted at the most vulnerable that include a £900 payment for those on means-tested benefits, £300 for pensioners and an extra £150 for disabled people.
However, about 1.7m households in severe fuel poverty are expected to miss out on the extra help because they are not registered to receive certain benefits, according to researchers at the University of York. These households are estimated to include 688,000 fuel-poor families with children.
The business bills relief scheme has been replaced with a far less generous arrangement that has left thousands of small businesses fearing they may go bust before next winter.
The government’s other energy support schemes, including support for “off grid” households and businesses that use alternative fuels, came to almost £1bn over the last winter, according to the government’s tally.
Read more:
Keeping UK energy bills down over winter cost almost £40bn

Spinout About:Energy has successfully closed a seed investment round with funding of £1.5 million.
The rounds had participation from  HighSage Ventures, Vireo Ventures, Rishi Khosla, Plug & Play Ventures, and Electric Revolution Ventures.
The funding will enable the battery software company, which started trading in 2022 after spinning  out of the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London, to establish an independent laboratory, expand the team, and accelerate industry adoption of its first product – a proprietary software platform called The Voltt, which was launched just two months ago.
The transition to electrification involves meeting the huge engineering challenge of building products with batteries and this requires accurate modelling of how a battery generates heat, fast charges, and ages over its lifetime.  To do this, the company’s founders will leverage existing world-leading research from Imperial College London and the University of Birmingham, which includes expertise in both electrochemistry and engineering.
The Voltt is set to transform the battery value chain by offering a comprehensive library of commercially available cells and their attributes alongside advanced modeling capabilities.  This will improve and clarify decision-making around battery design by simplifying cell selection, improving performance evaluation, and providing detailed insights into battery behaviour to optimize the use of electric vehicles.
The Voltt is currently being used by cell manufacturers, battery system developers, and automotive OEMs around the world.  About:Energy’s ultimate aim is to sell the Voltt to every industry that relies on batteries for energy storage.
About:Energy’s laboratory will be located in London.  It will enable the company to understand the lifetime of hundreds of different batteries and their impact on the environment, by collecting data on performance, cost, and carbon intensity and provide industry with a dataset that can optimize battery design holistically.  This data is already being leveraged by About:Energy’s customers which include leading automotive companies and battery manufacturers.
Gavin White, Co-Founder and CEO of About:Energy, said, “Our focus for the next 12 months is to establish About:Energy as a leading battery data and software company, and to leverage the power of The Voltt to drive innovation and efficiency in the industry. This investment will enable us to integrate the latest battery research from our partnering institutions, creating a comprehensive solution for battery design and optimization.”
Professor Emma Kendrick, Professor of Energy Materials at Birmingham’s School of Metallurgy & Materials, commented,  “This investment will enable further knowledge transfer in characterisation from academic partners and allow A:E to grow their high accuracy testing methods and procedures, providing data for the Voltt, and tailored solutions for sustainable battery design, manufacturing and integration.”
David Coleman, CEO of University of Birmingham Enterprise, said: “One of our primary goals is to see products and services launched that are based on University research.  It’s satisfying to see About:Energy launch its first product and achieve investor interest in such a short period of time since the company launched in 2022, particularly as the product will help accelerate the adoption of cleaner and more environmentally friendly options for energy storage.”
Read more:
Battery spinout About:Energy secures £1.5m seed investment

Industry-first study from Evident shows leading European banks are doubling down on AI recruitment, but UK banks are struggling to compete with US rivals
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is looking to assert its AI dominance within the global banking industry, according to a new study of AI talent and hiring trends from AI benchmarking & intelligence platform Evident.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired twice as many AI-related jobs as any of its rivals between February to April 2023, advertising for 3,651 roles, compared to 1,754 roles advertised by Citigroup, 1,374 by Barclays and 1,268 by Deutsche Bank.
According to Evident’s AI Talent Report for Banks, the market for AI banking talent grew by 4% between October 2022 to April 2023, a period in which many banks were making layoffs in other divisions.
The 60 largest North American and European banks now employ around 46,000 people in AI development, data engineering and governance & ethics roles, with as many as 100,000 global banking roles involved in bringing AI to market. Interestingly, 40% of AI staff within these banks have started their current roles since January 2022.
Evident’s research shows that a number of European banks, including ING Groep, Barclays and NatWest Group, are stepping up their AI recruitment. In each case, AI-related hires represent over 30% of their open job descriptions, demonstrating the strategic significance of AI to each bank at a time when European banks are experiencing a growing AI gap with their North American rivals – as reported in the inaugural Evident AI Index back in January 2023.
Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Evident Co-Founder and CEO, said: “JPMorgan Chase is making huge investments in AI, but it’s not the only big bank stepping up its hiring efforts. There’s been a flurry of recruitment activity across the industry. AI is the one area of banking where people are being brought on in growing numbers, and our data shows that banks are competing ferociously to secure the best talent.”
Poaching is rife amongst the world’s biggest banks
According to Evident, banks are recruiting from a variety of sources to build their AI talent pipelines, with rival banks providing more than 22,000 of all employees recruited into AI-related roles, followed by IT consulting/tech firms (18,000) and universities (8,500).
Wells Fargo is the most active player when it comes to poaching AI talent, having sourced 5% of its AI staff from Bank of America alone. US banks have marginal net inflows of AI talent, partially at the expense of UK banks. However, most poaching is within markets rather than between them. Wells Fargo, RBC, BNP Paribas, and HSBC lead net inflows in their respective markets.
Is AI reinforcing existing banking power dynamics?
The Evident report identifies New York as the global centre for AI talent, as measured by overall employee numbers, followed by London, Toronto, Bengaluru and Paris. India has three cities in the top 10, as does the US, with India’s presence reflective of historic offshoring decisions that are now leading the banks to double down and recruit heavily into their existing locations.
However, different models of AI talent deployment are emerging, with a marked contrast between the US banks, which are recruiting globally in all of their key locations, and markets like Canada, France and the Netherlands, where AI talent is predominantly being recruited domestically.
Europe’s AI talent pool remains particularly fragmented, with Germany struggling to develop domestic AI centres. Neither Frankfurt nor Berlin features in the top 30 cities for AI talent, while Deutsche Bank, one of the leading AI recruiters, employs the majority of its AI staff outside of Germany, and is concentrating its AI recruitment efforts in other markets, particularly India.
According to Evident, these hiring trends suggest that AI is replicating traditional banking power structures. For example, the strong presence of US, European and Asian banks in London has historically made it difficult for UK banks to compete for talent. Whilst Barclays is currently hiring AI talent in similar numbers to its US counterparts, alumni from the UK’s foremost universities are more likely to end up working in AI-related fields at JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America or Citigroup than any of the domestic banks.
Mousavizadeh added: “The UK’s strength as a global financial services powerhouse remains its weakness when it comes to supporting domestic banks’ AI hiring efforts. History is repeating itself, with AI reinforcing the global power dynamics we’ve seen in banking over the past few decades.”
Generative AI is not being referenced in banks’ recruitment efforts… nor is responsible AI…yet
Evident’s research shows that, despite the explosion of interest in generative AI triggered by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, fewer than 2% of recent AI Development job descriptions advertised by the world’s biggest banks explicitly referenced Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs) or ChatGPT.
Evident Co-founder and COO Annabel Ayles said: “It’s encouraging to see the banks proceeding with caution around Generative AI rather than getting caught up in the ChatGPT noise. As they identify and test different use cases across their divisions, banks need people who truly understand the technology behind Generative AI models and how to embed it in products. It could take months or even years before these tools are put into production, so we don’t expect to see major hiring for related roles, but we do eventually expect an uptick in jobs such as prompt engineers, ML engineers and product developers.”
Evident also found little evidence that banks are increasing investment in responsible AI talent in light of the increased scrutiny being given to the risks of rolling out powerful AI systems. Between February 2022 and April 2023, just two banks explicitly recruited for responsible AI roles.
Ayles added: “Less encouraging is the apparent lack of focus on recruiting talent dedicated to ensuring the safe and responsible use of these powerful new technologies. With all industries likely to face more external scrutiny from policymakers and regulators around AI adoption, banks may be missing an opportunity to get ahead of the curve.”
Read more:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. surges ahead in AI hiring as banking battle for AI talent intensifies

For the first time Uber passengers will be able to personally track the emissions they have avoided when choosing zero-carbon rides, as part of a series of new features announced today which will make it easier for riders to go green across the world.
Rider Emissions Savings is one of several new updates to be launched soon by Uber, as the company doubles down on its zero-emissions goals. Rider Emissions Savings, an in-app feature that tracks the amount of CO2 avoided by riders taking trips through Uber Green and Comfort Electric – incentivizing riders across the world to make green choices.
In a new commitment, also announced today, the company is aiming to eliminate emissions on all Uber Eats deliveries globally by 2040, and end all unnecessary restaurant plastic waste by 2030. This will be supported through partnerships including the World Wildlife Fund to support restaurants and couriers, as well as leaders in e-mobility such as Cooltra and Human Forest to increase car-free deliveries.
This builds on an existing commitment to become a zero-emissions mobility platform in London by 2025, in Europe and North America by 2030, and globally by 2040.
Uber operates in more than 10,000 cities with roughly 1 million trips every hour. Enabling the 130 million people who use Uber around the globe to go green faster will have a positive impact on cities around the world.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, said: “Driving down emissions is the defining challenge of our generation, and every day we make dozens of choices that impact the planet, from the food we eat to the transportation we choose. While our personal values guide these decisions, convenience does too, which is why Uber is making it easier for millions to make greener choices, one ride and delivery at a time. The small changes we’re announcing today add up to something big: building sustainability into the core user experience across our global platform to reach our zero-emissions goals together.”
Uber has more than 60,000 EVs active on the platform, the largest number of any platform in North America and Europe. Over 10,000 EVs are on the road in London now driving over 18% of miles, making the city Uber’s capital of electrification.
Uber is building ‘Smart Charging’ features for EV drivers that will use machine learning to recommend when and where drivers should charge, so they can maximize their earnings. Drivers will also be able to filter trip requests based on a driver’s battery level and make the at-charger experience seamless.
In 2020 Uber announced a £5m investment to build 700 new EV charging points in areas close to where drivers live, growing London’s EV Charge Point Network by more than 7%.
Read more:
Uber announces new updates to make it easier to go green

Female entrepreneurs could add £250 billion to the UK economy with equal access to funding and right support, according to the Business and Trade Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch.
This comes following the Government’s publishing of the third annual Investing in Women Code (IWC) report, revealing that the significant progress made in breaking down the finance gap between female and male entrepreneurs.
The IWC now covers a large proportion of the SME lending market, accounting for 39 per cent of UK venture and growth equity deals, an increase from 24 per cent in 2020.
The report also showed that 35 per cent of all venture capital deals made by IWC signatories were in female-founded companies in 2022, compared to the market average of 27 per cent.
The IWC was founded four years prior as a landmark government-lead initiative as a result of the Rose Review’s findings that a lack of funding support acts as one of the most significant barriers to women seeking to effectively scale a business.
Commenting on the findings, Sheila Flavell CBE, Chief Operating Officer for FDM Group, added: “The report demonstrates how important progress has been made, but further work must be conducted in order to close funding gaps. Providing equal access to finance will be the necessary boost to unlock the potential of female founded businesses and will help bolster the Government’s commitments on growing the economy further – even amongst the challenging economic backdrop, the issue should not be dropped.”
“The actions of signatories implementing various measures to improve their support for female entrepreneurs is crucial in boosting confidence. Implementing policies, female-focused networking, the recruitment from a more diverse pool of candidates and the offering of mentoring from other female founders to name a few are some of the key efforts necessary to achieving gender equity in the start-up system.”
200 plus organisations have signed up to the IWC, depicting the growing number of people committed to increasing the levels of financial support toward women-led businesses, and highlighting how the code is the leading way in addressing the pervading finance gap.
Business and Trade Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch said: “It’s excellent that members of the Investing in Women Code are leading the way in addressing the finance gap between male and female entrepreneurs, ensuring that the UK is the best place in the world to start a business, regardless of gender.”
The findings also showed how female investors remain underrepresented on investment committees. Signatories report an average of 32 per cent female representation in their investment teams, and less than a quarter (24 per cent) on their investment committees.
The report additionally highlighted a relationship between more diverse investment committees, and successful pitches from all-female and mixed gender leadership teams, becoming a crucial area to address.
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Female entrepreneurs to add £250b to the economy with equal access to funding and support 

Software as a Service (SaaS) developer, Ringover, has announced the completion of a €20 million financing round.
The round led by Orange Ventures and Bpifrance’s Large Venture and accompanied by historical investor Expedition Growth Capital. This new round of funding will enable Ringover to significantly step up its investment in research and development, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and accelerate its international growth.
Since 2018, Ringover’s mission has been to support corporate customer relations across all communication channels. With its revenue multiplying by eight in three years, and a successful first funding round of €10 million in 2021, Ringover now welcomes two new investors. Bpifrance’s Large Venture and Orange Ventures are both deeply rooted in tech culture and renowned for their support of global industry leaders. This funding brings Ringover’s total investment to over €30 million in 2023.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Ringover and to be investing alongside BPI and Orange Ventures in this next phase of growth. Ringover’s growth and execution since we invested two years ago has been impressive, quadrupling annual recurring revenue and significantly broadening its product suite,” explained Oliver Thomas, Managing Partner at Expedition.
“Ringover has the technical and market expertise to become one of the world’s leading productivity suites for sales and customer care teams in small and mid-sized businesses worldwide,” added David Olsson, Principal of Expedition, who will join the board of directors as part of this investment.
This is a pure equity investment, with no debt or subsidies, to enable Ringover to extend its technological DNA worldwide with a demanding and transparent roadmap. Its ambitions include:

Creating an unrivalled suite of SaaS tools to meet the full range of customer service and sales challenges. After focusing on sales prospecting challenges, creating two new tools at the beginning of the year, Ringover is currently working on new customer service-oriented products to round out its offering.
Democratising the use of AI in the day-to-day operations of sales and customer service divisions, paving the way for a true revolution in their working methods. By enabling them to focus on high-value tasks, artificial intelligence becomes an invaluable daily co-pilot.
Consolidating quality of service with a range of advanced functions and integrations. Communication is no longer limited to traditional telephone conversations, as usage patterns evolve and communication channels multiply. Ringover aims to support companies in this transformation by providing one comprehensive tool that focuses on team performance and supervision. With integration capabilities already extended to more than 70 business tools, Ringover expects to double this figure in 2023.
Fully commit to global expansion by further establishing the infrastructures and teams in the UK, US and Spain, while leveraging existing and future partnerships.

“Knowing sales performance and customer relations are undergoing major transformations, our priority is to remain attuned to our customers’ expectations,” said Renaud Charvet, CEO and co-founder of Ringover. “With this round of funding, we’re accelerating development while remaining true to our fundamental goal — to offer a powerful suite of customer relations tools, focused on team performance and enhanced by AI.”
Bolstered by this latest round of funding, Ringover’s dedicated team of nearly 300 employees remain committed to continue developing cutting-edge products that cater to their customers’ needs in corporate communications, customer relations, and sales prospecting.
To accomplish this, the company is actively recruiting new talent across all divisions, with a third of the workforce focused on research and development. These efforts aim to create streamlined technologies infused with AI and machine learning, following the successful launch of Cadence and Empower in the first quarter of 2023. This spirit of innovation has established Ringover as a trusted partner in customer relations for its 10,000 corporate customers worldwide.
“We are very pleased to announce our investment in Ringover, an innovative company offering a complete, multi-channel solution for enriching customer relations. Orange Ventures aims to support talented teams and is delighted to enter into a partnership with a company that places growth and innovation at the heart of its strategy. This investment will enable Ringover to benefit from the Orange Group’s technological expertise in telecoms and its knowledge of the B2B market in France and abroad,” said Clément Combal, Partner at Orange Ventures.
The dynamic software innovator, already established in Spain and the UK, has made the strategic decision to establish roots in Atlanta to fulfil its international growth objectives. Under the guidance of CEO and co-founder Renaud Charvet, this new office will serve as a launching pad for Ringover’s significant expansion efforts across the Atlantic, unlocking exciting new opportunities.
“We are delighted to be supporting Ringover, a high-potential technology company, in its product launches and international expansion. Thanks to sound management and the unwavering commitment of its directors, this scale-up is well on the way to becoming a key player in the contact centre software market,” said Caroline Lebel, Investment Director at Bpifrance.
Read more:
Ringover raises €20M to revolutionise sales performance and customer satisfaction