US e-commerce enablement player AppHub has paid $72 million to snap up the founders' stake in REVIEWS.io, a UK-based customer feedback portal that allows product vendors to source user reviews that can be deployed on e-commerce services and community media outlets.
REVIEWS.io CEO Callum McKeefery gave out the news regarding the exit at his Leicester, England-HQed business on his LinkedIn profile a couple of days ago. Today, McKeefery described how a single phone call from a leading e-commerce director led to REVIEWS.io being formed, by himself and fellow co-founder Nicole Albano.
"The call was from a lovely chap called Chris Barella, e-commerce director at Euro Car Parts," McKeefery said. "On the call Chris said how he was fed up with Trustpilot and wanted to give us a chance.
"That call ignited something in me 🔥 that has never gone out. I wanted to make sure Chris knew what that initial confidence in us meant and prove him right."
REVIEWS.io was established in 2012 and has since grown to a 70+ headcount, dispersed across offices in Leicester and Berlin, California and Australia.
In terms of the core product, the startup has focused on automating review collection across leading customer feedback platforms - like Google Stars and Seller Ratings - while also throwing in support for video product reviews, which spark further customer engagement and can come across more genuine to the end user.
REVIEWS.io's current revenue generation model has three subscription tiers for brands. At a minimum, for around £89/month, the customer is given access to its Google Seller integration as well as syndication with Walmart's e-commerce feedback offering and video-first review sourcing.
The two premium tiers bring even more, including API access for third-party plugins, product feedback from Q&A services (where vetted experts answer anonymised questions about more or less anything online,) and dedicated developers' support.
Following the acquisition, McKeefery is set to become an AppHub board member and shareholder. Things are expected to remain much the same for now, though "exciting product launches" are promised under AppHub's ownership, delivered by the existing team.
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