Stonehenge Technology Labs Secures $2M Funding - CPG Metrics Access

Stonehenge Technology Labs Secures Seed Funding for Commerce Software

Stonehenge Technology Labs is focused on enabling consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to effectively utilize the data they gather. The company recently announced the completion of a $2 million seed funding round for its STOPWATCH commerce enhancement software.

Investment Details

Irish Angels spearheaded the investment round, with additional participation from Bread and Butter Ventures, Gaingels, Angeles Investors, Bonfire Ventures, and Red Tail Venture Capital.

Company Origins and Leadership

The Arkansas-based company was founded in 2019 by Meagan Kinmonth Bowman. Prior to founding Stonehenge, Bowman held a position at Hallmark, where she led the company’s digital transformation initiatives.

Bowman explained that many CPG companies struggle to integrate their internal systems with major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby. She noted that this isn’t due to a lack of marketing expertise, but rather a technological gap.

Bridging the Gap Between Dotcom and Brick-and-Mortar

Bowman and her team identified a crucial missing link between the digital world and traditional retail. Integrating STOPWATCH with existing enterprise resource plans and incorporating both public and private data feeds, they believe, can allow companies to achieve comparable profitability across both online and offline channels.

How STOPWATCH Works

STOPWATCH processes over 100 million data rows per workspace daily. It analyzes these data points, delivers real-time alerts, and ensures the appropriate information reaches the relevant personnel at the optimal time.

Investor Perspectives

Dan Rossignol, a B2B SaaS investor, highlighted the increasing consumerization of daily life and how the pandemic demonstrated the viability of productive work and commerce even from home. He emphasized his preference for investing in underestimated founders and recognized Stonehenge’s potential to modernize CPG technology stacks.

Rossignol added that his investment is largely based on the strength of the team and their capacity to achieve significant growth.

Strategic Location in Bentonville, Arkansas

Despite the option to locate in Silicon Valley, Kinmonth Bowman deliberately chose Bentonville, Arkansas. This decision was driven by the proximity to over 1,000 CPG companies, which she identified as the primary target market for STOPWATCH.

From Consulting Subsidiary to Standalone Software

The platform initially emerged as a component of a consulting service. However, in 2018, a client expressed a preference for the software itself, without the accompanying consulting services. This led to a business separation and an eight-month period dedicated to developing a dedicated software product.

Underlying Technology

Kinmonth Bowman acknowledged that the core technology isn’t visually striking. It relies on exact transfer loads to extract data from numerous systems into a “lake house” architecture. This data is then segmented by retailer and other relevant factors, and presented in customized formats tailored to different user roles, such as CEOs and product teams.

Growth and Future Plans

The company has experienced a doubling of both revenue and contract volume in the past year. Currently serving multiple Fortune 100 companies and emerging brands, Stonehenge intends to utilize the new funding to expand its sales team and forge strategic partnerships.

Building a Diverse Team

Stonehenge is committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects the demographics of its user base. Kinmonth Bowman recognizes the challenge of attracting talent to Arkansas but views it as a worthwhile endeavor.

Investor Confidence

Brett Brohl, managing partner at Bread and Butter Ventures, described the Stonehenge team as “crazy enough, smart and driven” to achieve substantial success.

He pointed out that while many established companies have existed for decades, few have effectively digitized their operations. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation, creating a favorable environment for STOPWATCH. He believes the company is poised to capitalize on the shift from traditional methods – paper records, Excel spreadsheets – to advanced cloud-based solutions.