Air Miles and Nectar founder Mills backs retail tech venture

The entrepreneur who turned Air Miles and Nectar into two of the world's most successful customer loyalty programmes is making a multimillion pound investment in a retail technology venture whose clients include Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) and Arcadia.

Sky News can reveal that Sir Keith Mills, whose CV includes spearheading London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, is backing a £12m fundraising by Reading-based Ecrebo.

Sir Keith's investment will see him joining the board of Ecrebo alongside Joseph Schull, a former executive at Warburg Pincus, the buyout firm that bought a big stake in Nectar ahead of its launch 15 years ago.

‎The Ecrebo investments, which will give the new investors a significant stake in the company, will be formally announced on Wednesday.

The decision to back Ecrebo represents a bet by Sir Keith and Mr Schull on the growing trend towards personalisation of retailers' communications with their customers.

Ecrebo has built a technology ‎platform enabling high street chains such as M&S, TopShop and Uniqlo to provide instantaneous targeted offers based on consumers' purchases, alongside their receipts.

The company claims to have processed more than £35bn in transactions for leading retailers since 2010, generating in excess of £500m in incremental sales.

People close to Ecrebo say it represents a "significant‎ leap forward" from the technology employed by most existing loyalty schemes, although Sir Keith insisted that the company was complementary to, rather than competing with, the likes of Nectar.

"Ecrebo's technology gives retailers the ability to open up a marketing channel that is fully retailer-owned, enabling them to reach all their customers and engage them on a one-to-one basis in a way which is personalised, rewarding and convenient," Sir Keith said.

Sir Keith sold Nectar in 2007 to a Canadian rival, pocketing £160m from the deal.

He subsequently became involved in a bitter legal fight with Coutts, the wealth management arm of Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) , when it froze redemptions during the financial crisis.

Sir Keith eventually settled with ‎the bank for a multimillion pound sum.

Since then, Sir ‎Keith has taken on a string of roles, including chairing the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and establishing Britain's Americas Cup team.

Octopus Ventures, an existing Ecrebo investor, is also participating in the latest funding round, the proceeds of which will be used to help facilitate a further expansion into the US.

Ecrebo was set up by Dr Hassan Hajji and David Vernon, who will continue to run the company, which is expected to break even this year.