Business bull’s-eye

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This article was published 07/06/2022 (1395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Years before social media was even a thing, a Winnipeg software-development shop was aggregating digital coupons on its own websites, such as bargainmoose.ca and others.

In 2015, developers Matthew Tate and Emma Kelly started their own off-shoot business called Upfeat.com in the brand-new sector now known as commerce content.

Their experience in coupon aggregation, coupled with the data the company had collected over the years and proprietary analytics software they developed, has turned their company, called Upfeat.com, into one of the global leaders in the space.

Over the last couple of years, after lots of legwork, Upfeat broke into the U.S. market, aided by declining revenue from digital advertising and the attractive engagement — and easy profits — that trusted publishers can achieve in the commerce-content space, thanks to sophisticated solutions like the ones Upfeat provides.

Upfeat’s staff has grown to about 75 — about 50 of them in Winnipeg at its Exchange District operation — many of them content creators, writing things such as listicles focused on product purchasing, like the ones found on sites such as BuzzFeed, sometimes in the form of tasteful “advertorial” or branded on-site coupon marketplaces.

Upfeat has now become one of the leading agencies in that global marketplace, growing from about $2.2 million in revenue in 2017 to close to $20 million now, good enough for 117th on the Financial Times’ list of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas, with a growth rate of 669.8 per cent.

It is the 14th highest-ranked Canadian company on the list — ahead of such names as Shopify and Vendasta, the pride of Saskatoon — and one of only two Winnipeg companies listed. (Clear Concepts came in at No. 442.)

With recent partnerships in the United States with the likes of Forbes, Hearst publications and News Corp., Upfeat has become the go-to entry point for respected digital publishers to provide content (and coupon sites) for their readers, without having to rely on sharing of personal information (unlike those creepy digital ads that pop up on your screen related to a recent search).

“Our tools allow publishers to target user intent, not the users themselves,” said Tate.

And now that that approach is well known and understood by publishers, they are coming to Upfeat as the proven solution provider.

“When we started out, we had to do a hard pitch into media organizations about the benefits of running a solution like ours,” said Tate. “Now pretty much every media organization in the western world wants to be in this space. As soon as we cracked the U.S. market it was like unleashing a fire hose of growth.”

The company’s easy-to-use tools, such as UpAnalytics, allow digital publishers to understand what revenue and sales are being driven by what content; UpAffiliates identifies links across a publisher’s content and automatically turns them into tracked, paid links.

And it still provides tasteful branded coupon pages, like the one on the Forbes site, which notes that the service is “operated under license by Upfeat Media Inc.” and that the retailers listed are “curated by Upfeat. Forbes editorial staff is not involved. If you make a purchase using a link on this page Forbes may receive a commission on that sale.”

Tate said now that Upfeat has established itself in the U.S. he doesn’t think it’s unreasonable to think the company can double or triple in size, or more, over the next few years.

Louie Ghiz, the head of the industry association New Media Manitoba (NMM), does not think Tate is blowing smoke. Ghiz has seen the company’s hard work and its increasing niche expertise since it started in 2015. As a business-to-business tech company, the Upfeat name may not be well known by consumers, but Ghiz said the company is definitely a leader in its field.

“They have really honed their skills,” he said. “Like many companies that succeed, they have a niche that they are exceptional at. That’s why they are connecting with major brands around the world.”

Tate likes to tip his hat to NMM for the support Upfeat has received over the years. And as a visible minority himself, Tate says the company takes pride in being one of the most diverse tech companies in the province.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca