October 2025
BLOG POST
Why we invest in Duel
by Miguel Bagulho
Social Media’s Growing Influence on Consumer Behavior
Gone are the days of Facebook (now Meta) IPO, where everyone was absolutely astonished by the $ 100Bn valuation (note: current market cap is $ 1.9Tn). Over the years, we have witnessed the explosion of different social platforms, with billions of active users. This trend was accelerated in a post-Covid era, where social media’s role in the consumer purchase journey expanded on a global scale and particularly in young generations, to a point that we hear “TikTok is the new search”.
It is now common for us to turn to social networks when we need inspiration before buying something new. For example, someone might browse Instagram to see trending outfits before updating their wardrobe, or check TikTok reviews of the latest skincare products to decide which one to try. Others scroll through Pinterest for home décor ideas before shopping for furniture, or follow tech influencers on YouTube to compare the newest gadgets. Even when planning a trip, people often look at travel vlogs or Facebook groups to discover recommended restaurants, hotels, and activities. In each case, social networks serve as a source of ideas and reassurance before making a purchase.
Conversely, marketing is constantly evolving, with budgets increasingly redirecting investment towards social, which in 2023 surpassed linear TV for the first time, reaching $ 71Bn. On one hand, traditional or mainstream marketing (e.g. paid media) are costly and becoming ineffective and, on the other hand, shoppers look for authenticity to complement their search and discovery. For example, social media is predicted to be the fastest-growing digital ad format with a compound annual growth rate of 8.0% until 2028.
Over the years, we have seen different solutions in our dealflow that wanted to surf this social wave. In most cases, it was hard to build a compelling business case or it involved some sort of b2c component or network effect, which kept us away from investing due to our pure b2b play. However, the so-called creators’ economy, where we see passionate advocates of all types gaining relevance in shoppers’ purchasing decisions – from fans to nano and micro influencers, macro influencers and celebs at the top of the pyramid – made us look at this retail tech segment in a different way.
Duel’s Unique Value Proposition
It was in the Spring of 2024 that we first met Paul Archer, co-founder and CEO of Duel, a brand advocacy SaaS platform for enterprise retail brands. We were immediately drawn into this vision of a world where brands want to grow through the advocacy of people that love them. The company had built the infrastructure to launch enticing programs for advocates, in a customised portal using gamification. With Duel’s platform, brands can communicate with thousands of micro-influencers, building long-term relationships with their most valued and vocal customers, while leveraging on these users’ personal content to convert new customers for the brand. Putting it plainly, brands can now entice and animate their fans to produce content, namely videos, in exchange for a certain benefit (discount, early access to new products). Then, brands can use that content in different channels (website, app, social) to increase their customer base and boost sales.
We started to nurture our investment case based on four main pillars:
- exciting market opportunity
- strong product market fit
- talented CEO leading a strong team and
- great metrics and ambitious plan.
Besides the tailwinds described, there is a global market of six thousand fashion and beauty brands with revenues above $ 100m, which total addressable market can reach $ 30Bn in just a few years, as advocacy takes a higher share of retailers’ marketing budget. On the other hand, despite a vibrant and growing competitive space, with loyalty, reviews and social proof, referrals, tools for smaller creators marketing or professional influencers, affiliate marketing and social commerce platforms, among others, Duel set itself apart. Not only was it built to primarily serve brands, but it was also able to accumulate knowledge and data on effective advocacy strategies and consolidate multiple point solutions into a single platform. Several different (successful) tools in the market explore macro influencers, affiliation programs and the like, but Duel appears as a leader in engaging the customer base and in the growing micro and nano influencers segment.
Duel is very well positioned to win the advocates’ fashion & beauty market and possibly expand from there to (i) adjacent areas of affiliation, like professional influencers and loyalty (already tested) and/or (ii) other retail segments (sports, home, pets). The product is ahead of the competition, serving the most advanced brands, which have community-building at the center of their marketing strategy. Marquee logos such as A&F, Victoria’s Secret and Charlotte Tilbury in the fashion & beauty industries serve as good validation of the product. Also, stellar net revenue retention metrics of these ICP accounts reinforce customer satisfaction. This is not the result of pure chance, all of the customer reference calls were quite unanimous on how mission-critical Duel is, delivering double-digit ROI in cases like Charlotte Tilbury (see public case study). Duel wants to keep its edge, as such the roadmap is well-defined in terms of several AI features and other key areas of product development.
Duel’s CEO is a visionary and leading voice in social commerce as a whole, but more specifically, in mastering this community-building movement in retail segments, where emotion and personal identity play an essential part (check his podcast Building Brand Advocacy). Over these last years, he was able to attract and retain talented and experienced leadership to head core areas such as sales, marketing and customer success. Paul also had to make tough decisions along the way, including relocating with his family to the US, which showed his maturity as a CEO – more considering this is a first journey for him – and his commitment to make Duel a category leader in its core market.
At the time of our investment in the $ 16m round, Duel was on a great momentum. ARR was growing significantly and the company was delivering top-tier retention and efficiency metrics, which we view as the right base to build a multi-million ARR business. An ambitious plan to build a community-builder full suite and the right round context, with great investor partners, means that Duel has all in its favour to build a successful story.
Overall, we see Duel as a leading company that is solving a strategic and increasingly mission-critical problem for fashion & beauty and possibly other retail segment brands, by powering them to turn loyal customers into scalable marketing engines. At a time when traditional paid media has become more and more expensive and less effective, Duel can be the social novelty that once again astonishes everyone.
