Shop Circle secures £75.1m to buy enterprise SaaS and embed AI-driven go-to-market
This article covers Shop Circle, a SaaS startup, which has expanded its financing capacity with a £75.1m facility (roughly $100m) from i80 Group to accelerate acquisitions of AI-enabled enterprise software and speed up integration of AI and go-to-market capabilities. The development aims to support acquisition-led scaling of enterprise software products and affects founders, investors and the enterprise SaaS ecosystem by providing capital and operational resources for product modernisation.
Shop Circle, a SaaS startup, has expanded its financing capacity to accelerate acquisitions of AI-enabled enterprise software and speed up integration of AI and go-to-market capabilities. The move matters because it highlights a growing “buy-and-build” approach in enterprise software where companies combine external capital with AI infrastructure to scale existing products rather than rebuild them from scratch.
Why it matters
Consolidation in enterprise SaaS is a persistent trend as many standalone products lack the capital, AI expertise and commercial muscle to grow rapidly on their own. Shop Circle says it has completed 16 acquisitions to date and serves more than 165,000 businesses worldwide, signalling a material footprint across Europe and North America.
For founders and investors, the shift matters because it reframes exits and growth: instead of outright shutdowns or small trade sales, acquisition by a platform operator that retains product identity while adding AI and GTM support offers an alternative route. It also reflects how credit solutions are being used to fund inorganic growth in addition to traditional equity rounds.
Inside the product
Shop Circle presents itself as a platform that acquires business-to-business software products and layers in AI infrastructure, automation and go-to-market resources. That playbook is intended to speed product modernisation and lift unit economics rather than pursue short-term cost cuts.
The company highlights operational metrics to back that approach: it reports an average improvement in acquired companies’ Rule of 40 scores of about 1,800 basis points, attributing gains to automation and a standardised operating playbook. The portfolio is drawn from both European and North American markets and focuses on mission-critical enterprise tools used by thousands of business customers.
Who are the investors?
Shop Circle has increased an existing credit line with i80 Group to a £75.1m facility, equivalent to roughly $100m. The structured facility is intended to provide capital to accelerate Shop Circle’s acquisition pipeline and product integrations while preserving a flexible capital structure. i80 Group, an SEC-registered investment firm founded in 2016, manages approximately £1.5bn and operates from New York with an office in London.
The expansion follows Shop Circle’s Series B equity raise announced in September and is positioned as complementary to equity capital: the debt facility is aimed at funding near-term acquisitions and providing strategic flexibility as the company scales its AI and GTM investments.
In the announcement, Peter Frank, Managing Director of i80 Group, said:
Shop Circle continues to execute at an exceptional level, and we see them at the forefront of a broader transformation where modern software with applied AI is becoming core to building value in business operations.
While many acquirers depend on short-term optimization, Shop Circle follows a different playbook. Their long-term strategy maintains a company’s heritage while expanding its ambition and scale. They acquire platforms that customers already trust, then embed AI infrastructure and operations talent to build durable growth and enhance customer value, all while preserving each business’s identity. We’re thrilled to expand our partnership and support their next stage of growth.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Luca Cartechini, Co-Founder and CEO of Shop Circle, said:
i80 Group has been a great partner, and this expansion reflects the performance of our portfolio and the trust built between our teams.
Following our Series B equity raise and having proven our execution capabilities over multiple years, we now also benefit from a larger credit facility, which allows us to move decisively on acquiring great B2B software products and scaling them through our AI and GTM infrastructure. As highlighted in our latest report, the opportunity for consolidation is exceptional, and we offer a real alternative for founders seeking scale in an increasingly fragmented market. We’ve already demonstrated this across 16 acquisitions, and our ambition is to build a global leader in the category.
In the announcement, Robin Hardt, CFO of Shop Circle, said:
This facility gives us more strategic flexibility and reinforces the strength of our partnership with i80 following our Series B announced in September. To date, we have improved acquired companies’ Rule of 40 scores by an average of 1,800 basis points, driven by automation and the discipline of our operating playbook.
In the announcement, Gian Maria Gramondi, Co-Founder and COO of Shop Circle, said:
Across North America and Europe, thousands of software products exist but only a handful ever reach true scale. These founders have spent years earning the trust of their customers, yet most of the time they lack the capital, AI expertise and GTM capabilities to scale and modernize at the pace required as AI rewrites the rules of what software can do. The platform we are building solves for that
The bigger picture
The deal sits at the intersection of three trends in the UK and European tech ecosystem: more structured credit being used to fund buy-and-build strategies, applied AI becoming a core value driver for enterprise software, and cross-border consolidation between European and North American product sets. Shop Circle’s London presence and i80’s UK office underline how transatlantic capital and operating models are converging to back these approaches.
As investors and operators adapt to an environment where AI can materially alter product roadmaps, expect more companies to pursue similar acquisition-led growth strategies, which will shape exit options for founders and competition among platform operators across Europe.
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