Surff, a new technology platform founded by Newcastle entrepreneur Ian Griffiths, has launched to “rebuild the data layer beneath digital commerce” at a moment when agentic commerce, the shift to a cookieless future and tightening privacy rules are dismantling the analytics brands have relied on for two decades.
Surff is built on a simple premise: The most valuable data on the internet isn’t clicks or impressions – it’s decisions. Today’s measurement systems can see that a user visited a page; they can’t see what they compared it against, what they shortlisted, or why they ultimately chose one option over another. As AI agents increasingly carry out that decision-making on behalf of consumers, traditional analytics break down entirely.
The platform captures consented browsing behaviour and structures it, through proprietary AI, into anonymised, aggregated decision intelligence. Brands then gain a clearer view of how customers actually decide, across full journeys and multiple domains, rather than the fragmented signals available through walled gardens and last-touch attribution.
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Surff is also built so that consumers share in the value of the data they create. Users opt in, control what they share and earn rewards directly from the brands that benefit – turning a relationship that has historically been extractive into one that is transparent and reciprocal.
Griffiths previously co-founded and scaled WhoCanFixMyCar.com, the UK’s largest car-servicing marketplace, which achieved a significant exit to a Japanese trade buyer in 2023. Surff is headquartered in the North East of England, where Griffiths intends to build a second high-growth company in the region, contributing to job creation and strengthening the area’s reputation as a hub for data, AI and consumer technology.
The launch is supported by investment from Mercia Ventures, the second time Mercia has backed Griffiths.
The Surff founder & CEO said: “For two decades, the digital economy has been built on data that consumers generate but never benefit from. Surff exists to change that. We’re building the infrastructure layer for decision data – the missing signal that brands have lost as cookies disappear and agentic commerce replaces the buying journey. Consumers get to own and earn from the data they create. Brands get a clearer picture of how decisions actually happen. I’m especially proud to be building this in the North East, where the talent and ambition are world-class.”
