The team had devised a new advertising medium in convenience stores. The founder Dipo Olewayo was a retail consultant at McKinsey who had carefully studied the convenience store sector in the UK and was convinced that a new model of in-store advertising using digital screens carefully placed at the checkout would be successful. Dipo had managed to secure a pilot system in a convenience store franchise in the North-East of England. This franchise had subsequently been bought by Sainsbury’s.
Catalyst’s Role
Our first task was to work with the management team to develop a business plan and corporate finance strategy that would give us the best chance of raising funding. Crucial to this process was:
The focus and positioning of the business;
Strengthening the management team to include a leading industry figure as Chairman;
Developing the right advertising pricing model;
Identifying New Estates to be acquired;
Assessing the level of funding required.
Result
We initially closed a strategic funding round of £500,000 from a small privately owned venture capital fund. A further £500,000 was raised from private investors a year later. Firebrand is now installed in 250 Sainsbury’s convenience stores including the flagship store in Sainsbury’s HQ. Firebrand is now a leading provider of in-store digital advertising and is in negotiations with a number of major retail brands to expand into their franchise.
