Wriggle
A mobile-app selling last-moment opportunities for food and drink - ready to expand into new markets
- Location
- Bristol, United Kingdom
- Partner
-
Seedcamp
Categories: Travel, Leisure & Sport Mixed Digital/Non-Digital B2C
-
Investment
sought: - £128,387
-
Equity
offered: - 13.00%
-
Investment
amount: - £156,574
-
Valuation
(pre-money): - £859,205
Team
-
Founder/Director -
Non-Executive Director -
Operations Director -
Business Advisor
Idea
Introduction
Wriggle is a mobile app that has been live for a month in Bristol, with 1,668 downloads. We have generated revenue of £4,276 and connected 456 customers with businesses. We have had great press coverage and a 100% net-promoter score from users.
All businesses, even the most successful, have unsold capacity. Wriggle is a simple mobile-app platform to allow them to sell this at the very last minute at a reduced price. For users it’s a fun and spontaneous tool to find last-moment offers at high-quality local businesses. It harnesses advances in smart phones, secure payment systems, and geo-location to create an opportunity for consumers to make these last-moment purchases.
Wriggle has been working in the food & drink sector to-date, and are looking to expand to other sectors and have already received approaches from a hot-air balloon company, a theatre and even an osteopath, to name a few. This is the tip of the iceberg of what Wriggle can do to help businesses fill their capacity. With its mobile-app in place, Wriggle has the technology to scale to a national level quickly and to take advantage of this huge opportunity.
I encourage you to download the app from iTunes or Google Play store and see how simply and easily Wriggle works for customers in Bristol. We are very proud of it, and are receiving great feedback from users on the design, and simplicity of user interface.
Intended impact
Wriggle has an opportunity to transform last-moment trade, efficiency and waste. Adoption of mobile e-commerce is still in its infancy, and there will be winners in this new marketplace. There is a growing understanding of the significant power and impact which mobile commerce will have on the efficiency and sustainability of businesses. In fact, we believe that over a relatively short timeframe, the profligacy which waste represents will be viewed as unacceptable from the perspective of both buyer and seller.
Unlike offer sites which have become ubiquitous, Wriggle can focus on opportunities for successful businesses, not offers or discounts for "desperate" ones. By focusing relentlessly on quality, locality and exclusivity, Wriggle has already proved the existence of a substantial market.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Since successfully fundraising through SEEDRS in incubation (via Webstart Bristol) Wriggle has turned the original concept of Wriggle's founder, Robert Hall, into a viable, working mobile app which is generating revenue, and growing its buyer and seller base rapidly.
In the first month after launching the app, Wriggle has attracted over 1,400 registered users, followers and app-downloads.
This is without a marketing spend and solely through word-of-mouth and unpaid-for media. From a core base in Bristol, Wriggle has already had registered interest in 10 cities, and wishes to expand throughout the UK and internationally.
Monetisation strategy
Wriggle charges the proposed offer direct to the consumer, and automatically pays the merchant keeping a 9.5% administration fee, from which a profit margin is generated. Wriggle has generated over 1,400 registered users, and a gross profit over the first 8 weeks of operation. Wriggle leverages the rapidly expanding mobile economy to use a more efficient system to match buyers to sellers at the last moment, driving efficiency which has not been possible until now.
Use of proceeds
The objective is to fund necessary expansion and growth to profitability within 9 months.
We have put together a core team of an Operations Director and two junior employees as we expand into other cities across the UK. We will also incur monthly development costs as we add features to the app.
The summary use of proceeds is expansion to at least 20 additional cities in the UK. If overfunding permits us to, we will expand beyond the UK, and consider international test-markets.
Wriggle used the proceeds of SEEDRS Round 1 to develop the mobile-app, create sales and build a healthy sales pipeline among merchants in Bristol, in order to prove the model. Now that the concept has been achieved and a significant amount of development has taken place, the funding will be used to enable Wriggle to grow.
Market
Target market
Given that the eating-out sector in the UK is worth £80bn, we estimate the Target Market for last-moment sales (the excess-capacity) in bars and restaurants to be over £1bn in the UK. We derived this figure from our findings in Bristol, where we know that at least 10% of tables in even the most successful restaurants may go unsold across a given week.
The overall target market of unsold last-moment assets across other sectors is harder to quantify, and will be many multiples of this baseline figure.
Even if Wriggle only operates in less than 1% of this new sub-sector, we expect to return a significant multiple to the current valuation to investors. It would be imprudent at this stage to estimate our potential value. You can be assured we will aim high while acting responsibly over cashflow.
Characteristics of target market
Currently, the market for last-moment sales from both the merchant and consumer perspective is virtually untouched. It has only very recently become possible to address this market, because of the widespread use of smartphones and the growing trust among young professionals of mobile payments. We foresee a tremendous opportunity to expand our platform to include theatres, events, shows, sporting occasions and we have had approaches from diverse sectors already.
Marketing strategy
CONSUMERS
Wriggle currently reaches the consumer market through email registration, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, directing customers to download the mobile app - which is available in Android and IOS formats. Each successive transaction grows the number of registered users by word of mouth. Wriggle has not found it necessary to stimulate customers through advertising, and this is not an anticipated use of funds.
SELLERS
Once again, word of mouth is beginning to build Wriggle beyond an initial stage where merchants were hand-held through the process and encouraged to participate. Now that a foundation of merchants has been established, new sellers are approaching Wriggle independently. Shortly, the functionality will extend to submitting and creating Wriggle opportunities without the direct need of Wriggle staff, which permits rapid scalability. A quality and security control system will be introduced to ensure that the best standards are maintained despite substantial growth.
Competition strategy
"Wriggle sells opportunities, not offers".
This neatly defines our position in contrast with offer or deal sites that create a negative impression of the brands offered. Wriggle is focused on successful, high-quality goods and services (currently bars and restaurants but expanding), which are available occasionally, exclusively and only due to last moment changes in circumstance, such as cancellation, weather, and other unpredictable events. The current success has been to a great degree attributable to the ability to fill empty spaces, or put "bums on seats" without damaging the reputation of the establishment in question. Wriggle only sells opportunities at tables that would be empty anyway - thus representing an opportunity for the business to reduce waste and reach a wider market.
Groupon, Amazon Local, Vouchercloud and Table Pouncer are all examples of offer or voucher sites that manufacture deals weeks in advance. They do not operate in the same time or space as Wriggle, i. e. they are not genuinely geared to last-moment availability, and they focus on high volume. We think the preconception of offer sites is low quality. In many cases this is unjustified and establishments are doing themselves an injustice. The damage a brand can do in destroying or cannibalising revenue by becoming perceived and therefore condemned to discounting is incalculable and could even result in failure.
We hope the difference between opportunity and offer, and this explanation of Wriggle's position, is a useful means of conveying what Wriggle does. Fundamentally we want to increase efficiency and profitability of great businesses, while protecting their brand identity and increasing their value in the eyes of the consumer - at the same time as providing users with great opportunities at great local businesses.
Idea
Introduction
Wriggle is a mobile app that has been live for a month in Bristol, with 1,668 downloads. We have generated revenue of £4,276 and connected 456 customers with businesses. We have had great press coverage and a 100% net-promoter score from users.
All businesses, even the most successful, have unsold capacity. Wriggle is a simple mobile-app platform to allow them to sell this at the very last minute at a reduced price. For users it’s a fun and spontaneous tool to find last-moment offers at high-quality local businesses. It harnesses advances in smart phones, secure payment systems, and geo-location to create an opportunity for consumers to make these last-moment purchases.
Wriggle has been working in the food & drink sector to-date, and are looking to expand to other sectors and have already received approaches from a hot-air balloon company, a theatre and even an osteopath, to name a few. This is the tip of the iceberg of what Wriggle can do to help businesses fill their capacity. With its mobile-app in place, Wriggle has the technology to scale to a national level quickly and to take advantage of this huge opportunity.
I encourage you to download the app from iTunes or Google Play store and see how simply and easily Wriggle works for customers in Bristol. We are very proud of it, and are receiving great feedback from users on the design, and simplicity of user interface.
Intended impact
Wriggle has an opportunity to transform last-moment trade, efficiency and waste. Adoption of mobile e-commerce is still in its infancy, and there will be winners in this new marketplace. There is a growing understanding of the significant power and impact which mobile commerce will have on the efficiency and sustainability of businesses. In fact, we believe that over a relatively short timeframe, the profligacy which waste represents will be viewed as unacceptable from the perspective of both buyer and seller.
Unlike offer sites which have become ubiquitous, Wriggle can focus on opportunities for successful businesses, not offers or discounts for "desperate" ones. By focusing relentlessly on quality, locality and exclusivity, Wriggle has already proved the existence of a substantial market.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Since successfully fundraising through SEEDRS in incubation (via Webstart Bristol) Wriggle has turned the original concept of Wriggle's founder, Robert Hall, into a viable, working mobile app which is generating revenue, and growing its buyer and seller base rapidly.
In the first month after launching the app, Wriggle has attracted over 1,400 registered users, followers and app-downloads.
This is without a marketing spend and solely through word-of-mouth and unpaid-for media. From a core base in Bristol, Wriggle has already had registered interest in 10 cities, and wishes to expand throughout the UK and internationally.
Monetisation strategy
Wriggle charges the proposed offer direct to the consumer, and automatically pays the merchant keeping a 9.5% administration fee, from which a profit margin is generated. Wriggle has generated over 1,400 registered users, and a gross profit over the first 8 weeks of operation. Wriggle leverages the rapidly expanding mobile economy to use a more efficient system to match buyers to sellers at the last moment, driving efficiency which has not been possible until now.
Use of proceeds
The objective is to fund necessary expansion and growth to profitability within 9 months.
We have put together a core team of an Operations Director and two junior employees as we expand into other cities across the UK. We will also incur monthly development costs as we add features to the app.
The summary use of proceeds is expansion to at least 20 additional cities in the UK. If overfunding permits us to, we will expand beyond the UK, and consider international test-markets.
Wriggle used the proceeds of SEEDRS Round 1 to develop the mobile-app, create sales and build a healthy sales pipeline among merchants in Bristol, in order to prove the model. Now that the concept has been achieved and a significant amount of development has taken place, the funding will be used to enable Wriggle to grow.
Market
Target market
Given that the eating-out sector in the UK is worth £80bn, we estimate the Target Market for last-moment sales (the excess-capacity) in bars and restaurants to be over £1bn in the UK. We derived this figure from our findings in Bristol, where we know that at least 10% of tables in even the most successful restaurants may go unsold across a given week.
The overall target market of unsold last-moment assets across other sectors is harder to quantify, and will be many multiples of this baseline figure.
Even if Wriggle only operates in less than 1% of this new sub-sector, we expect to return a significant multiple to the current valuation to investors. It would be imprudent at this stage to estimate our potential value. You can be assured we will aim high while acting responsibly over cashflow.
Characteristics of target market
Currently, the market for last-moment sales from both the merchant and consumer perspective is virtually untouched. It has only very recently become possible to address this market, because of the widespread use of smartphones and the growing trust among young professionals of mobile payments. We foresee a tremendous opportunity to expand our platform to include theatres, events, shows, sporting occasions and we have had approaches from diverse sectors already.
Marketing strategy
CONSUMERS
Wriggle currently reaches the consumer market through email registration, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, directing customers to download the mobile app - which is available in Android and IOS formats. Each successive transaction grows the number of registered users by word of mouth. Wriggle has not found it necessary to stimulate customers through advertising, and this is not an anticipated use of funds.
SELLERS
Once again, word of mouth is beginning to build Wriggle beyond an initial stage where merchants were hand-held through the process and encouraged to participate. Now that a foundation of merchants has been established, new sellers are approaching Wriggle independently. Shortly, the functionality will extend to submitting and creating Wriggle opportunities without the direct need of Wriggle staff, which permits rapid scalability. A quality and security control system will be introduced to ensure that the best standards are maintained despite substantial growth.
Competition strategy
"Wriggle sells opportunities, not offers".
This neatly defines our position in contrast with offer or deal sites that create a negative impression of the brands offered. Wriggle is focused on successful, high-quality goods and services (currently bars and restaurants but expanding), which are available occasionally, exclusively and only due to last moment changes in circumstance, such as cancellation, weather, and other unpredictable events. The current success has been to a great degree attributable to the ability to fill empty spaces, or put "bums on seats" without damaging the reputation of the establishment in question. Wriggle only sells opportunities at tables that would be empty anyway - thus representing an opportunity for the business to reduce waste and reach a wider market.
Groupon, Amazon Local, Vouchercloud and Table Pouncer are all examples of offer or voucher sites that manufacture deals weeks in advance. They do not operate in the same time or space as Wriggle, i. e. they are not genuinely geared to last-moment availability, and they focus on high volume. We think the preconception of offer sites is low quality. In many cases this is unjustified and establishments are doing themselves an injustice. The damage a brand can do in destroying or cannibalising revenue by becoming perceived and therefore condemned to discounting is incalculable and could even result in failure.
We hope the difference between opportunity and offer, and this explanation of Wriggle's position, is a useful means of conveying what Wriggle does. Fundamentally we want to increase efficiency and profitability of great businesses, while protecting their brand identity and increasing their value in the eyes of the consumer - at the same time as providing users with great opportunities at great local businesses.
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