Stashmetrics

Seedcorn Fund Case Study

Left to right: Sam Oakley of Stashmetrics, Graham Davies from Finance Yorkshire, Mike Houston of Stashmetrics.

The Company

The York-based company was founded by Mike Houston and Sam Oakley. Mike said: “There are some really good tools to help companies understand what people are saying about them on social media but most of the decisions that marketers make are based on people, not keywords.

“Our software identifies the people on social media who have the real power to reach their target audience.”

Customers include Unilever, Sony Mobile, Diageo, United Nations, Care Quality Commission, Givaudan, Camelot and Nestle as well as media agencies Havas and Mindshare.

When Sony Mobile wanted to engage with photographers for a new handset launch, Stashmetrics set up a group of Twitter “photographers” using historic keyword analysis and biography. This allowed Sony to track what those people were talking about, what they read and who influenced them.

The Challenge

With a growing list of satisfied customers, Mike and Sam wanted to scale up their business through investments in sales, marketing and product development

Sam said: “We have proved that the product works and we have some excellent case studies. Now we need to make it available to a much bigger audience.”

The Solution

Stashmetrics received a £250,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn fund, which invests in early stage, innovative or technology-based ventures with the potential to become “beacon companies” for the region.

The funding is being used to build the Stashmetrics sales team, increase marketing, develop new products and recruit developers.

Sam added: “This money will enable us to continue to grow. It allows our developers to further develop our software and realise the vision that we intended for it.”

The Investment Rationale

Graham Davies, Investment Manager at Finance Yorkshire said: “When we first met with Sam and Mike to review their business plan, we knew the business had huge potential. They have now refined their software and built an impressive portfolio of clients.

“This is a real step forward in social media analytics and we look forward to helping them to develop the offering further.”

Future Expectations

Sam said the aim was to adopt a ‘Software as a Service’ model, which means the programme can be hosted by Stashmetrics but licensed to users in the UK and overseas.

The Company

The York-based company was founded by Mike Houston and Sam Oakley. Mike said: “There are some really good tools to help companies understand what people are saying about them on social media but most of the decisions that marketers make are based on people, not keywords.

“Our software identifies the people on social media who have the real power to reach their target audience.”

Customers include Unilever, Sony Mobile, Diageo, United Nations, Care Quality Commission, Givaudan, Camelot and Nestle as well as media agencies Havas and Mindshare.

When Sony Mobile wanted to engage with photographers for a new handset launch, Stashmetrics set up a group of Twitter “photographers” using historic keyword analysis and biography. This allowed Sony to track what those people were talking about, what they read and who influenced them.

The Challenge

With a growing list of satisfied customers, Mike and Sam wanted to scale up their business through investments in sales, marketing and product development

Sam said: “We have proved that the product works and we have some excellent case studies. Now we need to make it available to a much bigger audience.”

The Solution

Stashmetrics received a £250,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn fund, which invests in early stage, innovative or technology-based ventures with the potential to become “beacon companies” for the region.

The funding is being used to build the Stashmetrics sales team, increase marketing, develop new products and recruit developers.

Sam added: “This money will enable us to continue to grow. It allows our developers to further develop our software and realise the vision that we intended for it.”

The Investment Rationale

Graham Davies, Investment Manager at Finance Yorkshire said: “When we first met with Sam and Mike to review their business plan, we knew the business had huge potential. They have now refined their software and built an impressive portfolio of clients.

“This is a real step forward in social media analytics and we look forward to helping them to develop the offering further.”

Future Expectations

Sam said the aim was to adopt a ‘Software as a Service’ model, which means the programme can be hosted by Stashmetrics but licensed to users in the UK and overseas.

Note: this case study is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire

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