Australian-developed drinks app Shouted is undertaking its first funding round as it prepares to go global.
The app allows users to buy beverages at happy hour prices and shout friends a drink from anywhere in the world.
Shouted was created by Adelaide’s Michael Bois and Sam Nicolitsi and has seen more than 70% growth rate in app downloads every quarter since launch.
“For the public there is huge benefit in being able to shout friends a drink,” Bois said. “You can also find discounted drinks - like half-priced Belgian beers at Belgian Beer Café for example.
“You could even buy your business partner a bottle of Moet while they’re overseas.”
Bois (above) said the Australian bar scene is getting behind Shouted, with well-known establishments lining up to get onboard.
“For bars, it’s no sale no fee,” he explained. “There are no contracts or set up fees. Just run some deals. If you make one sale, you’re already ahead. Also, venues are using it for engagement with their customers, shouting people a drink to get them through the door.
“Customer acquisition is literally the cost of a pint. If the customer doesn’t come in to redeem the drink they’ve lost nothing.”
Bois says the reception from the liquor industry to the drinks app has also been very positive.
“We’ve done activations with brands like Mismatch, Bacardi and Lion Nathan,” he explained. “Off the back of these, we issue the brand depersonalised data on consumption – information they simply can’t get from the bars and pubs.”
The tech founders believe they’ve joined a missing link in the liquor industry, by connecting consumers at bars and pubs with liquor retailers such as Celebrations and Dan Murphy's.
“If you try Mismatch on Saturday night, we can send you an email letting you know where to buy it,” Bois said.
While the company is looking to expand globally with the drinks app, its heart remains in South Australia.
“We choose to live in Adelaide, and we’ve made that commitment from the onset. Shouted has been built entirely in SA, we haven’t contracted any external developers,” Bois added.
“If we have the state rallying behind us, we can retain a local head office and maybe even pull on talent from the eastern states."
However, Bois noted that the time has come to seek external partnerships and investor injections into the business.
"Shouted is primarily looking for industry partnerships to share our data with, in exchange for assistance with roll out,” he said. “We’re also doing a capital raise, but that is separate to the partnership.
“The partnership will involve on-prem activations with a liquor brand and review of consumption data, with the objective being to drive and inspire trial of that brand. We’ll simultaneously run off-prem promotions to see if we can drive patrons from trying a product on-prem to purchase for consumption at home, say at Dan Murphys or Cellarbrations.
"We are disrupting the way in which patrons are buying their drinks, and that will inevitably have a ripple effect throughout the entire liquor industry. The consumption data we’re collecting is incredibly powerful.”
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