The Bucket Pros
A DealStation Success Story
A DealStation Success Story
Sweden
Location
Expansion
Stage
90 days
Time to Raise
The Bucket Pros, as many early stage companies, was initially bootstrapped by its 4 founders and supported by a small bank credit. When the need arose to engage in a larger “POC” (Proof of Concept) in Sweden, the founders decided to initiate its first fundraise via a private placement done in autumn 2018, raising a total of 200k EUR, increasing the number of shareholders to 15.
During the first fundraise, Stefan Öström and his team learned a lot about fundraising. Mainly, how difficult it is to create a professional pitch fitting the taste of the multiple investors they were targeting. Their key frustration was in their inability to know who opened the email they sent out to selected investors including their pitch deck, accompanied with relevant documents. There was no way to tell with certainty, which investors say are interested, and which are. Moreover, investor-to-investors happened out of their radar, with no visibility into which investors did The Bucket Pros’ material really got in front of.
Getting ready for its European expansion the The Bucket Pros’ leadership team realized in mid 2020 it’s time for their next fundraise. Why did they choose DealStation?
Stefan Öström shared “Pepicon DealStationallowed us to create an appealing and professional pitch that is not that overwhelming for the investors, allowing them to easily find the information they personally desire. As sending all the information per email is too “heavy” for the investor plus leaves us in the blind in regards to who did even open our documents. Moreover it offers the support and guidance we needed to raise our round faster, knowing what investors want in order to be convinced.”
After polishing all content in DealStation, The Bucket Pros was able to start inviting investors to their investment opportunity including the current shareholders who were given priority to invest more into the business before employees, new investors and strategic “smart money” investors were offered to invest.
What was invaluable, according to Stefan Öström, was the ability to track investors interest and activity in DealStation, easily identifying the “hottest” ones to focus on and nurture. Bucket Pros did use not only the News area to assure regular highlights reach their prospective investors regularly, but also send personalized 1-on-1 messages to selected investors checking if they have any additional questions or concerns.
“DealStationallowed us to be more strategic about our fundraising campaign and helped us create a powerful fundraising roadmap for the next 5 years.” added Stefan Öström.
In exactly 90 days since Bucket Pros opened their round on DealStation, they were able to raise the 265k EUR from 15 investors, achieving its target.
Now, The Bucket Pros actively continue to use DealStation post their fundraise, mainly benefiting from the IRM (Investor Relations Management) features in order to turn all stakeholders into ambassadors by updating and excite them about their progress, nurturing those investors who did not invest to make sure they are ready and excited to invest during their next fundraising campaign. They regularly post news, upload reports into their FileVault and keep in touch with their investors via DealStation's messaging to update all on turnover, breakthroughs and milestones achieved, new team joiners and new territories they enter.
Yes we plan to use Pepicon DealStation for our next fundraising campaign as we aim to stay transaction-ready and fundable, and DealStation helps us to achieve that.
“Be ready and start early, not when you need the money, so that you are 24/7 prepared.
It takes time to do something great, therefore start early and make sure you have a strong fundraising roadmap, avoiding the valley of death. Nurture people in your company and close to your company and make sure they are informed and excited about what you do, as they will bring amazing value when you fundraise.”
Stefan Öström, Chairman, The Bucket Pros
The Bucket Pros, the ultimate sparring partner for golf center operators across Europe, is on its mission to redefine the driving range strategy of their clients, exponentially increasing their profitability, while upgrading the performance and game-quality of the end users, the golfers. The Bucket Pros look at the driving range as the key cornerstone in each golf center operator’s hunt for more income. They give the operator a more holistic and complementary expansion strategy under the theme ”We boost your driving range. Let’s sell more buckets of balls” moving away from the traditional cost-driven strategy. They look at the combination of right products including quality golf balls, right equipment supporting playing at any time of the year and innovative technology and simulators, all boosting the experience the golf center operator can provide its golfer community.
