Romanian startup Footprints starts the first round of financing to attract an investment of 500,000 euros

• The company has already attracted 275,000 euros from 8 investors and is pursuing a partnership with an investment fund active on the venture capital market
• The Footprints solution is the result of 5 years of work and an investment of 2 million euros
• The solution is currently used by large retailers in Romania, Dubai, Serbia, Bulgaria and Spain
• Footprints For Retail is included in Microsoft Pegasus, Microsoft’s global program that includes 12 companies that it bets will reshape the business and the way traditional commerce operates

The Romanian company Footprints for Retail, which operates one of the most advanced Retail Media platforms in the world, is starting the first round of financing. Footprints for Retail aims to attract an investment of 500,000 euros, at a pre-money valuation of 5 million euros.
Footprints For Retail is the only Romanian company included in Microsoft Pegasus, Microsoft’s globally developed program that includes 12 companies that it bets will reshape the business and operating mode of classic commerce.

The Romanian company has already attracted investment funds worth 275,000 euros, from 8 investors, and is pursuing, in parallel, a partnership with an investment fund active on the venture capital market. The shareholders expect the mix of investors and venture capital fund to ensure the best development of the only Retail Media company in Romania.

What is Retail Media
The launch of this funding round comes at a time of significant growth in the Retail Media market – a new form of advertising that closes the loop between media impressions and commercial transactions to improve targeting, provide new audience insights and deliver experiences more relevant and valuable to consumers. Globally, this market is estimated to reach $50 billion in revenue by the end of 2022, up more than 30% from last year.

The need for funding for the accelerated development of Footprints for Retail and the opening of the first round come in a context where large retailers are forced to identify new potential customers, meet them in as many places as possible and know their needs and purchasing desires , while anticipating consumption behavior, in an attempt to identify new sources of income and increase profit margins.

Unique technology
The Footprints solution is based on a unique technology that offers offline retail companies the opportunity to convert anonymous traffic into profitable customers with predictable purchase behavior by unitarily analyzing offline and online behavioral data with the help of artificial intelligence and algorithmic automation .

Currently, the complexity of interactions between customers and companies’ products and services is not fully understood by retailers’ data models and the platforms they work with, and retailers’ media investments are focused on one interaction channel at a time (Google, Facebook, etc. ) in isolation. And this, while it works for purely online retailers, doesn’t work for retailers with an offline presence (because they can’t attribute online media investment to offline results).

Moreover, according to the Footprints analysis, if, in the case of online retailers, the proportion of media investment in the acquisition of a new customer or in the generation of a new transaction and results is 15-25% (Return on Ad Spend), in the case of physical retailers this share is only 3.5-5%.

“In this context, where brands with a physical retail presence and offline stores that sell the brands’ products need a better Return on Ad Spend, Footprints intervenes, a unique solution on the Romanian market, which offers retailers, in less than 3 months, up to 3 times increase in profits per square meter, 25% lower customer acquisition costs and up to 8 times better Return on Ad Spend”, says Dan Mărculescu, founder and CEO of Footprints For Retail, noting that companies’ greatest asset is the information they have about their customers.

5 years of work and 2 million euros already invested
The Footprints platform and solution is based on the solid experience of a team of 15 people and is the result of 5 years of work and an investment of 2 million euros to date.

Currently, the Footprints solution is used by large retailers in Romania, Dubai, Serbia, Bulgaria and Spain. The attracted funding will allow expansion in several countries, the company’s objective being that at the end of next year the developed solution will be used by retailers in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France and Germany. At the same time, it will also allow the development of the AI ​​​​platform and algorithms in the direction of improving the predictions of consumer behavior in physical retail.

The financing round is supported by 8 private investors, including Sandu Băbășan, partner of Robin Good and one of the most recognized entrepreneurs in the Romanian online, with extensive business experience, resulting from projects that innovated the digital trade industry, and Florin M. Pop , member of the Transylvania Angels Network investor group, and one of the most active investors in Romania, with investments in over 15 start-up projects in different fields.

“I joined as an investor in Footprints because of the potential of this project, based on a unique technology developed from the ground up over the past 5 years. It is probably the most scalable project we have invested in. The proposed solution has a great potential for internationalization, it solves some of the biggest problems of retail, in the context of the digitalization of this industry, and it is in a field with a very fast growth rate”, says Sandu Băbășan, investor and Robin Good partner.

Footprints For Retail clients includes: INGKA Holding B.V. (operator of IKEA stores), Majid Al Futtaim (UAE real estate and retail conglomerate), NEPI, Vienna Insurance Group, Jaguar, Hyundai, Land Rover, Erste Group and First Bank.