boostcapitalteam

Why We Invested in Ximple: Bridging financial inclusion

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Boost Capital Partners recently invested in Ximple, an innovative finance and support platform for direct sellers of consumer brands in Latin America, launching in Mexico. 

Despite the region supporting over 14 million direct sellers and generating several billions in consumer product sales, direct sellers lack digitally-native tools and financial services catering to how they operate – hampering their ability to grow their businesses even as they broadly adopted smartphones and other digital consumer technologies.

We decided to join Daniel, Rodrigo, Juan Pablo and Joao in their mission to fix this problem and help them provide intuitive and easy to navigate financial services to this segment.

While a lot of progress has been made by traditional providers and neobanks in the accessibility of financial services to the broader retail segments, the specific needs of direct sellers is still unattended; direct sellers suffer from specific pain points such as: sourcing from various brands, insufficient working capital to source from brands, their buyers remain mostly unbanked and have scarce access to credit and digital payments, amongst other challenges. Ximple will deliver digital tools that will simplify direct sellers’ day-to-day operations and provide working capital to enable their business growth. To their end customers, Ximple will offer consumer loans accessible through familiar digital channels like WhatsApp, ensuring a seamless and user-friendly experience. 

Fundamentally we believe that financial services should be intuitive and accessible where and how their customers desire to operate – and not the other way around. We are happy to partner with Ximple to help them deliver on their vision – stay tuned for more information on their future offerings! 

Why We Invested in OSCAR: Transforming home services

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In today’s fast-paced world, home services need to be efficient, reliable, and straightforward. OSCAR, an on-demand home services app for repair, cleaning, and others, meets these criteria by revolutionizing the European industry. With an impressive track record and significant growth potential, we are thrilled to support OSCAR’s mission to transform the home services market.

Here are the top three reasons why we invested in OSCAR:

1. Large & Broken Market with Immediate Need for Disruption

The home services industry in Europe has long been plagued by inefficiencies. Traditional services often act merely as marketplaces, connecting customers with technicians who charge by the hour or provide estimates, leading to prolonged service times and unexpected costs. This model not only frustrates customers but also disincentivizes technicians from working efficiently.

OSCAR addresses these issues head-on by offering a seamless solution where customers are matched with technicians in an average of 3 minutes, with technicians arriving within 29 minutes. By utilizing an algorithm that calculates fixed prices upfront, OSCAR ensures transparency and fairness in pricing, encouraging technicians to complete jobs promptly and move on to the next.

The potential market for OSCAR is substantial. Starting in Portugal, OSCAR has already amassed 200,000 paying users and is now expanding into Spain, with plans to enter other markets in the future. This strategic expansion underscores the vast, underserved market that OSCAR is poised to capture.

2. Superior User Experience and Operational Efficiency

OSCAR’s commitment to user experience is a cornerstone of their business model. By ensuring quick matching and arrival times, along with upfront pricing, they significantly enhance the customer journey, setting a new standard in the home services industry.

The app’s design and functionality are user-centric, making it easy for customers to book services and track the progress of their orders. This focus on UX not only drives customer satisfaction but also fosters loyalty and repeat business, as evidenced by the 50% of orders coming from recurring users.

Moreover, OSCAR’s operational model is built for efficiency. OSCAR demonstrates a keen focus on maintaining positive unit economics and operational efficiency. Their ability to adapt marketing strategies and maintain strong unit economics amidst growth highlights their operational acumen.

3. Strong, Committed Team with Proven Execution

OSCAR’s team is led by João Marques, a driven founder who has proven his ability to execute. João’s background as a software developer at Leadzai and his deep commitment to OSCAR, demonstrated by his move to Madrid to spearhead the company’s expansion, reflect his dedication and vision.

Supporting João is a seasoned team. The combination of tech and operational expertise positions OSCAR to scale effectively and tackle the challenges of rapid growth.

The team’s awareness of market risks, such as potential new competitors and evolving labor laws in the EU, and their proactive measures to mitigate these risks, further reinforce our confidence in their ability to navigate and lead the market.

Conclusion

We are excited to invest in OSCAR because they are transforming the home services industry with a customer-centric approach, operational excellence, and a committed team. Their innovative model addresses critical pain points in the market, offering a superior experience that is set to disrupt the industry significantly.

As OSCAR continues to expand and capture new markets, we are confident that they will achieve remarkable growth and set a new standard in home services. We look forward to supporting their journey and witnessing their continued success.
To learn more about OSCAR, visit their website.

Why we invested in Dubme.io: exporting content to the world

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We are excited to announce our investment in Dubme, an innovative AI-driven dubbing platform tailored for digital creators and media companies. Our decision to support Dubme is based on its revolutionary approach to content localization, the exceptional expertise of its founding team, and the vast market potential. Here are the top three reasons why we believe Dubme is poised for success:

1. Transformative Approach to Content Localization

Dubme stands out by addressing a critical gap in the content localization market. Traditional dubbing services are prohibitively expensive, making it difficult for creators to internationalize their content. While AI has introduced more affordable options, many solutions fall short in quality. Dubme bridges this gap with a hybrid approach that leverages AI to deliver high-quality dubbing at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. This not only democratizes access to dubbing for smaller creators but also ensures professional-grade outputs suitable for large media companies. By reducing the cost per minute of content significantly, Dubme makes content localization accessible and scalable.

2. Exceptional Founding Team with Proven Track Record

The founding team of Dubme brings together a wealth of experience from leading tech and media companies. Alex San Agustin, Elias Moreno, and Pablo Fernandez previously worked together at Google and have extensive backgrounds in media distribution, digital platforms, and AI technology. Their prior success with Sunnyside Studio, which generated over 500 million views and was acquired by LunarX, demonstrates their ability to execute and scale ventures effectively. This team’s deep industry knowledge and cohesive working relationship position Dubme for rapid growth and innovation. 

3. Significant Market Potential and Growth Opportunities

The market for dubbing and content localization is expanding rapidly. The dubbing market offers substantial opportunities, valued at $3 billion in 2023 and projected to grow to $5 billion by 2027. However, the potential extends far beyond traditional dubbing and the company aims to target other areas such as real time dubbing or visual content improvement. The global digital video content market, valued at $204 billion in 2022, represents a vast and growing opportunity for Dubme. The platform’s ability to serve both professional media clients and a wide range of digital content creators opens up diverse revenue streams. Dubme’s initial traction with prominent clients like RTVE and YouTube underscores its market fit and growth potential.

Conclusion

Our investment in Dubme reflects our confidence in their innovative technology, the strength of their founding team, and the expansive market opportunities they are poised to capture. Dubme’s approach to AI-driven dubbing is set to revolutionize content localization, making high-quality dubbing accessible to all creators. We are excited to support Dubme in their journey to become a leader in the media services industry, driving significant value for clients and achieving remarkable growth in the coming years.

Learn more about Dubme here https://Dubme.io/

Why we invested in Cuvama: growing the customer value management space

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Boost Capital Partners is thrilled to announce our latest investment in Cuvama, a cutting-edge value selling platform built for salespeople. Our decision to invest in Cuvama was driven by a thorough analysis of the company’s unique value proposition, the strength of its founding team, and its promising market potential. Here are the top three reasons why we chose to invest in Cuvama:

  1. Innovative Solution to a Critical Need

Cuvama addresses a significant gap in the enterprise B2B sales process by enabling sales teams to demonstrate the value of their B2B SaaS solutions to customers in a compelling and measurable way. With the shift of enterprise B2B companies to subscription & consumption-based pricing models, the need for communicating customer value is a 24×7 burden for the vendor. In this macro environment, value selling is growing in importance with the increased scrutiny of new spending. However, traditional methods often involve expensive and time-consuming processes, either through building internal teams or hiring external consultants. Cuvama’s platform has simplified the workflows, allowing the salesperson to follow value selling themselves without needing hand-holding from high-cost resources. The platform’s ability to double conversion rates and increase deal sizes by 42% speaks volumes about its impact on sales effectiveness.

  1. Strong and Experienced Founding Team

The founding team of Cuvama, comprising Alex Smith and MG Gurbaxani, brings over 40 years of combined experience in the B2B SaaS market and customer value management. Their background at Pros, a leading pricing SaaS platform, where they built the value engineering team from the ground up, gives them deep insights into the challenges and opportunities in this space. While Alex and MG have arrived at the problem space via a similar path, their complementary skills—MG’s company building and Alex’s platform vision —make them well-suited to drive Cuvama’s growth and innovation. The team’s ability to secure high-profile advisors and investors, such as MXV Capital, further validates their potential and strategic direction.

  1. Significant Market Potential and Growth Trajectory

The market for customer value management is expanding rapidly, driven by the increasing importance of demonstrating tangible value at all touchpoints in a B2B customer journey. Cuvama’s initial focus on pre-sales and sales value selling has already proven successful, with more than a dozen paying customers. The platform’s high adoption rates (over 50% across sales reps) and significant positive impacts on clients’ sales performance underscore its effectiveness. As Cuvama expands its offerings to cover post-sales activities and potentially other verticals beyond B2B SaaS, the addressable market could grow to $2.5 billion, with future opportunities extending into healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond.

Conclusion

Our investment in Cuvama reflects our confidence in their innovative approach to customer value management, the exceptional capabilities of their founding team, and the vast market opportunities ahead. While value tools have been in the market for almost a decade, the first generation was built for quantitative engineers and was complex. Cuvama adopted a different approach – they built a value product first for the average salesperson, and now expanding their platform into Customer Success.  The emphasis on making a B2B tool have a B2C-like like user-experience fits perfectly with the Boost thesis.

In conclusion, we strongly believe that Cuvama is well-positioned to become a leader in the CVM space, driving significant value for their customers and achieving substantial growth in the coming years. We are excited to support Alex and MG on their journey and look forward to the transformative impact they will have on the B2B sales landscape.

About Cuvama

Cuvama is the Value Selling Platform built for Salespeople, guiding them to discover pain, sell outcomes and deliver value to customers. The best B2B Sales teams understand that delivering great sales performance means selling value – not products. They rely on Cuvama as the platform to drive better adoption of their discovery and value selling methodologies, resulting in winning 2x more, 43% larger and 30% faster. For more information, please visit www.cuvama.com.

Why the world (still) needs better products and UX

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The world around us is changing ever more rapidly. Advancements in technology and science, in spaces ranging from artificial intelligence and machine learning to gene editing technologies, renewable energies, vaccine research, robotics or precision medicine are just a few of the many areas in which humans are making significant progress and that eventually will help us tackle the existential challenges our society faces, including climate change, increasing income inequality, mental health or recurring health epidemics. 

Some areas where the power of technology to improve the status quo excites us include:

  • Healthcare: from better monitoring of patients and treatments to increasing engagement in clinical trials, launching better tools to assist mental health and counseling or telemedicine.

  • Education: making learning experiences more accessible, engaging and personalised according to each student’s needs.

  • Environment: improving renewable energy processes, improving waste management across the whole value chain, reducing waste and pollution and optimising resource utilisation.

  • Inclusion: increasing accessibility for individuals with disabilities (e.g. speech-to-text and text-to-speech software). 

  • Financial services: financial inclusion for the base of the pyramid, reduction in cumbersome onboarding processes, easier access to lending solutions, reduction in dependence on a single institution, streamlined international payments.

  • Poverty: creating new economic opportunities in primary sectors including agriculture, farming and fishing, increasing access to basic needs including education, communication and transportation. 

In parallel to technology advancements, the focus on user experience has recently increased dramatically among digital companies as they realise it has a direct impact on the overall satisfaction of users with a certain product or service, as well as the revenue their product generates. In the extremely competitive digital world, the customer journey is more than just a marketing term and companies need to continuously revisit their users’ interactions with their products so they are as seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable as possible. 

As such, while technology advancements make many of the recent innovations possible, user experience and design improvements are often at the heart of some of the biggest commercial successes in technology. Examples include the launch of a much more intuitive operating system like Windows 95, which featured for the first time a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command-line interfaces; the ease of use of the first iPhone with touch-based controls; Netflix’s user-centric and personalised interface or the recent simplification of complex professional processes through tools likeCanva and Figma. By being more human-centered, better user experience ensures that the product does what it is intended to do and drives tangible outcomes to benefit both users and businesses.

The emphasis on user experience and design is even more relevant across mobile games where differentiation is often non-existent and the player cost of churning from a game is practically zero. As a result, onboarding tutorials are tested over and over, player experience is personalised to each individual, localisation goes beyond a mere translation and ensures cultural relevance and monetisation is adjusted depending on the player. In summary, when it comes to mobile games, the customer journey becomes essential to increase engagement, improve retention and unlock monetisation, thus determining whether the game will be financially successful or not. The learnings from working with these gaming companies over the years inspired us to start Boost Capital Partners in order to democratise access to such tools and knowledge base.

An optimised user experience helps companies to:

  1. Improve ease of use: A good user experience makes amazing technology accessible not only to a narrow group of advanced users but to a much larger segment of the population. 

  2. Increase productivity: user experience can help companies to streamline processes, reduce errors, and minimise the time and effort required to complete tasks. 

  3. Improve decision-making: An optimised user experience provides users with clear, actionable information, helping them to make informed decisions and achieve their goals more effectively. 

  4. Grow satisfaction: An easy user experience can contribute to customer satisfaction, which is crucial for building and maintaining long-term relationships with customers.

For all these reasons we strongly believe that by making user experience and the overall customer journey a key pillar of their strategy, companies can create products and services that not only push the boundaries of technology but at the same time are able to meet the needs and expectations of their users, resulting in increased adoption, customer satisfaction and loyalty.