Locorum closes 1.2M pre-seed round to revolutionize referral marketing for service businesses
Canadian start-up Locorum has raised $1.24 million CAD in a recent pre-seed funding round led by a group of angel investors. Despite the extremely challenging market conditions facing start-ups over the past 12 months, Locorum was able to secure 42% of funds raised from businesses and investors already using its platform.
Locorum’s B2B SaaS platform is designed to help service businesses engage with their existing customer base and generate new business through referrals. With a comprehensive suite of tools, including a MasterCard-backed referral program, Locorum’s subscription-based model is aimed at making it simple and affordable for businesses to tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
Locorum is still an early stage start-up, but the company is rapidly growing at over 30% MoM with over 150 businesses using the tool in 18 Canadian cities. The recent funds raised will be used to expand into residential development and real estate, grow its consumer membership base and look towards a US market entry next year.
To achieve this, Locorum recently expanded its technical and sales teams to increase sales capacity and deliver new product features. The company is focused on continuing to develop marketing automation features for its customers. This will move the platform towards a more comprehensive plug-and-play referral marketing solution that automates client engagement actions businesses typically have to manually manage and offer the businesses more customization over programs.
“We see Locorum as the future of offline referral management and marketing,” said Jeff Duke, Co-Founder and CEO of Locorum. “We are delivering a proven digital marketing solution to sectors that rely almost exclusively on organic, offline word-of-mouth to generate new business. Anytime you are able to streamline offline actions with a digital solution in an enterprise market, you get exciting potential. ”
The past 12 months have been extremely challenging for tech startups, with the pandemic causing widespread economic uncertainty and making it one of the most difficult times to secure funding over the past decade. Despite this, Locorum has managed to attract significant investment thanks to its innovative approach to referral marketing and looking towards its target industries for support. Strategic investors recognized the company’s potential to disrupt the industry and create a new paradigm for online marketing. The platform’s benefits have resonated strongly with both investors and users, positioning Locorum as a promising player in the market.
Rob Fraser, Investor and CEO/Founder of Outway said, “The team’s deep understanding of the pain points faced by small businesses and their differentiated focus on referral networks convinced us that they have the potential to disrupt the industry and create a new paradigm for online marketing.”
Locorum is a client at The Forge at McMaster University.
To learn more about how Locorum is disrupting the home services industry, visit the company’s website at www.locorum.ca. If you’re a service business owner looking to grow, check out www.locorumpro.com.
Photo Caption for Main Featured Image (From Left-To-Right): Jeff Duke, Matt Santagapita, and Carlon Farina.
About Locorum
Locorum was founded in 2019 by Matt Santagapita and Carlon Farina as a marketing company primarily focused on serving the real estate industry and local service providers. During the first year of operation, the team recognized a massive pain point that almost every small business owner faced: for most service businesses, 80% of new business comes through referrals, but there is no way to manage or deliberately grow this channel beyond providing great service and hoping it organically generates referrals.
In 2020, Locorum welcomed Jeff Duke as its third co-founder and now CEO, igniting a mission to develop a cutting-edge platform that enables business owners to operate referrals like a targeted marketing campaign. Drawing on insights from the booming e-commerce and enterprise tech referral marketing industry, Duke and the team have created a powerful suite of tools designed to transform the way businesses acquire new clients and build brand loyalty. They bootstrapped their initial MVP and delivered an enterprise-level referral program in partnership with MasterCard, launching the beta in January 2022.
The company is now focused on delivering a full suite of marketing automation solutions that assist small business owners in growing their referral networks. Depending on the budget the business sets, their clients can be rewarded between $50 up to $5,000 cash back for a single hire or referral. Their centralized program means members get one reloadable card, and every time they send a referral or hire someone, rewards are loaded on their Locorum Prepaid MasterCard, allowing them to spend them anywhere.
The Locorum team has a vision to revolutionize how consumers interact with local businesses and to create an economy around consumers proactively supporting local entrepreneurs.
