First of all, many thanks to all of you for your congratulations after the announcement about the investment funds we raised that I shared with you yesterday.
In addition to the congratulations and shared joy, this fund raising decision has raised several questions that I am going to try and answer here. Sharing some feedback about my experience and the conclusions I've drawn is the least I can do.
I don't have enough time to answer each question one by one. So, I'm going to regroup them by theme and spread my answers out over a few days. The saga of this fund raising campaign, in sum.
Today, I'm going to answer "Raising funds, what does that mean?"Tomorrow, Thursday, I'll address "When can you raise funds?"
Friday, I'll tackle "Why should you to raise funds?" and Monday "What to do with them?"
If none of these themes answers your questions, feel free to ask them as comments below. I'll do my best to answer.
So, today "Fund raising, what does that mean?"In 2008, we succeeded in securing 2M€ in our first fund raising campaign, which took 9 months to complete. This indicated a growth market and a strong product/service. The hardest part was convincing potential investors or our ability to perform.
Today, undertaking a second fund raising campaign and completing it within 9 weeks, when the company is much more developed than in the first campaign, is not only an indication of a growth market or a better product/service, but proof that we were perfectly capable of carrying out the first phase of our mission. Surrounded by exceptional colleagues, we industrialized the business and the fruit of that labor is visible and palpable.
This means that the company is great shape, because as everyone knows...those who have, get (and those who have not, get not)!Of the 2M€ raised in 2008, one is still in the bank and the other produced exceptional results. This is what allowed us to go as fast as we did.
It's also an indication that the market is balancing out.
In 1997, we were one of the only ones who invented the concept of an e-commerce platform in the USA. 10 years later in 2007-2008, the balance rested on the multitude of strong competitors that were pretty similar to one another.But the clients and investors made their choices. And that naturally led to a concentration (did you say selection?).
That brings me to the conclusion that future funds raised by e-commerce platforms will be very sizable or won't happen at all.
They'll definitely involve companies that, like us, have a story, have customers and, especially, have results. When the market enters into this stage of maturity, it "rewards" performance and not ideas. This is bad news for newcomers, but excellent news for those leading the pack …
That's what fund raising means for Oxatis in particular and for a business sector in general.
Tomorrow, I'll follow up with "When can you raise funds?"Illustration
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