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Startup capital for E-commerce Digital Music Service - EIS approved investment
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We are seeking an angel investment funding of £50k to establish the first full digital music service to cater for the Balkans region of South-East Europe (specifically Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia), a population of approximately 20 million, who share many cultural similarities, including language.
In partnership with a Digital Services Provider, or DSP (who supply and power the likes of www.tescodigital.com, www.playdigital.com, and www.hmvdigital.com), the service will be able to offer 12 million+ tracks for download, at competitive prices that are up to 50% cheaper than CDs, which currently make up the vast majority of music sales in the region.
Partnering with a DSP will sidestep costly licensing fees, as their role will effectively be that of a digital distributor, charging the company for the content only when the user pays for a song or album. The DSP will also provide secure, world class back end software to power the service via an easy to use API, and all ongoing technical maintenance, which will include hosting the content on their servers, technical assistance and regular updates. It is an extremely elegant solution that will allow the business to focus on developing its brand and user base, which eventually will become its most valuable asset.
Thanks to advances in digital technology, all of this can be implemented for a one off fee of around £30,000 and maintenance costs of less than £1,000 per month; supplying the business with a serviced webstore and full access to a music library almost the size of ‘iTunes’. This means the business will be an extremely lean but enormously scalable animal.
No other digital stores like this currently operate in this territory, including international services such as iTunes, Spotify and Amazon MP3. Due to territorial licensing restrictions, users in the Balkans aren’t allowed remote access to these services.
Once the infrastructure for the music store is set up, further digital expansion will be relatively straightforward and inexpensive. The company aims to expand territorially, onto mobile, and through product range - to eventually include film, games and eBooks via similar means to the music delivery.
In the long term, the business aims to leverage its infrastructure, growing reputation and customer base to diversify beyond digital, and develop a leading online department store in this part of the world (examples of which currently do not exist), starting in year two via a lean, low cost/low risk route to market. The company will initially partner with local brick-and-mortar stores, as the majority currently do not have any sort of online presence.
We will sell and market the goods through the website, while the partner stores supply and ship them via their existing operations. This way the retail partners will be provided with an inexpensive and low risk online presence, and conversely we will be able to build the foundations for our department store, but without the costs or risks associated with procuring and holding stock. Later down the line, once sufficient traction is gained, the business will be able to invest in its own procurement and logistics operations, safe in the knowledge that one of the hardest parts of making this business a success, gaining a loyal customer base, will have already been accomplished.
Our aim is to eventually build one of the biggest internet-based businesses in emerging Europe, offering a wide variety of products and services, utilising lean business models to gain traction during the early stages.
The company is UK based and seeks £50,000 in additional funding. We are EIS approved. As well as his blood, sweat and tears - the founder shall also be investing his own money alongside the angel investment raised. |
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| Total Funding Required: |
£50,000.00 |
| Min. per Investor: |
£5,000.00 |
| Industry: |
Internet |
| Sec. Industry: |
Retail |
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| Region: |
South East |
| Proposal ID: |
2916 |
| Investment Reason: |
Start-Up |
| Proposal Status: |
 |
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Angel Investors Raising Business Finance Small Business Grants Business Funding Venture Capital
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