Special Report: A consortium of high-ranking European investors will pump $3.7 million into global media and marketing company Crowd Media as the company’s technology takes off in Europe.

Crowd Media (ASX:CM8) revealed today that the consortium, which includes the co-founder of a beauty company sold to Estee Lauder and a former senior executive of Europe’s largest influencer marketing company, had identified Crowd’s assets as having significant growth potential.

“The consortium believes they have identified significant opportunities to leverage Crowd Media’s proprietary technology and know-how into new geographies, channels and revenue streams,” the company told investors.

The investment is expected to lead to several joint ventures for Crowd Media aimed at complementing businesses and brands already associated with the consortium, with Crowd set to gain a larger share of the retail price when goods are sold.

It also brings significant experience to Crowd Media: consortium members Steven Schapera (co- founder of BECCA Cosmetics, sold to Estee Lauder for AUD $300m) and Robert Quandt (former COO/CFO at Berlin-based Invincible Brands, Europe’s largest and fastest growing influencer marketing company in the beauty and nutrition space) will both join Crowd’s board.

Schapera will replace the outgoing Theo Hnarakis as chairman, and said after a long search he had found the business partner he was looking for.

“For some time, I have been looking for a platform that can leverage the considerable experience of an investor group such as ours, with synergies enabling us to accelerate the growth of numerous opportunities that we are currently sitting on,” he said.

“I believe we have found the right platform and partner with Crowd Media. In our view, Crowd’s proprietary technology platforms and knowhow have untapped potential and provide an additional key value proposition when assessing strategic opportunities. We are obviously prepared to back ourselves and fund the next stage of the company’s growth.”

The investment, in the form of convertible notes with a face value of up to $3.7 million, comes in two tranches, with the first, $1.7 million, to help Crowd to complete an organisational restructure as well as pay down a convertible note facility it had in place.

Domenic Carosa, CEO of Crowd Media, thanked the consortium for its support.

“We are extremely excited in being able to secure Invincible Investment Consortium both in terms of funding and human resource,” he said.

“Steven and Robert and other consortium participants are proven performers who will greatly assist Crowd with both our existing operations and, more importantly, new opportunities that we are able to capitalise on following the recent restructure of the company.

“Both our social media and digital marketing capabilities, as well as our Artificial Intelligence and Subscription technology platforms, have been substantially enhanced and refined over the last year and they are now ready to be more effectively deployed with the assistance of IIC. It will be a very exciting few months ahead for Crowd as we work closely with IIC to expand our business capabilities.”

This story was developed in collaboration with Crowd Media, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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