How Airtasker’s smart media deals allow it to scale with minimal cash burn

• Airtasker’s media-for-equity strategy drives major growth
• Scaling fast with limited cash burn
• Airtasker takes on the UK and the US

Airtasker (ASX:ART) has a unique way of building its brand, swapping equity in the company for advertising space.

It all started in 2016, when Airtasker struck a media-for-equity deal with Seven West Media (ASX:SWM), giving Seven an 18% stake in exchange for brand exposure.

This helped boost Airtasker’s brand awareness from 6% to 60%, and revenues immediately shot up 20 times.

When Airtasker floated in March 2021, Seven West Media cashed out for $45 million, pocketing a sweet 5x return.

Fast forward to today, Airtasker is now locking in similar deals with other media firms.

Scaling without burning cash

Rather than forking out big chunks of cash for advertising campaigns, Airtasker now works with major media partners like oOh!media, ARN, Channel 4, and others, who provide significant advertising inventory in exchange for equity in Airtasker’s local operations.

It’s a model that’s still fairly niche, but it’s gaining traction among fast-growing consumer brands looking to scale without taking on debt or blowing their budgets.

And because these media partners now hold equity, they’re aligned with Airtasker’s long-term success. Everyone’s incentivised to make the campaigns work.

It’s a model simply designed for growth without the cash burn.

Airtasker’s 11.6% rise in Australian revenue for the H1FY25 came from a $3.6 million marketing investment, with $2.6 million of that being non-cash, thanks to these partnerships.

Pretty smart capital efficiency, and it’s what allows the company to scale while keeping its balance sheet healthy.

At the end of the half, Airtasker finished with $18.3 million in cash and term deposits on its balance sheet.

Win-win

But here’s where it gets really interesting.

At the end of a five to seven-year runway, Airtasker has the option to buy back that equity from its media partners.

The valuation will be simple: it will be based on local revenue, multiplied by Airtasker’s own revenue multiple.

And the buyback can be done in cash or Airtasker shares, whichever makes more sense to Airtasker at the time, giving the company flexibility.

It’s a win-win.

Airtasker gets audience scale without upfront spend, and its media partners get clear path to exit with an upside.

Taking the strategy global

Airtasker has taken this media-for-equity play to the UK, with Channel 4 investing another £4.0m ($7.8m) in exchange for an unsecured convertible note issued by Airtasker UK.

This follows a £3.5m ($6.7m) it put in last year, bringing Channel 4’s total investment to £7.5m ($14.5m).

With this partnership, Airtasker now has access to Channel 4’s 47 million viewers, or 78% of the UK population.

The company has now ramped things up, taking the strategy to the US.

Airtasker raised US$9.75 million through partnerships with two massive media players there: iHeartMedia, America’s top audio company, and TelevisaUnivision, the leader in Spanish-language content.

These partnerships give Airtasker access to a combined 376 million people.

iHeart has 276 million audio listeners and TelevisaUnivision has 100 million daily viewers across TV, radio, and digital platforms.

“We are super pumped to be building on the momentum of our global media partnership strategy by joining forces with two of America’s leading media companies – iHeart and TelevisaUnivision – to scale Airtasker in the USA!,” said CEO, Tim Fung.

Enter: Formula One

Meanwhile, away from media companies, Airtasker has also stepped onto the global stage through a unique partnership with the newly rebranded Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team, or just VCARB.

For context, VCARB is Red Bull’s second F1 team (previously known as AlphaTauri), now backed by Visa and Cash App.

The partnership gives Airtasker branding rights across the F1 circuit.

Airtasker’s whole proposition with VCARB is about highlighting the unsung heroes behind the scenes.

The people keeping everything running smoothly in the garage, organising the logistics, and making sure everything’s spot on. Just like Airtasker’s Taskers, the company said.

Also, Formula One’s audience has grown fast in recent years, fuelled by younger viewers and a global following thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive.

“I’m really pumped to reaffirm our full-year free cash flow and revenue growth guidance and keeping up the momentum in the second half,” Fung said.

While Airtasker is a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing, it did not sponsor this article.