Previous Microdimensions
iCheck
We helped Icheck to strengthen their value proposition and investment case in preparation for their (successful) 8-figure Series A fundraising
Company & Background
iCheck started in 2012 as a simple barcode scanner application called Viet Barcode. In 2015, the company rebranded into iCheck, expanding the app set of features and aiming to provide a solution to fight counterfeit products.
Challenges & Needs
The main problem of iCheck at that time was that they were lacking a strong value proposition and business model to monetize the millions of users and/or the suppliers and brands represented on the app. Since they wanted to raise funds to sustain the app growth a strong business and investment case with validation metrics and KPIs were essential.
Solutions & Impact
We started working with iCheck on identifying the best value propositions and revenue models that could make sense, defined minimum viable tests and helped to deploy them and extrapolate the relevant metrics and KPIs in order to validate which one was providing the best results. With validation at hand we supported iCheck on preparing for their VC fundraising process, enabling them to raise a 8-figure Series A funding round from regional VC.
These messages keep our motivation high and our team going strong
“ FFA team provided us with the right toolkits and guidance to validate our revenue and business model and enabled us to close our fundraising round successfully. “
Truong Nguyen
“ FFA team provided us with the right toolkits and guidance to validate our revenue and business model and enabled us to close our fundraising round successfully. “
Truong Nguyen
CEO | iCheck
Company & Background
iCheck started in 2012 as a simple barcode scanner application called Viet Barcode. In 2015, the company rebranded into iCheck, expanding the app set of features and aiming to provide a solution to fight counterfeit products. Scanning the barcodes, users can access product information, origin and manufacturer information, user generated reviews, government health alerts to make sure they are purchasing genuine products. At the time iCheck had 1M+ (free) MAU.
Challenges & Needs
The main problems for iCheck at that time were:
1. Lack of a strong value proposition and business model
Although they had millions of MAU in their app, they didn’t have a clear understanding on how to best monetize the app without compromising their user and usage growth. Additionally, manufacturers and sellers were marginally involved in the platform, while representing a key element for its success as well as an interesting channel for the monetization.
2. Need for a business and investment case for their VC fundraising
iCheck wanted to raised funds to fuel their growth, but were lacking the investment materials and experience to approach a venture-backed fundraising endeavour. They were looking for someone that could partner up with them and could support them end-to-end on the whole fundraising journey.
Solutions & Impact
We started working with iCheck on identifying the best value propositions and revenue models that could make sense
1. Revenue model design and growth case
We supported the company in designing targeted solutions for each stakeholder, as well as the needed materials (conversion pages, A/B testing environment, analytics setup, pricing) to run the minimum viable tests with a first set of consumers and B2B entities. We helped the iCheck team to extrapolate the most significant results and find validations in the metrics and KPIs, by analyzing how the different approaches were trading off between conversion rates and free user growth rates. With numbers at hand we helped iCheck to build a growth case, which would be attractive for VCs to fund.
2. Fundraising materials preparation
In order to prepare for the fundraising, we provided our IR & Fundraising Consulting Service to identify all gaps to be solved by the company and all materials to be produced prior to contacting potential investors. Some of the gaps were then closed by FFA with ad-hoc support (such as market research & opportunity quantification and competition analysis), while the remaining gaps have been closed by the iCheck team following FFA guidelines. We created a full data room and provided an end-to-end guideline on how to approach the VC fundraising process.
OUR IMPACT
iCheck raised a 8-figure Series A round from Vietnam-based Queen Bee Venture Fund.
