5. Backed by PE: Spond
Spond helps organise and finance leisure activities, from grassroots football to scout and music bands. This segment of society was massively affected by the pandemic. However, the app has managed to increase revenue and boost its international presence. In late 2021, the company also got Verdane's new impact fund among its investors.
"The idea behind Spond stems from my own experiences being frustrated with all the admin involved in organising my sons' football activities and as a representative on the parents' working committee. This is the concrete problem I set out to solve", says Per-Otto Wold, founder and executive chairman.
Wold had previously created the climate analysis firm Point Carbon, which he likens to Spond. Both companies deal with sustainability, one with the climate dimension and the other with the social aspect. "Spond is about making grassroots activity sustainable", Wold says.
"It is easy to take the voluntary work as a given, in the same way, we take the climate for granted. Grassroots activity needs three things to be sustainable. Firstly, the administrative part needs to be easy, not several hours a week across many platforms. Secondly, it needs to be financed; in other words, those that cannot afford to be part of it should get a helping hand. Thirdly, it must be safe for kids", he explains.
In the Spond app, there are roles for the different users: A team leader has an administrative account, a child on a team has a profile, and a guardian account for parents. A safeguarding element is put in place to fully disclose communication between a team leader and child to the child's caregivers.
Growing during the pandemic
How does this kind of app make money, one might ask? Spond has a built-in solution to gather member fees and raise funds for activities like a team training camp trip.
"For a children's group, the tradition is to sell toilet paper and cookies to raise funds. Spond replaces this process with digital skill games and prizes. Since the whole group is already on the app, every user has a landing page with their picture and information about the specific campaign, where friends and family can pay to participate in a game. The game is accessed through a link which can be shared on social media, SMS, Messenger", Wold says.
"This is also a good way of levelling the playing field among kids. The teams set a common goal, and people can contribute based on their budget allows".
Spond's business model is not based on ads inside the app. They instead take a cut of the membership fees paid in and funds raised in campaigns. Larger groups, bands and clubs will generate the most because they have more users than smaller ones.
"With more than 600,000 monthly users in Norway alone, over 10 % of the population uses Spond. The app just passed 1.5 million active users and is seeing strong international growth. Around half of the users are international. The UK is the focus market going forward, and then we will take one market at a time. We managed to increase our revenues during the pandemic", Wold says.
A viral phenomenon
"The app is based on word of mouth and introduced in new markets with no advertisement. Users like it so much that they spread it to others, causing a viral effect", says Eline Stokstad Fjell, Director at Verdane's Oslo office and board member at Spond. In September 2021, she was responsible for Verdane Idun's 20% investment in Spond.
Stokstad Fjell says that user groups struggle with recruiting volunteers and have a marginal economy. Organising is done in Facebook groups, and messy Excel spread sheets. Good software to solve these issues is the last thing they can afford.
"The app becomes a social network within these groups. It makes the job of team leaders and parents much easier and less time-consuming. You also get an overview of who is joining events like games and who is not joining because they are sick. This has been very helpful during the pandemic", she says.
Verdane's Elevate team
Wold, the founder, is very excited about getting Verdane on the investor list:
"They are an active investor and bring the tools that we need. It feels like we are building a business together. Verdane's in-house Elevate team spends significant time understanding our business and having a daily dialogue with us."
"The Elevate team consists of operational experts within tech, marketing, analytics and data science. For example, we can also connect experts in different portfolio companies to teach the data scientists in Spond and Easypark. The Elevate team also works to find the right people for different positions in a company, and we are currently helping Spond find a new CFO", Stokstad Fjell adds.