Crowdfunding | Montreal, QC | Founded: 2014 | Employees: <10 | www.goowi.com
Last updated December 29, 2018 | To download a PDF version, click here.
Company Overview
Goowi is a financial technology platform that connects businesses and fundraisers to generate sponsorship opportunities. Goowi’s goal is to empower businesses by revolutionizing corporate social responsibility and transforming philanthropy acts into an investment to generate returns. Goowi hopes to help companies engage with its consumes and aligns their values in order to build long trusting relationships. The company currently offers different tiers of plans to businesses, including a free model to help attract users.
Senior Management
Augusto Sotelo: Founder and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Goowi (2014-Present). Previously: Director, Taqua Argentina. (2009-Present); Co-founder, LatinChem (2005-Present); Co-founder and Director, Improm (2005 - Present). Education: BBA, International Business, Schiller International University (1997).
Jonas Faure: Software Developer, Goowi (2014-Present). Previously: Intern, Goowi. (2016). Education: DUT Informatique, Computer Science, IUT Paris Descartes (2014-2016).
History
Augusto originally came up with the company name “Goowi”, a fun acronym for “Goodwill”, while striking a conversation with his kids about donating to charity. Augusto initially thought about tying philanthropy into business operation by allowing companies to let their customers decide on what social cause to support. This would create a stronger connection between the company and the customers.[1] Augusto realized that the majority of donations to charity are made under individual names, in which some are successful business owners. Yet, he saw the opportunity for businesses entities to contribute more. Augusto explained that, often time it is very hard for the companies to estimate the “return on charitable act”, but they are still committed because of consumers’ expectation. There is often a lack of transparency between the companies and their consumers, consumers are unaware of where the company is donating to, and the businesses often do not know how much donations would make an impact for their consumers.[2] After attending several tech events and incubator programs, Augusto was able to find partners that shared his interest at District 3, Concordia University. Their goal is to build a platform that would help companies to take their philanthropy efforts to another level, by serving as a middleman that can engage more communication, and ultimately can align both parties to take actions together. As a team, they were able to gain valuable insights from industry experts during the InnoCite MTL and was also able to make a successful pitch of their ideas to thousands of people.[3]
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/launching-tech-startup-my-kids-augusto-sotelo
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/few-individual-billionaires-vs-billion-individuals-augusto-sotelo
[3] https://canada.businesschief.com/technology/1602/InnoCit-MTL-announces-startups-chosen-for-its-second-smart-city-cohort
Funding
Goowi has participated in varies accelerator and incubator programs. These events include InnoCite MTL, Founders Institute at McGill University, District 3 Innovation center at Concordia University. However, there were no funding amount publicly disclosed.
Key Corporate Developments
April 4, 2016: InnoCite MTL Revels the 2nd Cohort
Dec 22, 2015: Goowi announces the new frontier of charitable giving at District 3
Business Highlights
Strategy
Goowi’s goal is to create more value from the large sum of donations that businesses already make annually. Goowi’s business model changed a few times through out the years. As of now, the company serves a platform that connects sponsors (companies) and fundraisers (individuals or charity groups) to achieve mutual benefit. For businesses, Goowi provides access to a wider potential consumer base. Businesses are able to attract and market to more target customers by providing discounted perks and promotions. For fundraisers, Goowi supports individuals or charity groups by sourcing sponsorships and companies’ brand value. For consumers (and the general public), it provides a platform that allows people to contribute to the social cause they genuinely care for and receive additional discounts from companies they make purchases from.
Products/Pricing
The services that Goowi offers varies based the party that plans to onboard to their platform:
- Fundraisers – Fundraisers can start their campaign free of charge, since all fees are covered by the business parties. Fundraisers will be matched with a sponsorship expert from Goowi that is dedicated specifically for this fundraising project. They will also receive beneficial services such as event-ticketing, silent auctions, raffles, email marketing services and more.
- Consumers/Supporter – General public can view the fundraising event page[4] and contribute by making a donation or purchase a event ticket. Supporters will then receive an email that grants exclusive perks by the sponsored companies; consumer can then claim these perks by confirming the ticket number and email address. Cost for consumers is depended on the price of event ticket or the amount they wish to donate.
- Businesses (Free Trial) – Companies can sign up for a free trial of the platform to get a sense of the potential benefit. The free model includes 100 e-vouchers that will be advertised to fundraisers, as well as featured on fundraising pages.
- Businesses (Premium model) – Companies can also pay a monthly subscription fee for $29/Month (For small businesses), or $89/month (For social businesses) for additional functionalities. This is generally targeted for companies that are actively looking for sponsoring opportunities. Companies will receive services such as distribution of e-vouches, direct mailing for advertisement, 24/7 expert support, and impact reports that analyze the social effect and returns.
[4] https://nighttoremember.goowi.com
Technology
Goowi re-innovates philanthropy operations for business by adapting a two-sided platform strategy and the goal is to establish a network effect. Goowi transforms the traditional methodologies by leveraging Google Analytic API and Shopify’s API to create their own API points. Goowi also leverages GRPC for internal communication and Docker Swarm for deployment and scaling.[5]
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-faure-64707712b
Distribution/Logistics
Goowi currently serves companies and charitable groups within Montreal, the location of the company. It allows for better personal service to start the business. Goowi aims to serve business and customers nationally in the future. The platform on their website is accessible world wide.
Marketing
Goowi markets through varies platforms including incubator and accelerator programs, technology conferences, social medias, and government associated websites. The company has also established partnership with firms across Canada, including Teo Taxi, Telus, Cineplex, Tim Hortons and many more. These partnerships also provides additional marketing channels.[6]
[6] http://www.montrealintechnology.com/goowi-spices-up-a-bland-corporate-philanthropy-world
Competitors
Although Goowi’s value allows it to be identified as a unique player within Canada, it faces international competitions:
- SponsorMyEvent - (Luxemburg) A start up company that created a marketplace to match organizers with sponsors by automatically filtering events according to criteria predefined by sponsors, costs are charged to the organizer.
- SponsorPitch - (New York) A real-time online recommendation engine for sponsorships powered by large databases, search results display sponsorship representatives from varies firms that are currently looking for partnerships.
Corporate Profile Created By: Sarah Xiao, Ivey HBA