Volcanic Retail

About the offering

When COVID-19 hit, it dramatically shifted how retail product sourcing was handled for retail stores. A $38B white space was created as fewer buyers and brands are attending sourcing trade shows, far less frequently. Volcanic aims for critical mass by attracting more than 160,000 retail brands on its platform. Buyers have been sourcing products over the last two years on B2C social platforms like IG, FB, Pinterest and Youtube. The problem is, these platforms aren't built for B2B information and communication, leaving retail buyers unsure of the brand's capability in numerous areas. Critical data like human capital, new SKU information, production capacity and margins information are not found on social platforms. They are however, found on Volcanic. Historically, retail is the oldest industry in the world, and the most reliable. According to Forbes, even post COVID, over 78% of retail was conducted in stores and only 22% online (including Amazon). Retailers have had shrinking margins due to Amazon and need to be more efficient in purchasing. Being able to have predictive products, selected by a store's purchasing habits, helps stores to be much more efficient at sourcing decisions. Likewise, brands own less capital than they did pre-COVID. Volcanic drastically reduces a brand's spend when marketing to retail stores. Currently over 160,000 retail brands are pre-scrapped and found on Volcanic. 6,000 have already registered. On the retail store side, buyers from retail stores such as Walmart, Whole Foods, Nordstroms, Big 5, TJX, Tractor Supply, Scheels, HEB, and many more have already registered on the platform. Product import is extremely simple with Volcanic. Simply export your products into CSV format and upload them all at once using our API keys. We are currently the only TWO-WAY communication platform that we know to exist in retail, thus undercutting any one-way communication platform by putting retail brands and retail buyers in direct contact with each other, with no middle man. Volcanic is used for brands and retailers in the United States AND brands and retailers in any country that is a qualified trading partner with the US. Buyers can use our filtering tool to enter in specifications like ingredients, country of origin, MRP requirements, sale-through data and certifications, and our system can quickly reduce a pool of hundreds of brands down to a handful that are most applicable to a store's needs. Our goal is to hit $125M in revenue with a 13X multiple (SaaS business) valuing the company well over $1B on subscription revenue alone (not guaranteed). Virtual store walk through as well as a 'Tinder-like' app where buyers can swipe left for brands they don't like, and swipe right for brands they do, are next on our development pipeline. Scalar.io has valued over 5,000 SaaS businesses world-wide, including companies like Zoom, Purple, Glass Door and others. With a recent valuation of $29,800,000 (February 2023) it has one of the highest SaaS valuations to come out of Silicon Slopes in the pre-rev cycle. Given that Volcanic was a spin off of Ant Hill Retail, we have the largest retail buyer database to pull from. We recently used a Python API and Google Plug-In, leaving us with a clean 441,000 active retail buyers on our platform. Since we have already built some of the fastest growing brands in the United States (GOAL ZERO and Oral Essentials), 'Shark Tank' records (KISSTIXX, Spatty), as well as White House recognition (KISSTIXX), we are well positioned to capitalize on retail. We have augmented the sales for over 500+ retail brands over the previous 15 years and are leveraging our deep connections in the space. Our advisory board includes a former Information Strategies (Apple), SVP of Staples/Office Depot, Head Buyer of Costco and over 15 retail brand CEOs. Investors include VP of Vivint, Founder of Simply Mac, Founder of 97th Floor. Here is our full list: Richard Diamond - Fmr. VP Office Depot/Max

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