New Funding to Help Snappy Kraken Expand Its Offerings, CEO Says
The advisor-focused marketing technology company gets $3.5 million in a seed round investment.
Advisor-focused marketing technology company Snappy Kraken received $3.5 million in funding as part of a seed round of investment in its marketing automation platform, it said Tuesday.
The latest funding round was led by Marty Bicknell, co-founder of financial technology accelerator ScratchWorks and CEO-president of Mariner Wealth Advisors.
The new funding “will enable us to continue to expand our offerings and provide even more effective ways for advisors to build their online presence, deepen relationships with their clients, expand their reach and leverage their time,” Robert Sofia, Snappy Kraken CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.
“We are not seeking additional funding at this time,” he told ThinkAdvisor on Tuesday. But how long the company can get by on its current funding will depend on the company’s growth rate, he said, adding: “Between our sales velocity and this funding round, we are in a strong financial position.”
Asked if the company achieved profitability yet, he said: “Our primary goal at this time is to build the financial industry’s leading MarTech”— marketing technology — platform. But, “as we achieve this goal, we will simultaneously provide our shareholders with significant enterprise value,” he told ThinkAdvisor, noting his company now has 27 full-time employees.
The new funding round also included money from the Bicknell Family Holding Co. and Flyover Capital, Snappy Kraken said.
ScratchWorks previously invested $100,000 in Snappy Kraken. After that, Snappy Kraken “maintained its growth trajectory and further enhanced its ability to provide advisors with a turnkey digital marketing solution,” it said Tuesday.
The initial $100,000 was granted in March 2018 at an inaugural ScratchWorks event. An additional $1 million was provided to the company in September, followed by $2.5 million this month, Kevin Corbett, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Mariner Wealth Advisors, told ThinkAdvisor, pointing out he’s directly responsible for managing the ScratchWorks program.
“Snappy Kraken continues to develop leading-edge solutions to address the marketing needs of RIAs from initial prospecting, to deepening the engagement with their existing clients,” Bicknell said in a statement, adding: “Robert’s passion for the business and his leadership of Snappy Kraken are what led us to furthering our partnership and financial commitment to Snappy Kraken.”
Snappy Kraken’s autopilot marketing system helps financial advisors easily deploy multi-step marketing campaigns, the company says. “By eliminating the complexities commonly associated with marketing automation, Snappy Kraken equips its users to publish campaigns with dozens of coordinated elements in just minutes. Landing pages, ads, social posts, email drip series and more are all personalized, launched, managed and tracked from within a single dashboard. Campaigns are ready-made around five key growth drivers for financial advisors: lead generation, prospect nurturing, client engagement, workflow automation and referral generation.”
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