Sprooki provides boost for mobile shoppers

From Singapore to the ASX the mobile commerce start-up Sprooki can’t wait to get started in Australia.

Clare Mula executive director Sprooki. Sprooki is a local marketing system is designed to help malls and retailers engage shoppers via a mobile phone application.

At a time when many entrepreneurs are in a hurry to strike out and test their fortune in overseas markets, a mobile commerce start-up founded by two Australians has just returned to Australia and it can’t wait to get started.

Singapore-based Sprooki, founded by Claire Mula and ­Michael Gethen, is the latest in a line of start-ups spawned in Asia that are gravitating towards the Australian market and finding a home on the ASX via reverse ­listings.

For Sprooki, which provides a location-based mobile engagement platform for malls and retailers, its entry into the ASX has come via a $9.6 million deal with Stanfield Funds management, and executive director Mula says the Australian market now has a far greater recognition of the value in technology companies.

“One of the reasons we are coming back to Australia, from an investment perspective, is that the market values technology companies like ours: Asia-based, not exactly on the bleeding edge of technology but at the point of change,” she told The Australian.

The ASX has already welcomed the likes of mobile games developer Animoca Brands, social media outfit Migme (MIG), incubator Fatfish and the trend was likely to continue, Ms Mula said.

Launched with the backing of Singapore’s National Research Foundation, Sprooki is a perfect example of just how deeply committed the Singaporean government is to funding technology start-ups.

Sprooki benefited from one particular program, the Technology Incubator Scheme, under which pre-approved incubators jointly invest in technology with the government.

“Typically in the seed round the incubator invests 20 per cent and the government invests 80 per cent. When it comes to exit, typically between three to five years, the incubator has the right to take out the government at the original price that they invested,” Ms Mula said.

That’s just one of many schemes put in place that gets funding in the hands of innovators across the board, from students tinkering in a lab, small entrepreneurs, to established companies.

“It’s a commitment across every level of business and nearly across every sector. It’s beyond anything we have in Australia,” she said.

Having built its footprint through 3500 retail stores across 70 shopping malls in the APAC region the mobile-first retail revolution in the Asian markets offers a steady growth trajectory for a company. However, Ms Mula added that the impact of mobility on Australian retailers offered new opportunities.

“All the retailers I speak to in Australia say that up to 50 per cent of their online traffic is coming from mobile devices,” she said.

“The difference between ordering a product on the desktop and doing it on a mobile device when you are actually in or near a store means that the way a retailer speaks to you as a customer, whether you are in the store or not, should be completely different.” Ms Mula said.

While their Asian peers have jumped straight into mobile commerce, Australian retailers will need to adapt their strategy to tackle the impact of mobile on their eCommerce platforms and that’s the sweet spot Sprooki is targeting.