Welcome to the ninth episode of the Elevator Pitch series 4.
Every week we publish a 30 second pitch from the latest intake of the Elevator Pitch. These leading startups join an alumni group that includes the likes of YPlan, Hassle, import.io and Glow, and has to-date raised over $36m.
In this series we took the founders on a cab ride unlike any other for the most exciting pitch of their lives.
Startup experience
Back in 2009, Ben Brown was part of the team at VouChaCha, which ended up being acquired by Monitise.
As they rolled out their coupons software, they found that integrating new technology with old sales systems was a complete nightmare.
We quickly realised many of our customers were unhappy with their current PoS system and believed that their businesses were being held back by them.
It wasn’t only us that couldn’t integrate, the problem occurred every time a retailer wanted to use a new consumer-facing or B2B application that relied on PoS data or integration.
They decided to solve the problem.
In comes Shopwave
Now, point of sale (PoS) technology might not be ‘sexy’ to the average person, but it’s an industry in which the two leaders alone generate about $6bn in annual revenue.
Shopwave hopes to disrupt it by delivering enterprise class PoS, all through an iPad, for omnichannel retail.
The system allows for payments, coupons, and loyalty schemes as well as an OAUTH2 API.
Open API
Brown says the most exciting development so far has been Shopwave’s API and developer playground.
We aim to develop an AppStore for 3rd party developers who wish to integrate with Shopwave, enabling the connected, omni-channel retailer.
The startup launched in early 2014 and have just raised £340k through Crowdcube.
In the next six months, Brown hopes the startup can sign-on its first national retail chain and be ready for its European launch.
It’s an industry full of a number of legacy competitors, and Shopwave is hot on their heels.