Barking Fundraise: How they were able to run a successful campaign during COVID-19
To be brave and confident enough to raise money during the crisis period. Kustas Kõiv, co-founder and CEO was not afraid, and that’s why Barking investing campaign turned into a success story.
How is business overall and has COVID-19 had a significant impact?
Barking’s business is 2-fold: parking + car wash. Car wash business kept growing both in users and revenue even during the COVID-19 spike. Parking took a 50% revenue drop hit. However it has almost recovered fully by today. Looking at the past 3 months, there was an impact but it was not significant. This, however, does not mean it is over or that something similar will not happen again. We will keep the team lean, flexible and ready to adapt.
What was it like to fundraise during a pandemic?
Honestly, it was not all that different. We just needed to adjust our plans towards a more conservative approach. There was much uncertainty before the campaign launch and maybe emotionally it was more exhausting but process wise, business as usual.
Has fundraising on Funderbeam had any unexpected benefits to your business?
Funderbeam brought more visibility to our company than I expected. The coverage definitely helps our growth locally here in Tallinn.
What are the future plans for Barking?
We are looking for talent in B2B sales and marketing in Tallinn and Berlin. Our direct plans are to grow the number of merchants by at least 200 within the next 12 months having closed the funding round. That is our immediate goal and we all work towards that.
About Kustas Kõiv
Kustas Kõiv is a co-founder and CEO of Barking. Barking automates and digitalises car-centric services, like parking, washing and fuelling. In May 2020, Barking raised more than 450,000€ on the Funderbeam platform and had more than 400 investors from 12 different countries.
Find out more about the company campaign here or begin trading in their instrument here.
Capital at Risk
