Financial Mail
August 4 2006
www.financialmail.co.za

Ten minutes on a park bench was all the time Adrian Thornycroft had to pitch his business to a UK-based venture capitalist.
It was all he needed.

Within weeks of the meeting last year, the company he cofounded with Cameron Hewlett and James Burton received a capital injection from UK angel investors. In exchange he had to move the head office to London.

Rocketseed is dedicated to the business of intelligent e-mail marketing. Its software enables everyday e-mail to carry targeted branding and marketing messages, and it provides information about recipient and sender behaviour.

“Bulk mail has dominated the scene, but corporate everyday e-mail accounts for 85% of all business communication. Until now it has been badly neglected as a marketing channel,” says the MD of the local company, Mark Williams.

The company lists Voda-com, Cell C, VW Audi, UK TV station Five, News International, Fulham Football Club and Nissan among its clients. It’s estimated that Nissan will send 2,8bn e-mails over the next three years.

Despite the company’s initial reluctance to move its headquarters, the past six months in London have brought tangible benefits.

The move has enabled Rocketseed to recruit local management and sales staff with solid contact networks. “We couldn’t have signed up Five, 1TN and News International on our own,” says Thomycroft. “Those deals had to be done by a local team.”

Rocketseed was also able to attract a powerful group of nonexecutive directors to its board, including an ex-director of Nestle, the European head of IT media network Ziff Davis and the initial investor in Interactive Investor.

“Their calibre, contacts and business experience are hugely material to us. They can open doors we never dreamt of opening,” Thornycroft adds.

Rocketseed also managed to catch the attention of technology research firm Forrester earlier this year. A research note written on the company describes its e-mail solution as the cure for “a nasty corporate communication blind spot: everyday e-mail”. The note goes on to recommend Rocketseed for consumer companies, financial and media companies and anyone who wants to be considered an early adopter and market innovator.

The US is a key long-term target. To ensure success the directors will use their UK base to raise the £3m-£5m considered necessary to break into the US market. “We couldn’t raise that capital locally,” says Thornycroft.