The United Kingdom (UK) company, founded by award-winning and serial entrepreneur Tom Allason, awaits a response from Bolt, the Olympic 100m and 200m champion.
Guy Westlake, Shutl's head of marketing, said the investment would offer high growth prospects for Bolt.
"Suffice it to say, we are a very high-potential, high-growth technology start-up whose valuation has grown by multiples year-on-year," Westlake told the Financial Gleaner.
"It is the potential value of the one per cent that Mr Bolt should be interested in, and which we hope he'll enable us to achieve," he said, while declining to disclose the value of the company.
Shutl was founded in 2009. The company raised an initial £500,000 in venture capital funds from a group of investors, including Bebo founder, Paul Birch, Big Bang Ventures, and Shazam and LoveFilm angel investor Dr Simon Murdoch.
Allason in 2004 founded eCourier, which reportedly earned £8 million annually, then exited the venture to form Shutl.
Last week, Allason issued an open letter to Bolt with his proposal. A promised response from Bolt's management team to the offer was unavailable up to press.
Allason's letter indicated that Shutl wanted to use Bolt to lower its delivery time and set a new world record in the process. In turn, Bolt would be used to promote the company.
"We also hold the world record for the fastest e-commerce delivery - 898 seconds from click to door. It's no 9.63 or 19.19 seconds, but that's the point. We're confident that given an hour or two of your time we can smash our current record. Think about it, the world's fastest man doing the world's fastest ever delivery," noted Allason in the letter dated August 9.
"In exchange for your time, we will give you one per cent of our company and all the McNuggets you need. We're on track to conquer the world and are confident this will prove a great investment for you."
Despite its levity, Allason's letter is serious.
"Absolutely, or we wouldn't have sent it," Westlatke stressed.
Shutl offers same-day delivery within 90 minutes by connecting retailers with local same-day courier companies. Its online platform "aggregates" carriers into a web service which, in turn, links into retailers' internal systems.
Shutl picks the best carrier for each delivery, weighing up a combination of price and past performance to ensure the optimum service every time.
Bolt earned more than US$20 million (J$1.8 billion) over the past 12 months, according to Forbes magazine, which, in June, released its list of the world's 100 richest sports personalities.
Bolt, the first man to defend his 100m and 200m Olympic championships, ranked 63rd of the 100 highest-paid sports personalities. The list accounts for earnings between June 2011 and June 2012.
Bolt currently has endorsement deals with Puma athletic wear, Visa credit card, Virgin Media, Nissan GTR, Hublot watches, Soul headphones, Gatorade drinks, Regupol athletic turf, Digicel and Tracks & Records casual dining restaurant.
He is also a brand ambassador for Jamaica in partnership with Jamaica Tourist Board.
No comments:
Post a Comment