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Who is Optivance?
Optivance is a mother and baby nutrition company that have a range of innovative products, the first of which is a ‘Mummy Smoothie’ for pre-conception and pregnancy.
This product has been designed to nutritionally support mums and their baby through the pregnancy journey and is an alternative to having to swallow multiple large supplement tablets (which many women find unpleasant). The 'Mummy Smoothie' is a tasty and enjoyable way for mums to source the critical vitamins and minerals that their baby and themselves need. Optivance's products are made by nutritionists who are mothers themselves, and have been carefully crafted based on learnings from real-life experience. For example, by creating an enjoyable experience, the Optivance Mummy Smoothie ensures mums get the important nutrition needed, especially when they are morning sick, nauseous, and can't swallow unpleasant supplement tablets. Optivance also has a breastfeeding Mummy Smoothie that is tailored to nutritionally support mums and bubs during the breast-feeding process. Lastly, they have an infant formula range for mothers to use when they are mix feeding or when their baby has finished breastfeeding.
“Optivance is a mother and baby story and we’re grateful it’s been so well received. Our focus now is on growth – growing our customer base both here in Australia and overseas,
and the growth of our distribution channels. We’ve secured the opportunity to distribute Optivance products through e-commerce platforms in China and have an MOU to distribute in Singapore, so the growth journey has already begun.” - Stuart Beil
Optivance's Equity Crowdfunding Raise
Successfully closing an equity crowdfunding raise has given Optivance the capital support needed to execute on growth and marketing strategies. This includes producing more stock of their products and strengthening partnerships with mother and baby groups.
“The equity crowdfunding raise has given us the runway needed to take on the next stage of growth. Throughout the raise we increased brand awareness, through social media and digital marketing, and are now in discussions with pharmacy chains to increase distribution channels. Our crowdfunding raise will assist us in improving the nutrition of mums and bubs globally, as well as scaling our business.” - Stuart Beil
Optivance and OnMarket's Partnership
"Crowdfunding is an interesting way of raising capital. There’s a lot of work involved in
getting a capital raise off the ground, and personally having never participated in one before, it was vital to have a team of experts who talked me through the process and help guide me. There’s a whole range of regulatory components that you must be compliant with, which OnMarket made easy to navigate. Then, there’s obviously running the campaign, so it was helpful to have OnMarket finesse our pitch to better target our investors." - Stuart Beil
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Stuart Beil, gives his top four tips to companies looking to partake in an equity crowdfunding raise.
Tip #1: Do extensive research before committing to a crowd-funding raise. You must know exactly what’s involved in running a campaign and be sure the style of campaign aligns with your business goals, brand, and available resources.
Tip #2: It’s a time-consuming process, particularly for the executive of the company. Make sure you're ready to devote yourself to the campaign. It will consume a fair amount of your time, energy, and resources in terms of preparing the necessary elements, including due diligence documents, the offer video, your marketing plan, and offer document. The campaign will take you out of your comfort zone, especially if you’re unfamiliar with being in front of the camera or pitching to investors. It’s quite a new concept, I believe, for a lot of founders.
Tip #3: It’s important you take onboard advice from experts, especially the OnMarket team as they’ve successfully raised capital for many businesses. So, sometimes when you think things are a bit difficult, it’s always useful to touch base with OnMarket to receive their guidance on where to go and what to do next.
Tip #4: Don’t stop working the crowd until your campaign is closed. It can be disheartening to see less money in your raise than you were hoping for. Particularly when you’ve first launched your round and only a few bids come in – and you’ve got a long way to go before you hit your minimum. Don’t give up, and don’t stop working. Keep talking to your friends, keep problem solving, and keep raising awareness about your campaign. Use OnMarket's expertise to guide you until the very last day, and work together with OnMarket to put together a compelling story, for your audience and theirs.
In summary, Stuart's overall takeaways are…
"Work through the process, be patient, be diligent, and (hopefully) good things will come in the end."
Click here to learn more about raising capital, via equity crowdfunding, with OnMarket.