Nigerian startup Dochase, an advertising platform that connects businesses and brands to customers, is looking to raise US$500,000 to build on its initial success in helping companies spread their advertising reach.
Founded in 2014 and launched in 2015, Dochase has developed programmatic technology that helps advertisers reach the right customers by breaking down marketing reach to GEO locations, user demographics and behaviour.
The platform allows global ad networks to reach a client’s target customers programmatically on its RTB platform. The startup has grown from serving adverts for a few clients to having over 1,000 high-traffic client sites in Nigeria. It also has major traffic from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and other parts of Africa.
“The company uses simple javascript to place adverts on million of web pages and uses analytics to report the performance in terms of impressions and conversion. This monetises content for the websites, blogs and apps we work with,” founder Chibuike Goodnews told Disrupt Africa.
Dochase is seeing the number of direct advertisers grow organically, while on the international demand side it is developing a large customer base. Goodnews said the startup is now looking to raise US$500,000 to scale its technology and expand elsewhere.
“Businesses are constantly in need of ways to engage new customers and retain existing ones,” he said.
“Others want to create unique customer experience in branding and identity. The customer on the other hand has become dynamic and tech-savvy. There is therefore a need to reach these new and existing customers, who do not read newspapers, listen to radio jingles or watch TV adverts.”
That is what Dochase is for, assisting businesses with their marketing goals and informing them of how their advertising spend is impacting on their overall business objectives.
The startup’s performance-based system connects businesses to real customers and provides accurate data on how many customers every dollar spent attracted.
“While many businesses still spent hugely on offline advertising, the customer has become an online citizen and you must meet them online to attract sales and drive online traction,” Goodnews said. “A platform that will transform that advertising need to match the new customer behaviour is most welcome.”
Dochase has until now been run on personal savings and a small seed funding round from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, but Goodnews said with more funding Dochase could go truly global.
“We have become the go-to exchange for global networks in need of customer reach in Nigeria. We want to replicate this in some other African countries soon,” he said.
“We are working hard to deepen our market share, meet various customer goals and implement more technologies.”
Dochase makes money by charging a premium on adverts, with Goodnews saying revenue has been growing consistently for the last six months as more global advertisers direct marketing goals towards Africa.
