The Eindhoven-based startup behind the shopping platform Sjoprz has raised 1.1 million euro from a group of informal investors. Industry veterans and existing investors and board members Just Jongeleen, Rard Rijcken and Evelijn Zikken have participated again in this round, says Sjoprz founder Gaspard Jaspars to StartupJuncture. The new investors wish not to disclose their participation.
The fresh capital injection will be used for the further development of the platform (mobile and web), marketing campaigns and the launch of the new feature ‘Bespaarbuddy’ in the coming weeks. To support this growth trajectory new staff members will be added to the team.
Sjoprz enables consumers to compare prices of groceries at supermarkets in the Netherlands. The value proposition of the company is to enable consumers to do groceries in a smart and easy way. “Doing the weekly groceries on a Saturday I am interested in having a nice deal. But when I am having friends over I want to go for high quality. And when I am shopping food for my kids I want to go for healthy. Obviously, I don’t want to pay more than necessary. That’s what Sjoprz enables” says Jaspars.
Jaspars founded Sjoprz in 2011. Prior to that he led teams at health, nutrition and materials company DSM and IT consulting company Ordina.
Sjoprz has 50.000 subscribed users. It makes money via affiliate fees from the supermarkets on the platform. Another revenue stream is giving supermarkets market insights based on the aggregate analysis of the buying behaviour of consumers. It also serves in-app ads.
The new feature ‘Bespaarbuddy’ takes the proces of getting the right product for the right price a step further. It enables consumers to select the right store based on their personal grocery list. If you want to go even further in finding the best deal the platform can automatically split the grocery list in for example two stores where you can buy the goods, says Jaspers. Based on your gocery list it also enables you to select the cheapest products within the store you’re already shopping.
Jaspers stresses that Sjoprz is more about having a great shopping experience than going for the cheapest offer possible. But other things being equal people ‘tend to focus on on price,’ he says. Jaspers: “You can compare Sjoprz with AIRBN in the sense that it’s range of criteria that determine your stay. The same counts for groceries. It’s not only about the price, but also about convenience quality, timing etc. That’s why we are just at the beginning of the Sjoprz. There is lot of room for making this kind of ‘low involvement’ shopping experience a lot better and we are keen on delivering on the promise.”
Photo Credit: Ali Inay.