A high-growth stock with a lot of dynamics. This is what CEO, Jesper Valentin, dares to promise investors, who will soon be able to invest in the small Danish technology company Agillic when the stock exchange bell rings open the small company stock exchange Nasdaq First North in Copenhagen for the fourth time in a little over six months.
“We don’t want a stock that enters the market with a bang and then disappears from the market for the next 12 months. We would rather have a dynamic stock that constantly has something new to offer,” says Jesper Valentin, who is expecting to keep future shareholders regularly updated about new customers and cases that have been won.
The CEO of the Danish Shareholders Association, Leonhardt Pihl, welcomes Agillic to the stock market.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to view any details about the company, but Agillic seems to possess some of the elements that predict a great future”, says Leonard Pihl.
Throughout several years, Agillic has developed a cloud-based software platform that its customers purchase on a subscription basis. These customers then use this platform to transmit promotions and offers via various channels, including SMS, email, online or print.
Agillic’s customers, such as Matas, Sportmaster and Mofibo, supply their own customer data which Agillic’s platform then manages.
“Big data is a complicated size to manage, and this is the task that we have been put on this earth to solve,” explains Jesper Valetin, who will need to secure approx. DKK 37 million in fresh capital in order to make further inroads into the billion pound market of marketing technology.
This is a market that constituted approx. USD 37 billion (approx. DKK 221 billion) in 2017, and that is expected to double within the next five years.
“We believe in a future in which traditional marketing is replaced more and more by relevant communication. The experience will change, as the correct message will be transmitted at the correct time. Thus, instead of feeling that a company is selling you a product, you will feel that they are offering you a service and that you are buying into something,” says Rasmus Houlind, Chief Strategist at Agillic.
In order to be able to deliver relevant marketing, gain extra growth momentum and thus raise the investors’ interest, Agillic has purchased a controlling share of Armstrong One which processes big data using artificial intelligence. The other owner is Houston Analytics from Finland.
In the same vein, Agillic has attracted Colin Shearer, who Agillic calls “the pioneer within artificial intelligence”.
“He is the founder of the backbone of IBM Analytics, and he has been in contact with thousands of companies in order to explain how to use big data”, Jesper Valetin says. Valentin proceeds to describe him as Agillic’s business developer.
At CBS’ Institute for Marketing, Professor Torsten Ringberg is researching the strategic use of big data.
“There is a lot of competition, so one needs to get on the bandwagon if one hopes to gain a share of the market,” Torsten Ringberg explains. He has seen several examples of “non-intelligent” use of big data.
The professor calls it a “win-win situation” if companies are able to use their insight into consumer behaviour in a well thought out manner.
Last year, Agillic achieved a turnover of approx. DKK 30.5 million and a profit of DKK 4.3 million before depreciation and financial items. However, according to Jesper Lohmann, CEO of the venture company Dico, who has been a co-owner of Agillic for four years, investors should not expect to see a profit in 2018.
“We want to invest in the growth. When one has a company like Agillic, following market opportunities is an active decision,, which would then allow Agillic to soon swim with the big fish - initially in Northern Europe,” says Jesper Lohmann.
According to Jesper Valentin, scaling is exactly where the new capital will be invested.
Investments in technology, branding and strategic acquisitions must also be made.
The prospectus will be launched at the beginning of March, with the stock exchange listing expected to follow at the end of March.