Fishbrain in the news:

• World’s Largest Community-Based Fishing App Fishbrain Partners With Under Armour

• Fishbrain Raises Series B Round of $13.5 Million Led by B Capital Group and SoftBank Ventures Korea to Expand its Global Platform for Sport Fishing

• No. 1 Fishing App Fishbrain and Fishing License Leader Aspira Announce Exclusive Partnership to Expand Fishing Participation for Anglers Across North America

• Fish Rules reels in a deal with Stockholm-based Fishbrain

When one thinks of fishing, one may imagine a sedentary boat trip or a quiet afternoon on one's dock, completely detached from the rest of the world. Fishing has never been known to be the most tech-enabled hobby, until now.

Enter Fishbrain

Disrupting the $50B+ fishing market

Fishbrain is the world's most popular community-based mobile app, marketplace, and social network for fishing. Depended upon by more than 14 million users across the globe, Fishbrain provides fishers with the tools, insights, and support to fully enjoy the world’s most popular pastime. The range of products offered on Fishbrain include, among others, a personal fishing logbook, a forecasting tool, and a fishing gear marketplace.

In addition, Fishbrain also provides its users with detailed interactive maps for bodies of water, through which users can access free information to make the best catches, including fish species, top baits, local fishing areas and reviews. With a Fishbrain Pro monthly, quarterly or annual subscription in the app, anglers can take advantage of features like Navionics depth contours, catch positions, spot prediction, and personal waypoints.

Fishbrain ended 2019 with a bang, totaling almost $7M in sales with a large 75% margin. From then to 2022, the Company has enjoyed a 29% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), projecting $14.5M+ in sales in 2022, at a 75% gross margin. Capitalizing on this momentum, the Company is planning for new expansion, both in geography and in its range of products.

With 14 million users worldwide and 800K+ monthly active users, Fishbrain was twice named by WIRED as one of Europe’s Hottest Startups in 2015 and 2016, prior to its multiple subsequent raises and breakout growth years.

Learn more about WIRED's hottest startups

Built around a common interest, Fishbrain has managed to create a best-in-class vertical community. Similar to how Strava has impassioned a large community of users around running, Fishbrain's users are sticky and highly engaged.  Fishbrain has seen in the past few years not only an increase in the number of users, but also a ~20% CAGR in the number of paid users. The Company is expecting to reach 305,000 paid subscribers by the end of 2022.

Fishing is an estimated $50 billion market, just in the US alone. One of America's most popular and top-grossing hobbies, fishing counts in its roster 55 million anglers in the US, who collectively spend nearly $50 billion in retail sales per year (3 times the US recorded music industry). 

In Europe, 28 million anglers spend $29 billion per year on fishing. One can only expect the market opportunity to be similarly promising in other parts of the world (e.g., LatAm, Australia, etc.).

Not only is fishing a big market, it is also growing. The number of anglers have increased more than 5 years in a row, in conjunction with demographic shift towards younger generation. The Covid-19 pandemic has serendipitously accelerated the growth of the sport-fishing industry. With Covid-19 restrictions in place and pent-up purchasing power, many consumers discover newfound passions for fishing, funneling new users into and demand for Fishbrain products.

Fishbrain's monetization strategy is built on both freemium subscriptions and marketplace sales.

The social media component of the platform, which is free, generates data by users logging catches and interacting with each other. That data can then be analysed and generates insights as well as recommendations to "Pro" users, so they can catch more and bigger fish.

With data gathered from its 14M users, the Company continues to recommend free fishing insights and invites users to upgrade to one of three different subscription options, ranging from monthly to annual offerings at price points of approximately £8 per month to £75 per year.

The data gathered from its users also helps Fishbrain facilitates its marketplace, taking a 15% commission on GMV for facilitating the sale of fishing gear on the platform by merchants and retailers, powered by AI/personalization. 

In the past years, social media and eCommerce segments have become the growth engines of the fishing equipment market, especially as COVID-19 and demographic changes are accelerating the transition to online purchase, leaving Fishbrain well positioned for growth.

The Company is also exploring in-app ads as an additional revenue stream.

Fishbrain is undoubtedly the largest fishing community and platform in the world, with 14X the number of users compared to its nearest competitor. As with other social media platforms, its sheer number of users provides Fishbrain with the network effect advantage to outpace its competitors in growth and organically creates a high barrier entry.

With a team of ~200 passionate members, Fishbrain is hoping to grow in various ways in 2022 and beyond. Having established itself as a dominant player in the industry, Fishbrain enjoys the partnerships and revenues from its 500+ brand partners. The Company is strategically considering various other partnership opportunities that align with their growth vision, beyond mere brand partnerships.

For instance, the Company recently announced an industry-disrupting partnership with Aspira, one of the leading providers of fishing licenses in the US and Canada that sell over 40 million licenses in North America every year. Towards its international expansion strategy, Fishbrain will leverage this partnership to get Aspira's help to promote the Company to new users. As a part of this partnership, Aspira has invested $1M in Fishbrain.

The Company also recently announced the acquisition of Fish Rules, broadening its offering to include helping users navigate complex fishing regulations. As a part of this strategic acquisition, the Company has gained new users in the US, playing to its global strategy.

The funding from this round will be primarily used to support efforts in sales, marketing, and business development initiatives, with the remaining balance for working capital for the company. Proceeds will not be used for shareholder liquidity, debt repayment or share redemptions.

In addition to the carried interest Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC is entitled to for the syndicated investments it organizes, certain principals of Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC may have a personal interests in these investments, as disclosed below. When making an investment decision please review any applicable disclosures as they represent pre-existing financial interests held by those principals of Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC.

We do not represent that the information contained herein is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Certain information contained herein (including any forward-looking statements and economic and market information) has been obtained from and/or prepared by the Company or other third-party sources and in certain cases has not been updated through the date hereof. While such sources are believed to be reliable, Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. Republic Deal Room Advisor LLC does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein as of any future date.