News

FreeATM raises funding, refines business strategy for IAD market

June 11, 2014

FreeATM, an advertising-driven fee-free ATM network, has announced the first closing of $745,000 of Series A financing. The company hopes to raise an additional $255,000 with an equity crowdfunding campaign it has launched on SeedInvest.com.

The Series A round was led by Cayuga Venture Fund, with participation from Kima Ventures, Mogility Capital, BR Venture Fund and other angel investors, according to a news release from FreeATM.

FreeATM will use the funding to further its development of a proprietary end-to-end advertising platform that connects brands and agencies with IADs to achieve its end goal of creating a new surcharge-free ATM network for consumers.

According to the release, the company’s software solves a critical issue for three key parties:

• The ATM industry, which has yet to establish a viable and sustainable platform for the management of advertising content at enterprise-level scale. The software minimizes friction for IADs who want to present their ATMs as advertising assets to brands and advertising agencies;
• Advertising agencies and brands seeking to expand their place-based media options and reach specific audiences at scale without having to interface with several media outlets (i.e., IADs); and
• Consumers looking for an alternative to paying fees at out-of-network ATMs.

IADs who join FreeATM receive a digital topper, which is connected to FreeATM's web-based platform where advertising content resides. When ad inventory is made available by the IAD, FreeATM automatically fills the slot with relevant content based on the campaign parameters set by the media planner.

Once an ad is served on an ATM, the IAD's accrual account is credited with the revenue, regardless of which ad agency or media planner executed the campaign.

The focus on software marks a pivotal change in the company’s business strategy. The initial plan of company founder and CEO Clinton Townsend was to create a company-owned and -operated network of ATMs. But fast scale-up as a proprietary ATM network proved an obstacle.

The company concluded that a preferable course was an asset-light business model that focused on development and distribution of the software platform at the heart of the FreeATM fee-free philosophy.