20 Things You Didn’t Know about Rooser
Rooser is a new startup in the seafood industry. The company helps connect suppliers and seafood buyers throughout Europe. It’s a tech firm that provides tools necessary for efficient process deliveries, price negotiation, and trading. The business is in Edinburg, Scotland. It’s made recent business news as an impressive young company that is changing the landscape in the seafood industry in the region. If you’re not yet familiar with this new food marketing company, here are twenty things about Rooser you probably didn’t know to bring you up to speed.
1. Rooser is a young company
Crunchbase confirms that Rooser is a young company that is still in its infancy stages of development. The founder launched Rooser’s operations in 2019. With less than three years in operation, Rooser has made significant and impressive progress in its growth and development.
2. The founder is a first-timer entrepreneur
Rooser is founder Joel Watt’s first entrepreneurial endeavor. Joel graduated first in his class from Robert Gordon University with his AB in Accounting and Finance with honors, in 2009. His first job after college was at PWE as a senior associate leading audit teams in Aberdeen, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia. He was an accountant at Bibby Offshore for three months in 2013. In May 203 he worked as a Director at Jack Taylor Ltd from its inception through October of 2019, serving six and a half years at the Fraserburgh, Scotland company. He gained experience in the fish marketing industry throughout Europe. The knowledge he gained helped him to learn the ins and outs of the industry. He gained the confidence to launch a new company to test his skills. In October of 2019, he launched the Rooser company to trade seafood for processors throughout Europe. Rooser provides tools to help suppliers share offers and manage their stock of products in real-time.
3. Rooser is a venture capital-supported enterprise
Rooser has participated in two rounds of venture capital fundraising. The most recent round of Series A funding closed on April 24, 2022. The total amount raised is $26.1 million.
4. Rooser’s founder is a brilliant fundraiser
Joel Watts secured the interest and support of six wealthy investors to help get his startup off the ground and operational. It’s difficult to convince investors to commit to funding a brand new company, but that’s precisely what he did. Rooser is backed by six investors with one lead investor. GV and Point Nine are the most recent investors to join in the efforts. They’re joined by Index Ventures, a lead investor, Dylan Field, David Nothacker, and Eos Advisory.
5. Rooser is a privately held organization
Rooser is a privately owned company. The owner(s) chose to retain control of the business and has not yet filed for an initial public offering. Our research has not shown any indication of plans to do so in the next few months. This is why you won’t find shares of stock listed for Rooser on any of the public stock exchanges. For now, Rooser has access to the funding necessary for operational expenses and to grow and expand the business throughout other parts of Europe.
6. Rooser offers a trading app
UK Tech News confirms that Rooser is an Edinburgh-based company that recently raked in millions in fundraising proceeds. The company plans to scale the trading platform it offers clients and to further build its marketplace. Rooser helps suppliers to find the best deals on necessities with a trading app that lists the spot price for fresh seafood from the markets. It’s a source for suppliers to list their products with real-time price quotes, and a place for those running fresh seafood markets to find the best sources to purchase their inventories. Rooser’s trading app brings helpful technology into play to help buyers find the best prices from sources at any given time.
7. Rooser plans to add personalization
Rooser shared plans to use funding dollars to enhance the trading app and other tools it provides to consumers, boosting the level of quality and service. They plan to add personalized features that allow their customers to tailor the platform to meet their unique needs. It plans to enhance the stock management software intended for primary processors, add quality controls and offer supply chain financing.
8. Rooser seeks to boost profit margins of clients
Another attractive feature of Rooser’s platform is that it has built-in protocols that help users to reduce waste. It’s a problem in the fresh fish and seafood market that has plagued all participants throughout the industry from farmers and fishermen to suppliers and retailers. Waste eats up the profits of everyone involved in the process. Statistics show that fish marketing can result in fish being sold up to seven times. For every fish that is consumed by the people who purchase them for consumption, one is wasted. These are shocking statistics that show losses along with the marketing structure of up to fifty percent, which is far too high. Fish suppliers can use the technology offered by Rooser’s platform to more effectively manage inventories.
9. Rooser is beneficial for buyers
Businesses and individuals seeking seafood for purchase can use the Rooser platform to learn more about the kinds of products available on the European seafood market. The software includes a filtering mechanism for researching the fishing areas where the products are harvested, the method by which they are caught and farmed, estimates for the delivery time, and quality. They may also filter the products by species with the time-saving app that is loaded with useful data.
10. Rooser helps store owners to manage online venues
Rooser built useful controls and features into its software program for streamlining and managing its online store. It’s useful for fish suppliers who wish to use Rooser’s sea store to upload their online store. The store owners may upload information to sell to their existing customers, and it also helps them to find new customers. The system is intriguing and remarkably efficient for all users at all points in the fish and seafood marketing industry.
11. Rooser eliminates the chaos
The CEO and founder of Rooser, Joel Watt, describes the seafood industry as a complicated sequence of processes that begins with the harvesting of the products, processing, and sales to the consumer. There are multiple steps required to ensure the quality of the products and their preservation along with the way. Each process must occur at breakneck speed as the meat deteriorates quickly and only stays fresh and edible for a short window. Everyone involved in the process from start to finish must work quickly and efficiently performing their respective tasks. The chaos Watt observed is what inspired him to create solutions that would streamline the processes and make them faster and easier, with better accounting. Rooser arose from a solution Watt and his partner created for their seafood store and it was too valuable to keep to themselves.
12. Rooser is still a small operation
Roosers is gaining ground in its venture and spreading throughout Europe, but it’s still a small company. It has grown to the size of a 27-member workforce in just a few short years. The company trades across thirteen European countries with an impressive advancement into the international seafood trading market. The company is functioning as a larger entity, but the base of workers is still small.
13. Rooser has yet to add analytics
One component that Rooser is missing is a data analytics program in its platform. This is one of the improvements Watts plans to make. The company is new. It’s still developing and refining the tools it offers customers but it’s making progress in finding ways to continually upgrade its solutions, which are currently helpful without the upgrades. New additions to its software capabilities will enhance the platform’s marketability and provide opportunities to increase revenues through upgraded options packages. If Rooser chooses not to charge for the improvements, customer loyalty is likely to increase with the added value for the cost.
14. The market has plenty of room
Rooser estimates that the amount of fish traded throughout Europe annually is the equivalent of £1.18 billion. It’s a massive market that encompasses interactions of more than 140,000 businesses. The playing field is huge for companies like Rooser and it’s wide open for tools to streamline the processes and cut down on waste. Watts notes that most market participants conduct their business offline. It’s a fragmented industry that lacks cohesive channels for communication. Rooser is a good starting place for helping bring them all together under one efficient platform for those interested in upgrading their operations.
15. Investors have high confidence in Rooser
Rooser’s investors have enough faith in the likelihood of Rooser’s success to sput over $26 million into its coffers. Index Ventures’ partner Georgia Stevenson sees the value in Rooser’s platform with its promise of making the seafood industry flow more smoothly for everyone involved. She highlights that everyone in the value chain could improve their margins, reduce waste and serve their customers better with more choices and a larger market.
16. Rooser offers a user-friendly dashboard
Rooser provides a digital tool that provides users with options for viewing reams of data from one convenient location. The headings provide data for the previous day’s sales, sales today, and pending sales for tomorrow. It also lists offers made by buyers for review of company staff who wish to pursue new opportunities. The main headings are Offers, Sales, Dispatch, and Invoices to digitize tasks previously recorded with pen and paper. It cuts down on the paperwork required with all data available at a finger’s touch. Buyers and suppliers may communicate through the trading app to negotiate sales agreements, dispatching, and shipment times.
17. Rooser provides free credit insurance
Rooser backs its platform by offering free credit insurance for every sale made through the app. rooser creates an insurance policy between the buyer and supplier using various insurers such as Euler Hermes, Lloyds of London, and others. It solves the problem of non-payment and ensures that all suppliers receive their payments with a guarantee to receive payments within seven days. It’s a free feature that instills confidence in suppliers and encourages them to come aboard.
18. Rooser employs a quality team
Quality assurance is another feature offered by Rooser. Everyone involved in the process is guaranteed to receive high quality on every order received. They employ a quality team based in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, known for tight control processes. They’re on the job to ensure that all orders meet the high established standards for freshness and quality.
19. Joel Watts has a familial background in the seafood industry
Techcrunch reveals that the founder of Rooser has a long history of seafood marketplace experience that goes back several generations in his family. His father and grandfather worked in the fishing industry. He took a break by going to the University and working for a few large firms before returning home to follow in their footsteps. He’s lived through inefficient processes for a decade before doing something about it. His time away opened his eyes to new possibilities. Prior experience in the industry gives Watts a unique perspective. His education gives him insights into how to make it work better.
20. Rooser is a startup to keep your eye on
In under three years, Rooser has grown from a one-person operation to employing 27 workers. The company is all about making the seafood industry run more cohesively and more efficiently. Some will continue to follow the old traditions, but more modern companies are jumping on the bandwagon to streamline their operations with the Rooser platform. It has the potential to become a disruptor in the European seafood industry. It’s a business that is worth keeping your eye on. We fully expect Rooser to continue its growth and expansion.
