DURHAM – Startup The Looma Project believes that “the most powerful way to drive a purchase is to tell a story,” and its pitch has convinced Cary-based Cofounders Capital to lead a $375,000 seed round of investment capital.
Also known as Looma, the company describes its goal as building a “Digital Storytelling Network.” It is deploying a network of tablets based in groceries that are designed to play what Looma calls “micro-documentary style videos that reveal the passionate people, unique processes, and positive impact behind select brands.”
“Engineered for the grocery space, our network of in-store digital displays is designed to scale the power of storytelling while retaining proximity to the moment of purchase. Initial pilots have produced consistent lift in the mid-twenties,” Looma explains at its website.
Indeed, Looma and Cofounders Capital say the startup has validated what they call “significant lift” generated by the network in several case studies. One “more than doubled sales of [an unidentified] local coffee company” at test locations.
The funding was disclosed Friday morning. And Cofounders partner Tim McLoughlin says the investment firm likes the progress Looma is making.
“We’ve seen consistent and dramatic increases in sales conversions for brands advertising through the Looma network. At the same time, grocery stores are excited to better engage their customers with content they actually care about. When you find a company that has such strong, proven value props for their customers, the investment makes sense.” he said in the funding announcement.
Loom says its tablets will begin to appear in groceries across the southeast “within the next few months.”
“The goal of digital storytelling within grocery is to replicate the communal feel of a farmers market through a scalable channel that merges the online and offline experience,” explained Cole Johnson, Looma’s founder and CEO, in the funding announcement.
He also noted that Looma is producing a “really unique data set” about purchasing behavior and in the future hopes “to build an AI-driven storytelling engine that will enable content creators to produce more impactful stories and give brands unprecedented insight into the efficacy of their existing stories.”
