You’ve probably seen them around. They are TV-like boxes placed atop filling station pumps displaying video ads. These pieces of hardware are from Adbox, a startup attempting to monetize customers who come to service stations by exposing them to ads.
It’s similar, but Adbox’s proposition is different from scrolling neon-light displays which normally inform patrons how happy the service station is for their patronage and how they are looking forward to them coming around the next time.
Adbox’s ad boxes (I’m sorry), display full-colored pictures pretty much like a regular screen.
The Adbox is a product from S&T media, a digital advertising startup. They told TechCabal that “the goal is to create a Pan African Network where brands can communicate effectively with consumers, we believe in interaction and engagement, communication shouldn’t be a one way street.”
S&T Media is also one of the startups that has received seed-funding from EchoVC. It launched in October 2014 and was bootstrapped till August 2015 when its first funding came from EchoVC.
The size of this investment was not made public and the founders – Soji Ogundoyin and Tolu Roberts – have kept mum about much of the details. They did tell us that their total funding to date is in the $200, 000 and $600,000 range.
“Most of our funding will go directly into our CAPEX [capital expenditure], as it’s a hardware -driven business,” co-founder, Soji Ogundoyin tells me.
They’ve signed up Oando, Forte Oil, Total and according to Soji, are in discussions with all the major downstream players. “We plan to be the biggest place based advertising network in Africa within the next 5 years,” Soji says.
The startup also plans to launch other products in the coming months and they seem to be off to a good start. EchoVC’s blessings (and money) not the least of those.
Image via: Adbox
