Saturday, 23 March 2024, Bengaluru, India
According to a survey commissioned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Americans allocated over $144.8 billion exclusively toward hunting and fishing endeavors in 2022. A significant portion of this spending pertains to guided hunting and fishing trips, traditionally conducted offline. Phone reservations are commonly accepted in cash or by physical check. Mallard Bay aims to streamline this payment procedure.
(Image Source: Techcrunch.com)
The Houston-based company operates a marketplace where customers can search for and reserve guided tours, similar to how they would do an online hotel reservation. Mallard Bay is a vertical SaaS platform enabling outfitters to offer extra services like marketing and move their back office online.
This Monday, the business revealed that Soul Venture Partners, an existing investor, and additional angel investors would join it in a $4.6 million Series A. Mallard Bay’s co-founder and CEO, Logan Meaux, told TechCrunch that the company’s idea came about due to a disastrous hunting trip he took with his dad during college. He believed he had reserved a guided three-day duck hunt in Oklahoma. They discovered that the hunt had been double booked when they arrived, and their only choice was to go hunting for a single day with thirteen other individuals. Meaux never pulled a trigger.
Meaux believed he could start his own business while working for his dad’s startup, Waitr, which raised $24 million in venture financing before going out of business in 2018. He began working with the other two co-founders in 2019. The first plan was to establish a website similar to Airbnb where individuals could reserve these guided hunts. The company understood that to attract guides to sign on, they would need to provide more when they began asking outfitters and guides what they thought of the idea. This prompted them to develop Guidetech, Mallard Bay’s outfitter back office system.
Following the addition of hunting influencer Toby Brohlin to the network, additional outfitters began registering. According to Meux, Brohlin has secured gross bookings above $1 million. In 2023, the platform enabled gross bookings above $6 million, and it is projected to attain $30 million to $35 million by 2024.
Meaux stated that despite the magnitude of the market and the company’s progress, it was difficult to get investors to sign on since many were unaware of the category’s potential. To fund this round, the firm spoke with over 270 investors. To convince potential supporters that this wasn’t a platform for organizing exotic hunting expeditions in Africa, the business also had to manage the harmful stereotypes around hunting. The company’s founders also wanted investors to know that ethical hunting and fishing practices aid conservation, a cause close to their hearts.
“Being a conservationist is the one thing that comes with hunting and fishing,” Meaux stated. It just goes with the territory because, in the end, we want our children to accomplish the same things our parents taught us how to do. Overpopulation is only good and bad for animals if sustainable approaches and wildlife management are used.
The amount that Mallard has expanded since its 2021 premiere is likewise noteworthy. The growth in Mallard Bays’ bookings year over year has been 600%, notable in a very specialist industry such as hunting and fishing but excellent in any field. There’s wealth in focusing on specialized markets, likely because they are often larger than they initially seem.
Americans expended over $394 billion on outdoor pursuits like hiking, birdwatching, and fishing, among other activities. Nonetheless, numerous sectors within this domain continue to operate offline or rely on outdated, cumbersome technology. I ran upon this last month while attempting to locate parking for a climb on the well-known Devil’s Bridge path in Sedona, Arizona. I had to compile information from other blogs to determine whether I required a parking pass.
Case studies from areas other than Mallard Bay further demonstrate a market for these outdoor-focused technologies. Strava, boasting over 100 million users, is an application tailored for cyclists and runners. Similarly, numerous apps connect individuals who share interests in outdoor activities like fishing. In its twelve-year existence, the fishing-focused social media platform Fishbrain has recorded over 14 million successful captures.
(Information Source: Techcrunch.com)
