Less than a year since it launched, Golden Valley-based Omnia Fishing expects to close a second fundraising round totaling $1 million at the end of this month.
The e-commerce store, which recommends tackle based on the lake anglers plan to fish, launched last fall after raising its first $1 million from local investors. The team has been touring the Midwest since July, pitching its plans for growth to angel investors and early-stage investment funds, co-founder and CEO Matt Johnson told Minne Inno.
“The whole goal in the endeavor is to provide a better experience to convince people they don’t have to go into the shop,” Johnson said. The idea stems from the founding team’s own interest in fishing, as well as frustrations with choosing the right gear. “We are the target market. We’re the person who walks into the store and gets overwhelmed.”
In September, Johnson did a single-day round trip drive to Kansas City, where he met a group of potential angel investors and made it home in time to send his daughter off to her first day of kindergarten.
“It’s never easy to fundraise,” he said.
Omnia looks to shake up an estimated $4.5 billion retail market that has remained mostly offline because picking the right tackle for each new fishing excursion can be overwhelming without personal guidance. Customers can start their search by selecting a lake, and then a fish species. The store recommends products relevant to the lake and fish characteristics.
The site sorts selections using an algorithm the team at Omnia developed. But users can share their insights, too.
Johnson said the company aims to combine the selection of a big box retail store (imagine Bass Pro Shop or Cabela’s), the lake-by-lake expertise of a local store and the convenience of an online retailer.
The team is learning that the angler crowd is just as eager for free shipping as any other retail customer. For $29 a year, customers can upgrade their account to get free shipping with no minimum order total, similar to Amazon’s Prime option. So far, 22 percent of the store’s unique customers have opted to upgrade, Johnson said.
Now that the platform is up, Omnia is focused on adding more lakes, with immediate plans to expand into the southeast, and attracting more customers. They’re tracking which shoppers go through the steps of setting up an account with their fishing preferences. Of all their customers so far, 70 percent have filled in those details. They’re also getting hundreds of requests to “activate” new lakes. That’s the kind of organic growth they want, Johnson said.
