Huufe

Idea

Introduction

Huufe is the App that makes horse riding more fun, safer and more rewarding. It has been described as ‘Revolutionary’ in leading equestrian publication, Horse & Hound.

At the heart of Huufe is the first* equestrian social media app with GPS ride tracking. Riders enjoy photo/video sharing, profiles for themselves and their horses, social groups, horse management and record keeping. Sophisticated safety features include an accident detection/notification system and real-time rider tracking. And then there is the rewards scheme...

Riders are rewarded for their riding by earning HuufeCoin. We’ve partnered with leading equestrian retailers to create the HuufeCoin marketplace, where riders can spend HuufeCoin on discounted equestrian products and services. Riders win!

The HuufeCoin marketplace, is a new and highly efficient route to market for equestrian product and service providers. Vendors win!

Huufe revenue will be generated by charging a commission on Huufe marketplace sales and subscription for premium features - such as the safety systems. Huufe wins!

*based on our market research

Intended impact

We want Huufe to be THE app for the equestrian community. By going mobile, rewarding our riders and not carrying boring adverts, we are disrupting traditional equestrian marketing channels.

In our view, until recently, horse riders have been very poorly served by technology. For example they have had to use cycling apps to track their rides! Only now are they getting access to technology as an enabler for their passion. Smartphones and new equine wearable devices have created an opportunity for what is, to our knowledge, the very first equestrian activity tracking social media platform - Huufe.

Having completed our testing and with thousands of people using Huufe, we will use the crowdfunding investment to accelerate user growth, leveraging the HuufeCoin Marketplace rewards programme - offering riders and suppliers unique mutual benefit.

Huufe is all about supporting and rewarding the passion of the equestrian community. This community can join our crowd and help shape the future of Huufe.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Huufe started in February 2017 with a clear three phase business strategy:

BUILD: Design, Build & Launch the Huufe App. Now completed, this phase involved extensive work with focus groups to design the Huufe features that riders wanted. These features were built and have now been thoroughly tested and launched in the Apple App Store, Google Play and as a Web app. Concurrently, complex mobile app financial modelling has been tested against user acquisition marketing using Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Apple Search Ads and organic channels to benchmark Cost Per Install and other key metrics.
To date, Huufe has gained thousands of monthly active users.

GROW: Launch HuufeCoin. Rewarding our riders for both riding and getting their friends to join them on Huufe, the HuufeCoin rewards programme will grow monthly active users and increase user retention. Phase 2 development is complete and the first round of commercial partner agreements are secured. We are now ready to scale the app.

BENEFIT: Big Data - we hope to create the world’s largest equestrian datasets, which will be used to benefit the equestrian world. All data will be completely anonymised and used in such a way that properly benefits horses, riders and supporters of the equestrian market.

Upgrading and adding new functions to the Huufe app never ends! Our community are constantly asking for new features and we continue to build them.

Monetisation strategy

Monetisation, aligned with our business strategy, is achieved in three ways:

Premium Functions. The Huufe app offers a subscription safety package:

- SafeRide (if you fall off a text message is sent to your emergency contacts giving your location).
- LiveRide (real time tracking of your location for chosen contacts).
Riders can buy this as an in-app subscription for £1.50 per month. This revenue stream is already running with good initial Conversion Rates and Lifetime Value metrics.

HuufeCoin. Partner companies will pay a commission for selling their products or services in the HuufeCoin marketplace.

Leveraging Big Data. The anonymised and aggregated riding data to benefit equestrianism. i.e. ‘Micro-Tailored’ insurance, Equine nutrition research and development etc.

We aim for the app to be in self sustaining growth by 2020.

Use of proceeds

This round of funding will support phase 2 of our strategy. Scaling HuufeCoin and the App growth globally.

Specifically the funds will be used as follows:

Expand the breadth and quantity of marketing campaigns in order that the platform user growth accelerates.

Accelerate the delivery of new app functionality specifically around ride analysis and enhancing the HuufeCoin offering to make it easy for retail partners to interoperate with the Huufe platform.

Recruit a Product Manager. This is an IT professional responsible for setting, prioritising, and evaluating the work generated by the development team in South Africa in order to continue to ensure impeccable features and functionality in the Huufe App.