October 24, 2019 - Tribeca, NYC - Oakscale, the tech-driven franchise development company connecting emerging franchise brands with passionate entrepreneurs, is excited to announce a $1.2 million seed funding round led by angel investors Brett Barna, Timothy Tully, Pen King Jr (Innovating Capital), and Robert Huntington with participation from Horsman Holdings and Liveris Family Office (of former Dow Chemical Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris), as well as other technology and franchise industry investors.
With the funding round, which came in significantly oversubscribed, Oakscale will execute on its mission of identifying emerging franchise concepts, positioning them for growth, and matching them with the right franchisees at scale.
Franchising, designed to rapidly and capital-efficiently expand proven business systems across local markets nationwide, has powered some of the greatest success stories in American business. But for years the industry has seen too many promising concepts fail to achieve their breakout potential due to franchisors’ lack of development resources, misunderstanding of digital marketing and technology best practices, and poor franchisee selection. By combining deep experience in franchise sales with leading technology, digital marketing techniques, and powerful analytics, Oakscale is uniquely positioned to execute the entire franchise sales and development marketing function for select brands, generating franchise sales in the highest-impact local markets on a national scale.
Oakscale’s approach has won the attention of franchise brands, industry veterans, and sophisticated investors alike, compelled by the company’s vision of pairing the growth potential of franchising with a modern understanding of how brands must be marketed and sold today -- digitally, transparently, and with a deep appreciation for why a potential franchisee should, or should not, choose a particular franchise.
“I invested in Oakscale for 3 reasons—the people, the tech and the franchise concepts they partner with,” said Robert Huntington, CEO of Westside Franchise Brands. “Josh and the team he is building are exceptional. They understand why people invest in owning a franchise. They know it’s a hard decision and are phenomenal at helping people think through it effectively.”
Oakscale was incubated by Metric Collective, one of the largest technology and digital marketing companies in the franchise development space, to create an unmatched digital footprint to promote brands, attract and screen potential franchisees, and ultimately acquire quality franchisees far more efficiently than a brand could on their own.
Huntington continues, “For the tech, they have the best prospective franchise owner leads in the franchise industry. I’ve sold franchises as both a franchisor and as a franchise broker. To do so, I worked with leads from every source out there. I haven’t found one that’s close to as good as the lead generation tactics executed by Oakscale.”
As further validation of its model, Oakscale recently partnered with Xpresso Delight, a successful international franchise brand with over 200 franchises sold in Australia and New Zealand, to serve as Xpresso Delight’s exclusive franchise development partner for all U.S. expansion. Xpresso Delight CEO, Nigell Lee, is not shy when it comes to expressing his appreciation of the partnership with Oakscale, explaining, “We were very clear on the franchise candidates we were looking for, and they really helped us curate a pipeline that made sense for us. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about bringing in the right candidates and the right people into the network.”
Explains Oakscale CEO, Joshua Kovacs, “In its simplest form, franchise development is matching qualified candidates with the right brands. The long term vision for Oakscale is to own that process from A to Z. We'll be the main point of contact from lead generation and qualification through to signing franchise agreements with the franchisor. Right now, our focus is on being the best, most transparent and modern franchise development company out there by ensuring that emerging franchisors get quality franchisees into their system at a pace that allows for intelligent growth.”
About Oakscale
Founded in 2017, Oakscale is a franchise development company that develops innovative emerging business concepts and promotes them to investors around the world.
For more information, visit https://www.oakscale.com/
