The pandemic has changed the way that most organizations approach their businesses with a rapid acceleration in digital adoption across most industries. Even industries that have traditionally been run on paper and pencil models have harnessed the added efficiency that technology can bring. Bevz is a tech-powered management platform for independently operated and small-chain liquor and convenience stores. At its core, the platform offers a robust inventory management and order system, an in-store POS system, and a delivery management system for delivery apps that’s simple to use for retailers. The platform integrates with existing solutions across delivery (DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc.), POS systems, Distribution, Brands, and other SaaS solutions for business management. Bevz is in use by store operators on a subscription basis in ten states and operators are seeing promising early returns with an average increase of $2K per month in revenue.
LA TechWatch caught up with Bevz CEO and Cofounder Jason Vego to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $4M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
$3.1M Seed round, co-led by Dynamism Capital and Golden Section Ventures, with participation from Tiller Partners, Bridge Investments, IrishAngels, Stage 2 Capital, Operate, The Pitch, Hustle Fund, Gryphon Ventures, and Silicon Beach Investment.
Tell us about your product or service.
Bevz is a SaaS platform that helps convenience stores stock the products that their customers want and easily sell those products in-store and across multiple e-commerce channels. The technology works by automating and integrating the way a convenience stores order inventory from their snack and drink distributors, sell in-store through their POS system, and sell online through their e-commerce and delivery apps.
What inspired the start of Bevz?
My cofounder Victor Grayr is the original conceptualizer and founder of Bevz. He has owned and operated convenience stores for over 35 years and has helped more than 100 convenience store owners improve their operational processes. He really knows this customer and market. After trying out several restaurant technology platforms, he came to me with the idea for Bevz in 2019 to bring custom technology and services to liquor/convenience stores.
How is it different?
Bevz is unique in our focus on independently operated and small chain convenience stores. Our technology is designed for the unique needs of this audience, with the vision of creating the full operating system for these stores.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
The global convenience store market, which has 1.2 million convenience stores doing $2.1 trillion in annual revenue. For the foreseeable future, we will be U.S. focused, where there are 150,000 convenience stores doing $258 billion in annual revenue. And right now, we are targeting independently operated and small chain convenience stores, which make up 71% of the market (106,000 stores).
What’s your business model?
We charge a SaaS fee (monthly subscription) along with advertising revenue from snack and drink brands.
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
The convenience store market has proven to be unaffected by economic slowdowns and even the global pandemic. The market is on track to grow 40% over the next five years.
What was the funding process like?
Fundraising in 2023 was not easy. We had to be extremely clear on our story and vision, have robust financials and projections, show a detailed data room, and maintain consistent growth. As we continued to talk with and build relationships with several investors, while consistently growing the business, we filled our round with a combination of previous investors and some great new investors.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
During the economic slowdown, SVB bank crash, and inflated valuations from previous years, many investors I spoke with were just not writing checks. Additionally, investors were doing significantly more diligence, and had higher expectations about growth and capital efficiency. The combo led to me spending a lot more time with each investor, causing the whole raise to take way longer than expected.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Several factors contributed to getting investors to conviction. I think they key ones were: (1) Strong founding team, with industry, operational, and technical expertise; (2) Large, relatively untapped market opportunity; (3) Consistent monthly growth across customers and revenue; (4) Very strong conversion from free trial to paid subscription and retention of paid customers; (5) Clear, big vision for the next phases of the company.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We plan to: (1) Build out a strong team based on our required hiring needs, with almost no voluntary or involuntary churn; (2) Acquire ~1k more convenience stores; (3) Maintain our free trial conversion and paid subscription numbers; (4) Build another POS integration; (5) Scale across 15 U.S. states.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Do whatever it takes to stay alive and keep building relationships with investors (if you plan to eventually raise). It’s a tough fundraising environment and you should expect that your raise will take a very long time. Do your best to maintain consistent growth across at least one KPI (which could be revenue-based or non-revenue-based, like customer acquisition), and stay as capital efficient as possible with confidence around how you can scale up growth while maintaining capital efficiency with a new injection of capital.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re hiring across several states in the U.S. so that we can scale faster outside of California. Our two core focus areas are adding as many stores as possible across the U.S. and building out more game-changing technology and integrations for these stores and the broader snack/drink industry.
What’s your favorite outdoor activity in LA?
Pickup basketball. I don’t get out there enough, but you can occasionally find me and a couple of Bevz team members at the Poinsettia Park courts in Hollywood on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening. You might even see Adam Sandler there.
