Sparo is a patent-pending application that allows customer to have a portion of their purchase donated to the charity of their choice. This is an investor document for those interested in giving capitalism a conscience.
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Sparo is the game-changing platform that connects
!
merchants, charities and shoppers.
ü First ever application that seamlessly marries e-commerce and charity on the
checkout page of online merchants
PATENT-PENDING
!
ü Transforms corporate social responsibility into a tool for revenue generation !
ü Democratizes charity-giving in America and around the world
!
ü Created with patent-pending technology that is hard to copy and rebuild
!
Seeking Meaningful Ownership - $1,000,000 total investment
3. HOW DOES SPARO WORK?
www.youtube.com/embed/RlS7COsjGCE
Sparo’s proprietary application can
be easily embedded on any
merchant’s site, and allows the
customer to have a portion of their
purchase donated to their charity of
choice, at no extra cost.
Sparo’s network of charities vouch
for Sparo merchants to their
donors, while merchants get
increased sales and an enhanced
brand image.
Sparo’s revenue comes from a
service fee charged with each
transaction which utilized the app.
4. Structure and Ownership
PATENT-PENDING
SPARO PROFILE
Sparo – Nevada-registered corporation
Rob Sobhani – Founder 100% of the Common Stock. Invested $700k
Employees (5) – Option Holders
Assets
Patents – Patents filed November 2013
Personnel – Developers, Management, Finance, e-commerce Marketing, IT and Online Sales
Fully-functional website and portals, transaction-based platform and database management systems
!
Strategic Relationships and Partnerships
Citron Clothing
Washington Times
Kay’s Naturals
MommaLu (launching this Fall)
VK Nagrani (launching this Fall)
In advanced talks with leading national newspaper (NDA signed)
In advanced talks with top-5 online retailer (NDA signed)
In advanced talks with top-20 online retailer
!
5. VALUE PROPOSITION FOR MERCHANTS
The Sparo program can increase revenue for
any merchant through incremental net
revenues and value-added services for all sales
on the website.
Value Added
Services
Benefits to Merchant
Increased Net
Revenues
+
• Increased deductions
• Business expenses or charitable
deductions due to charity donations
without the charity cap
• Share shift from competitors not
partnering with Sparo
• A new movement in charitable
giving
• Increased brand awareness
• Increased loyalty
• End-to-end program management
New
Customers
Tax
Deductions
Competitors
Customers
Positive PR
Exposure
Turnkey
Processes
• New customers from enrolled
charities
• Cost of purchase is a fraction of
traditional acquisition channels
Lower Cost of
Purchase per
Customer
Merchant.com
6. SPARO REVENUE: The Economics
Our revenue is driven by sales made through Sparo and is taken as a “Sparo Fee” from each gross sale:
DONATION PERCENTAGE (%)
(This refers to the percent of each
purchase made through Sparo,
which the merchant is willing to
donate for charity.)
SPARO SERVICE FEE (%)
(This refers to the percentage of each
purchase made through Sparo, which
Sparo keeps as revenue.)
+
= TOTAL SPARO FEE
We work with each merchant to determine how much they can donate per purchase, as well as a service
fee to keep the program running.
TAX DEDUCTIONS AND SPARO
When it comes to taxes, corporations can deduct charitable contributions from their taxes. However,
the total amount of charitable contributions claimed cannot be more than 10% of their taxable
income.
Because Sparo’s end-to-end program is a marketing campaign for merchants, the fees paid to
Sparo are a dollar-for-dollar business expense.
Through Sparo, there is no limit to the good that merchants can do.
7. ($3 billion)
1%
9%
($ billion)
Total Market Share of
Online Charitable Giving
($270 billion)
Total Size of Pie: $300 billion
PATENT-PENDING
MARKET POTENTIAL:
We’re Equipped For Growth
Sparo has the unique and timely opportunity
to dominate in a rapidly emerging market
90%
!
ü Currently, there is no single player that
dominates the online giving space.
!
ü The market is fragmented with many small
players such as online giving marketplaces,
charities partnering directly with retailers and
daily shopping lists.
Market Potential Online Marketplaces (iGive, SocialVest, DailyGood) Paypal
($27 billion)
8. COMPETITIVE OVERVIEW
Sparo is establishing a leadership position in online giving applications.
DIFFERENTIATORS
ACCESS TO
MERCHANT WEBSITE Access to merchants, but no
charitable giving component
Access to Amazon Smile
and Affiliate Merchants Only
EMBEDDED ON
MERCHANT WEBSITE First patented application to
ever be embedded on
merchant checkout Only for Amazon shoppers
ALLOCATE
DONATIONS TO
VARIOUS CAUSES
Can add causes and donate
to any cause–can save
donation for later
During enrollment, member
selects only one cause to
donate to
Donations are only saved
for later disbursement to a
charity of choice
During enrollment, member
selects only one cause to
donate to
Direct donation to only one
charity at a time through
account
During enrollment, member
selects only one cause to
donate to
TUITION GRANTS % of all fees collected
donated as college tuition
grants
PATENT-PENDING
TECHNOLOGY
9. EXPONENTIAL GROWTH:
The Right Choice. The Right Time.
500
375
250
125
2011 2013 2015 2017
PATENT-PENDING
US online retails sales will
grow from $225.5 Billion in
2012 to $434.2 in 2017
according to eMarketer.
Our goal is to capture anywhere between 0.05% to 0.10% of the
e-commerce market by 2017, which equates to gross revenues
between $217M and $4.3B.
Billions $
0
Year
10. FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Financial projection based on the premise of partnering with one major
PATENT-PENDING
retailer or 15 medium-sized retailers:*
* According to the “Internet Retailer 2014 Top
500 Guide,” the top 500 retailers in 2013
web sales totaled to $255.6 billion.
11. PATENT-PENDING
USE OF PROCEEDS:
Sales Drive Investment
First Year Budgeted Expenses
!
• Investing in next generation technology to allow exponential growth in membership
!
• Complete development of plug-and-play technology to access small to medium-sized
merchants
• Immediate execution of a large-scale marketing campaign to source Merchants,
Charities and Shoppers
• General & Admin Cost – Professional Fees, Office Set-up, Licensing, Insurance and
other general overhead
!
• Hire additional staff for Marketing, Business Development, and IT Support
12. PATENT-PENDING
NEAR TERM OPPORTUNITIES
Phase 1
Inception & Launch
Phase 2
Reach & Rollout
Phase 3
Growth & Expand
Timeline August 2013- Dec 2013 Jan 2014- July 2014 July 2014 - onwards
!
Technology
ü Sparo API Developed and launched
on citronclothing.com collecting
donations for all transaction selecting
API
ü Interim website launched
ü Launched new member site with added
functionality
• Scaling Technology for larger retailers
• Launch API on major national newspaper
• Enhancement to API and full e-commerce
capability on
Sparo.com
• Automated ability for small
merchants to download API
!
Business
Development
ü Enrolled 20 charities
ü Preliminary Discussions with key
retailers
ü Signed major national newspaper for all
subscriptions types
• Continue discussions with key merchants-
• Continue signing charities relevant to new
merchant signings
• Launch and integration with major
retailer
• >20 small-medium size
merchants partnering with Sparo
(Revenues >$250k)
• > 200 Charities partnering with
Sparo
!
Marketing
ü Developed all charity collateral and all
marketing assets
ü Marketed with Citron increasing
revenues by 25% since launch
ü Launching promotional campaigns for
Citron with key charities
ü Developing Marketing plan with major
national newspaper for launch
• Sparo 360 member marketing
• PR campaign with large retailer
AND NEXT STEPS
13. RESULTS AND TESTIMONIALS
With the soft launch of Sparo’s patent-pending application, which was embedded with our
first merchant at the beginning of 2014, we have seen remarkable results.
PATENT-PENDING
“I have just reviewed our online sales for Q1 of 2014 and have seen an increase in sales
of almost 50% after only three full months of Sparo’s Application in our online checkout.
There has also been a significant increase in new customers who have not purchased
from us before. Congratulations to the Sparo Team!”
- Ricki Wolman, Owner & Designer, Citron Clothing of Santa Monica
"Partnering with Sparo has enabled our organization to increase our visibility and attract new
donors through ecommerce. The innovative Sparo technology has made it easy for
shoppers to contribute to our charity at no cost to the donors or our organization. There are
many ecommerce charity platforms out there, but Sparo soars above them all."
- David Litwack, Executive Director, Save a Child's Heart Foundation
"Dear Sparo Team, I think this new donation vehicle is a GREAT idea, and just made a purchase with your
partner Citron Clothing as a result of this added benefit. I would love it if some of my favorite on-line
merchants such as IKEA, Amazon, LL Bean, and Crate and Barrel joined your partner network..”
Anne Rooney - Current Shopper
Current Merchant
Current Non-Profit
14. the effect
Giving everyday purchases an
extraordinary purpose.
MERCHANTS
Sparo is a proven lead generation tool
that enables merchants to lower their
cost of acquisition and increase sales,
simply by caring about the causes that
are important to all their customers.
MEMBERS
Sparo empowers shoppers with a
simple — yet profound — way to do more
good by providing them with a platform
where their favorite charities and
merchants connect.
INVESTORS
Sparo has the incredible potential to
capture a significant percentage of
the booming e-commerce market by
revolutionizing the way we give and
the way we buy.
CHARITIES
Sparo fosters relationships with
charities, and collaborates with each
one to increase their donations by
connecting their millions of donors
to our partnering merchants.
15. BACKGROUND: THE SPARO STORY
"What if every purchase made online resulted in a charitable
donation and each donation led to more purchases?“
Recently, a small group of people came together and
talked about their desire to make the world a better place.
It is a known fact that people genuinely want to give more.
What if we gave them an easy and rewarding way to do
more good?
After much research and thought, our team came up with
a solution: an application, unobtrusively embedded at an
on-line checkout allowing online shoppers to donate a
portion of their purchase to the charity of their
choice….not the merchant’s choice.
“In allowing people to support their favorite charity by
simply purchasing from sites they already trust, we could
enable millions of shoppers to do more good and
ultimately "Purchase with a Purpose™.“
PATENT-PENDING
Sparo's purpose is threefold:
Allows everyone to do more good and more
often through their everyday purchases,
Provides merchants a way in which they can
contribute to the causes that their customers
care about,
Gives charities a role in the e-commerce
business and advances the good work that
charities do for their community everyday.
16. SPARO MERCHANT VIDEO
A video on how we provide value for our merchants through charitable giving.
www.youtube.com/embed/zidoN6RgOb4
PATENT-PENDING
18. PATENT-PENDING
SPARO ASSETS
What we’ve built since we started.
1. Sparo Application
We’ve created an non-obtrusive and
secure application that can be
embedded on a merchant’s checkout
and provides customers with a
selection of charities to choose from.
In this app, Sparo Members have the
option to donate directly to their
Sparo Piggy Bank to collect their
donations for later.
19. PATENT-PENDING
SPARO ASSETS
What we’ve built since we started.
2. Merchant Portal
We’ve provided a portal for Sparo
Merchants to sign-in and manage their
account, track their transactions, as
well as view and pay their invoices.
20. PATENT-PENDING
SPARO ASSETS
What we’ve built since we started.
3. Charity Portal
We’ve provided a portal for Sparo Charities to
sign-in and manage their account, update their
landing page, track their donations, and select
how they would like to receive their donations.
21. PATENT-PENDING
SPARO ASSETS
What we’ve built since we started.
5. Admin Portal
The Admin Portal is build to oversee and
manage all of Sparo’s charities, merchants
and members -- from membership to
accounting and site content.
22. PATENT-PENDING
SPARO ASSETS
What we’ve built since we started.
4. Member Site (Main Sparo Site)
We’ve created a platform where Sparo
members can see their donation activity,
track and save their favorite merchants and
charities, discover other merchants and
charities and manage their Sparo Piggy
Bank.
23. THE CONSUMER CHOICE:
PATENT-PENDING
Donate Now OR Visit Later
Donate now or save for
a later date through a
piggy-banking feature
The customer has the ability to direct a
portion of the value of the transaction to a
charity that they care about or save the
donation to their piggy bank for a later
disbursement.
!
Sparo is a catalyst for driving more traffic
(both unique and repeat) to a customer’s
website through a save & donate later
feature.
Profile Page of the Member Site:
24. THE SPARO CONNECTION:
Track your favorite merchants and charities on one site.
PATENT-PENDING
Member Favorites
The Sparo Member Site will be the hub where shoppers
can save and track their favorite merchants and charities
under one roof, keep track of the latest news, activities,
promotions and events, and share this information with
their network of friends.
25. THE SPARO CONNECTION:
Merchants and Charities Connect with Our Members
PATENT-PENDING
Our charities and
merchants are given
a unique
opportunity to
connect with our
members.
Merchant profile page: Charity profile page:
26. Sparo gives customers ability to chose the charity they want,
PATENT-PENDING
and our charities help promote our merchants
At Sparo, our
charities are our
partners who drive
their donors to
socially-responsible
merchants.
!
THE SPARO DIFFERENCE:
Shoppers choose the charity.
Sample of our charity partners:
*See a full list at sparo.com
27. THE POINT OF SALE:
The Checkout Page
Seamless and secure integration for the merchant and shopper on the checkout cart
Unlike other online charitable solutions, Sparo is seamlessly integrated on the checkout page.
The customer is not required to go through a separate website or download a widget to
execute the donation. This provides a significant advantage for Sparo over its competitors,
PATENT-PENDING
enabling many more donations and purchases simultaneously.
28. CUSTOMER APPEAL:
It’s Simple & It’s Possible
•
An independent study was done with 1,000 online shoppers to rate the Sparo Experience
1
0
0
0
* Online Survey conducted with panel of 1,011 online shoppers ages 18 – 64 years old
PATENT-PENDING
88% of consumers
say they would
participate in Sparo
How likely would you participate in Sparo?
0
1% 0%
11%
44% 44%
Extremely Likely Somewhat Likely Not sure
Somewhat Unlikely Definitely Unlikely
29. Shoppers are more likely to shop at Sparo retail partners and Shoppers are more likely to donate
to their favorite Charities
PATENT-PENDING
CUSTOMER APPEAL:
Shop, Donate. Repeat.
29
90% Consumers would like retailers a
lot more if they utilized Sparo
77% of shoppers are more likely to
convert if Sparo is a partner
0% 0%
9%
37%
53%
Much More A Little More The Same A Little Less
A Lot Less
How likely are you to complete a purchase if you found out
Sparo was utilized after you already have an item in your cart?
1% 0%
22%
38% 39%
Much More A Little More No Change A Little Less
A Lot Less
How much more would you like an online retailer if they
utilized Sparo?
30. PATENT-PENDING
THANK YOU
!
Rob Sobhani – CEO
rsobhani@sparo.com
240 401-8930
!
Ian Gerrard – Financial Advisor
igerrard@verizon.net
571 422-1783