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Deal 5: Monimoto Co-Founder Andrius Bruno Rimkunas on Capital Raise

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On January 28, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen had advised Open Circle Capital on its investment in Monimoto, a company developing smart trackers for motorcycles. CEEIHM spoke with Andrius Bruno Rimkunas, Co-founder and Business Developer at Monimoto, to learn more.

CEEIHM: What is the story of Monimoto?

Andrius: Back in 2013, when I first met Rolandas Dranseika, currently CEO and co-founder of Monimoto, we were playing with the idea of making an efficient anti-theft tracker for bicycles. In 2014, we decided to move onto motorcycles, as with existing technologies at a time, bicycles ended up not being as promising of an avenue. But with motorcycles, it looked good: existing problem (thefts), no end-user solutions, no B2C solutions, and distribution was available. It took two years and lots of failed experiments to get there. At the end of 2016, we decided to establish a company to start a separate business dedicated to this product

CEEIHM: SPC Legal recently advised your company on attracting investment from Open Circle Capital. Could you tell us a bit more about the deal and what role Open Circle Capital will play in Monimoto’s future?

Andrius: SPC Legal – and Partner Mindaugas Rimkus – have been with us since the very start, and we are extremely delighted to work with them, and see them growing along with us. As for OCC (Open Circle Capital), I am excited to work with them. I worked with one of the partners, Rokas Tamosiunas, in the past, when he was managing "Startup Highway" (and yes, we failed with that startup, causing about EUR 8,000 of losses for them), and now we are working with OCC Partner William Cardwell, an Adjunct Professor on Finance and Entrepreneurship. William has extensive experience in M&A and investments, and hopefully, when growing at full speed, they will use this incredible brainpower, experience, and network for us! For now, we are getting used to each other and on-boarding ourselves during periodic meetings.

CEEIHM: How will the investment further Monimoto’s business goals in the coming months?

Andrius: As promised, we are increasing our team and expenditures towards the USA and other markets. We did finish 2020 profitably, which looks very positive (considering COVID-19 and triple team growth), and in 2021, the raised amount will add some capabilities for us to take measured, but brave risks.

CEEIHM: It was reported that Monimoto secured funding from a total of 392 investors during its crowdfunding campaign and follow-up investments. What is the secret of Monimoto’s appeal to the investors?

Andrius: I am sorry to disappoint you. No magic, no secret, no over-promises were used during this small round. We just said and showed what we are. 392 investors sounds like a scary big number – some invested EUR 10,0000, some EUR 10, and we are about to learn how to communicate properly with all of them. These are not institutional investors, but rather regular, private individuals, and they trusted us with their hard-earned money. And yes, most of them are our clients. I will do my best to make them happy investors.

CEEIHM: What would be the main qualities of SPC Legal that made you choose the firm as Monimoto’s legal advisor?

Andrius: We have known Mindaugas Rimkus for more than seven years now. We, as founders, fully trust him, and this is because he is professional, open, humble, and straightforward. And it looks like we share the same values and attitudes.

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