
Board of Directors
Larry Lubin, Chairman & President
As the founder, Chairman and CEO of Fitech, now part of CGI, Larry was an innovator in the areas of sales, software development, and financial services. Many leading applications for Financial Institutions, including the Reality Check™ series for Scotia Bank, were developed by Larry and his Fitech team.
His vision of an optimized and fully integrated sales and customer experience that leverages the power of technology is at the heart of every BlueRush solution today.
In September of 2003, BlueRush was created with the mission to create the ultimate customer experience. BlueRush currently works with many of North America’s leading financial services, healthcare and consumer packaged goods companies.
Steve Taylor, CEO
Steve is the former CEO and founder of Resolver Inc., a SaaS-based Governance, Risk and Compliance company that was sold successfully to Klass Capital in 2015. Steve joined as Director of BlueRush in 2017 and successfully closed a non-brokered private placement with Round 13 Capital Founders Fund L.P. Shortly thereafter he was appointed CEO of the company.
With over 25 years’ experience driving profitable growth in the Enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS), eCommerce and Digital Media industries, Steve Taylor works to accelerate BlueRush’s SaaS strategy, open up key new channels, and evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities to leverage current and future products in the fast-growing eCommerce technology and services space.
Paul Smith
Paul is currently the CEO and Director of Frontline Broadband Inc., a private telecommunications and information technology service provider in Canada. He was Chair of VIA Rail Canada Inc.’s board of directors from 2010 to 2014 after having joined the board in September 2006. Prior to that, Paul was President & CEO of Equity Financial Holdings Inc., a TSX listed issuer, and a Canadian financial services firm he co-founded whose principal subsidiary is an OSFI-regulated deposit-taking institution.
Paul is a director of several companies and, before joining the private sector, served in the federal government, where he held a number of important roles including Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister. He holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
John Eckert
BlueRush was proud to announce the appointment of John Eckert as a member of the Board of Directors in late 2017. John is a co-founder of the Canadian venture capital firm Round 13 Capital and is a co-founder and former managing partner of McLean Watson Capital. Round13 manages $200 million in funds focused on growth-stage technology opportunities. John has been a professional venture capitalist for over 25 years and has invested in over 40 technology companies.
John has backed many of Canada’s most successful technology companies including Softimage, FloNetwork, Fortiva, Lavalife, i4i, Skywave and Hubdoc. BlueRush’s focus and stage of development offered Round 13 a perfect fit. With John’s active involvement in BlueRush, he is able to leverage his experience and resources to accelerate the company’s transition into a profitable Software as a Service business.
Chris Rasmussen
Chris Rasmussen is the Chairman and founder of Doxim Inc., a leading supplier of customer engagement software, with a focus on regulated business critical communications within financial services and healthcare markets to connect with customers. Prior to founding Doxim, he was a vice-president at Ricoh Canada from 1997 to 2000 and The AIIM Group from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Rasmussen holds a BA from Western University, has completed the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program and has served on the board of directors of various private companies and non-profits including industry associations and charitable organizations.
Policies and Charters
A Large And Growing Market Opportunity
Video is the fastest-growing online medium. It made up 69% of all online traffic in 2017 and is expected to make up 80% by 2021, according to Cisco. Personalized video is a greenfield niche that supports superior marketing and sales performance, while generating greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. eMarketer forecasts that the U.S. video advertising market will grow from a US$13 billion industry in 2017 to a US$22 billion industry in 2021.
SaaS Model Provides Key Competitive Advantages
SaaS is a recurring revenue business model. It provides simpler purchasing decisions for our B2C customers due to lower implementation costs and expenditures that are spread over the life of a contract, compared to a traditional software agreement where fees are paid one-time and up front. As a result, SaaS products are typically viewed by customers as an operating expenditure rather than a capital expenditure. This can drastically improve our sales cycle, while also allowing us to build predictable, stackable revenue that creates good visibility.
BlueRush’s Disruptive Products Are Uniquely Positioned to Exploit the Online Video Segment
Our IndiVideo platform is a highly scalable, personalized and customized solution that strengthens customer relationships for our B2C customers, driving stronger returns and richer experiences across the engagement cycle. IndiVideo’s advantages include immediacy, simplification of complex information, relevancy and creation of memorable content. It also provides our B2C customers with measurable results, which is driving follow-on business. Our technology has been recognized as best-in-class with the following industry awards: 2019 FinovateSpring Best of Show, 2019 IAC Award for Best Financial Services Online Video, 2018 IAC Award for Outstanding Online Video Campaign, 2017 Communicator Award for Best Online Video, and 2016 Silver W3 Award for Best B2C Branded Video.
World-Class Customer Base with Strong Retention
BlueRush’s customers include leading financial institutions in Canada, the United States and Latin America, many of which have longstanding relationships with us. Our blue chip customer base includes chartered banks, insurance companies and asset management firms.
Partnership Strategy Creates Global Reach
We have formed distribution partnerships with leading companies across diverse industries including banking, technology, software and insurance to expedite our market penetration. Partnerships are the cornerstone of our SaaS growth strategy as they provide us with global reach, increase our sales and marketing leverage, and extend our product capabilities. Our partners include Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (United States), Valeyo (Canada) and Kunder (Chile). BlueRush also has co-sell status with Microsoft Corp. and our products are hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which we believe is the world’s most scalable and secure cloud infrastructure.
Financial Performance Reflecting Successful Repositioning of the Business
We are experiencing improved financial performance from our transition to a SaaS (recurring revenue) business model, which has been our focus over the past year. SaaS gross margins were 61% of revenue in Fiscal 2018, compared to 44% in Fiscal 2017, reflecting our successful research and development investments in the IndiVideo and DigitalReach platforms and our move to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which optimized our structure.
Experienced Leadership Team
CEO Steve Taylor has a proven track record of capitalizing on high-growth market opportunities. He has significant experience with SaaS solutions as he previously founded and led Resolver Inc., a SaaS-based Governance, Risk and Compliance company that was successfully sold to Klass Capital in 2015. He is supported by a strong senior management team with more than 40 years of combined experience in corporate sales, software development, digital marketing, systems architecture and financial management.
Strong Lead Investor
Round 13 Capital Inc. is a lead investor in BlueRush, currently holding a 38% share ownership position. Round 13 was co-founded by Bruce Croxon and John Eckert. Bruce piloted Lavalife Inc. from infancy in 1988 through to its $176 million sale to MemberWorks Inc. in 2004. He is also a former dragon from CBC Television’s Dragons’ Den. John founded the venture capital firm McLean Watson Capital, one of the most successful technology investors in Canada. Bruce and John have now turned their attention to addressing the market opportunity presented by growth-stage digital companies in Canada.
Investor Contact
BlueRush
75 Sherbourne St. Suite 112
Toronto, ON M5A 2P9
Phone 416.203.0618
Toll Free 1-844-455-2583 (BLUE)
Email ir@bluerush.com
We believe in a personal, human connection.
Contact us today to see how we can help you engage your clients and elevate your client experience.