OpenOcean

OpenOcean needed to be known by founders and LPs alike, and in 2023 we secured it 129 pieces of coverage, 89 of them in tier one media.

Building the brand of one of Europe's leading early-stage venture firms

OpenOcean is one of Europe's leading venture capital firms. It specialises in Series A funding for data software start-ups and has a strong portfolio.

Over the past three years Resonance has helped the team and its partners become leading voices in venture capital. They now win regular coverage in national, investor, tech and start-up media.

Ekaterina Almasque

General Partner at OpenOcean, a leading VC firm

Challenge

OpenOcean needed a stronger presence in the wider venture capital community. It also wanted to show what its portfolio companies had achieved. It had to attract LPs and reach the right founders and early-stage tech companies.

Strategy

We developed the PR alongside the brand strategy and built it on storytelling, so that OpenOcean would stand out from other venture firms. The aim was to build awareness and a clear point of difference, drawn from the brand story and OpenOcean's personality.

That meant building deep, long-term relationships with tier one and tier two journalists and influencers. We focused on the titles that founders read first, and LPs second. It also meant winning frequent coverage that showed OpenOcean's skill in investing and building businesses, its focus on founders and its grasp of technology. We wanted OpenOcean to be found and understood, and to be a firm that founders and LPs want to work with.

The programme supports four specific marketing goals.

1. Build awareness and reputation through a regular rhythm of media coverage.
2. Show OpenOcean's founder focus, method and portfolio experience, so that top-of-funnel coverage carries the right messages in the right publications.
3. Build a community that attracts relevant, purpose-led businesses, and so appeals to both LPs and founders.
4. Use PR to make OpenOcean known for its expertise in specialist technology areas, explain the bigger picture and raise the profile of three partners as spokespeople.
   

Execution

Resonance ran a media relations plan built on senior thought leadership and lasting press relationships. It meant arranging repeat conversations between target journalists and OpenOcean's founders and portfolio companies.

Newsjacking was central to the plan, because it kept OpenOcean visible in a fast-moving news cycle. We also went after feature interviews and thought leadership in target titles, which raised the profiles of the founders and their companies.

Results

In just over three years with OpenOcean and its portfolio companies, we have helped make it a leading voice in early-stage venture capital. Its coverage now spans national, investor, tech and start-up media.

In 2023 alone, Resonance delivered these results.

• 129 pieces of coverage
  • 89 pieces in tier 1 media outlets
    6,000,000 estimated coverage views

    • UK rejoins Europe’s Horizon R&D program after prolonged Brexit stalemate (TechCrunch)

    • City eyes Hunt reforms on pensions in Mansion House speech to boost London (Evening Standard)

    • How university spinouts can win more investment (Financial Times)

• 25 interviews
  • Sifted x3, Business Insider x5, Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, PitchBook, The Next Web and many more

• 38 bylines
  • 136,000 estimated coverage views

Coverage in leading publications around the world, and strong brand growth for OpenOcean.