Ex-YOC managing director Christian Louca has surfaced as founder & CEO of a mobile affiliate technology and services start-up called Tamome. The company aims to enable advertisers, publishers, app developers and affiliates to connect via an advertising marketplace on a cost-per-conversion payment model.  

“This will disrupt existing models in the market,” says Louca. “It’s risk free for the advertisers and offers maximum return for media owners. Tracking and analysing post-click activity and auto-optimising in real time has not been mastered to date, since existing models are not based upon true performance, but rather, on an being shown or clicked on, rather than it converting into a sale or some kind of action.

“The mobile landscape is continually changing, and so are the requirements from companies within the value chain. It is getting harder to monetise inventory with maximum return. The demands from advertisers are shifting toward result-orientated activity; users have no time for irrelevant advertising.”

Louca adds that, to date, affiliates have been overlooked in the market, primarily due to a lack of understanding and inadequate technology. “We are going to solve this and be an early mover in an untapped market segment,” he says. “Mobile affiliation has the power to deliver results-orientated activity at an unrivalled level. This is why, when we first considered the business proposition working on a cost-per-conversion model, we had to include affiliates –  we would have been stupid not to.”

Tamome is a four-man startup. In addition to Louca, the chief technology officer is Jonathan Webb, who was formerly director of product and portfolio at Nokia. Webb leads technology development, managing a team of two developers. 

Louca concedes that launching a business in the current economic climate has been challenging. “Setting up any business at any time is not easy, even more so when there is so much uncertainty in the financial markets,” he says. “However, the world goes on and so are we. Starting up requires, vision, passion, dedication, focus, luck, determination, supporting family and friends. You have to know that what you are doing will have a big impact. We have a long way to go and we believe that we will help grow the market. Our model is disruptive, and all markets need disrupting once in a while.” 

The company secured a first round of funding to develop its product and is now preparing for a beta launch later this year. It is currently preparing to run closed beta trials with some major clients, and is actively securing a second round of finance, which will be used to scale the business through its next stage of growth.

“The next three to five years are all about mCommerce,” says Louca. “Smartphones and Tablets are becoming the preferred choice to make purchases by consumers, whether through an app or via the mobile web. We are moving beyond consuming content and playing games to a world of commerce either online or physically using the device to pay for goods.  It is so powerful, you have a device with you at all times, always on, always connected and it can find you almost literally anything you want and enable you to make a payment there and then.  This facilitation of intent, research, engagement, desire, perceived value and purchase all through one device no matter your location is where we see the market evolving.”