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Movin’ on up: Startle sees growth in 2020 despite a tough year

Movin’ on up: Startle sees growth in 2020 despite a tough year

Written by
Adam Castleton
Published

January 20, 2021

Category
Startle news

You don’t need us to tell you that 2020 was a hugely challenging year for retail and hospitality, and sadly we’re not quite in the clear yet.

Like many suppliers, we’ve had to make big changes to our strategy, often taking a much more short-term view. With many of our customers closed for several months in 2020, we diverted much of our annual revenue into supporting those customers and securing the jobs of our hardworking team.

Despite such a tough year, we’re extremely proud to say that Startle was still able to grow, supporting more retail and hospitality businesses in delivering exceptional customer experiences through music and technology at scale.

After just four years of operation we had our second profitable year, growing our EBITDA in 2020 by 44% (to £720,000).

What else is new?

December 2020 also saw the beta launch of Studio, our brand new platform for managing and synchronising music, digital signage, lighting and other integrations. Studio gives retail and hospitality the power to replicate a perfectly curated atmosphere across an entire estate, whether that’s 3 locations or 3,000.

Now Playing screen on mobile and tablet
Studio - our new user platform for managing music and tech


Our Mind the Gap reports:

Retail

Hospitality

A word from Startle CEO, Adam Castleton:

“Startle’s growth over the last 12 months comes from operators that are in-tune with this, and are investing in music and technology to provide a welcome escape from the four walls of customers’ homes. We look forward to supporting the industry further throughout the continued highs and lows of 2021 in any way we can.”

Heard enough?

Ready to create standout customer experiences? Get in touch to find out how we can use music and tech to help you achieve your goals.

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Music is powerful, but using it with intention takes skill. Chat to our team today to find out how our behavioural-science backed, curated playlists could help you achieve your goals.

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Seeing is believing. Engaging your customers through vibrant visual displays can be a game-changer in your retail or hospitality experience. Chat to our team today to find out how our dynamic digital signage solution could help you achieve your goals.

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Live sport has been at the heart of many pubs for decades. Chat to our team today to find out how Arena, our automated, all-inclusive sports promotion platform, could help you achieve your goals.

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Your environment is always changing. Chat to our team today to find out how using our invaluable insights to auto-adjust your atmosphere could help you achieve your goals and fine-tune your operations.

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Replicate a perfectly curated atmosphere across an entire estate, all from a single platform. Chat to our team today to find out how using Studio could help you achieve your goals.

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Technoology

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Creating something so deeply subjective as an atmosphere without a strong understanding of human behaviour is kind of silly. Chat to our team today to find out how behavioural science can be applied to help you achieve your goals.

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Dedicated management, free player replacements, 24/7/365 support… what you want, baby we got it. Chat to our team today to find out how relentless our Relentless Support™ really are.

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Creating a standout retail experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create a till ringing atmosphere and help you achieve your goals.

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Creating a standout restaurant experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to serve up the perfect atmospheres in your restaurants and help you achieve your goals.

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Creating a standout coffee shop experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to brew the perfect atmospheres for your cafes and help you achieve your goals.

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Cafe

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Creating a standout pub experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and pint-sized tech to create the perfect atmosphere and help get the drinks flowing.

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Creating a standout hotel experience isn’t easy. Check out (or in) how we can use music and tech to create the perfect atmospheres and help you achieve your goals by chatting to our team today.

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Restaurant table with cutlery

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Creating a standout gym experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to get your atmospheres into perfect shape and help you achieve your goals.

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Gym equipment

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Creating a standout salon experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create an atmosphere with the perfect finish and help you achieve your goals.

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Salon equipment

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Creating a standout office experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create atmospheres that work as hard as your customers.

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Creating a standout spa experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create the perfect peaceful atmosphere and help you achieve your goals.

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Towels and insense

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Creating a standout ship experience isn’t easy. Chat to our team today to find out how we can use music and tech to create the perfect atmospheres for your cruise ships and help you achieve your goals.

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Movin’ on up: Startle sees growth in 2020 despite a tough year

Adam Castleton

With 15 years of experience working in technology, Adam is our strategic and savvy CEO. It’s his job to lead Startle, ensuring that we have a positive impact on both our customers and our team, by delivering innovation and growth in a positive culture. When he’s not at work, he tries hard to switch off by spending time outside with his wife and kids - his self proclaimed ‘happy place’ is having a wander in the forest on a sunny day.

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Hey, we've just met you and this is crazy. But here's our number +44 (0)203 397 7676. So, call us maybe?

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