If you are one of the millions of people living in a communal building in the UK, how do you get your building information?
If, say, there is a scheduled fire drill, the paper notice could be pinned to the wall – hidden among takeaway menus and other key announcements.
Jesse Liu knew there was a better way. “I’ve lived in over 10 apartments, I think, in the past few years,” he tells BusinessCloud. “Paper notices are everywhere, but nobody engages with them – even though they may contain critical health and safety information.”
Liu, originally from China, arrived in the UK in 2010 to study in Sheffield. He also used to work part-time distributing flyers to student accommodation mailboxes.
“In the UK, the cost for flyers is over £1bn annually. It’s a big waste,” he says. “The advertisers and the property management firms want to reach the same audience – occupants. So I thought: ‘Why not combine them, and digitally transform them into a display?
“I knew that in Asia – China, Japan and Korea – digital indoor media advertising is massive. In the UK and Europe, that wasn’t the case, so I knew this could be a big opportunity.”
Liu started up 30Seconds Group in Manchester in 2018 with technical director Andrew Sim, a former senior software engineer at Disney+.
It wasn’t his first venture: BiuBiu Tech, which he launched in 2014, was a mobile app for overseas Chinese students and local Chinese people. “After two or three years, our application was banned by China,” explains Liu. “We considered that the risk for our business was high due to the unpredictable nature of the policy.
“So we decided to terminate BiuBiu – and because we had some cash from that business, that gave us a foundation for 30Seconds Group.”
Manchester launch
After creating the hardware and software for the digital displays, they launched first in Manchester – partly because that is where Liu was based, and partly because it suited their ambitions.
“Our first building was with Urban Bubble in Ancoats,” recounts Liu. “We wanted a big city, but not like London – because to build a network in London, the cost is higher and you need maybe 1,000 buildings.
“In Manchester we wanted to get to 100 or 200 buildings to test our product and our business model – and then if it worked, expand to other cities.”
It didn’t take them long to reach 100 buildings as they began with a ‘freemium’ model – “we provided the hardware, the installation and the software for free” – before opening conversations with media agencies.
“It was going well,” says Liu. “Then the pandemic started and ruined the advertising industry, so we had to pivot.”
The new ‘cost’ model saw them begin to charge the property sector for setup, as well as a subscription fee for using its software. 30Seconds was also able to sell its advertising spaces to brands, providing a third revenue stream.
Grenfell
Another key development was the Building Safety Act 2022, the legislative response to the building safety crisis that followed the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
This deems high-rise residential buildings which are 18 metres tall or higher – or at least seven storeys – as ‘higher-risk’ and forces the management company to provide a clear resident engagement strategy.
“This communication gap happened too many times before,” Liu states simply.
Today 30Seconds Group has buildings in around 20 cities, with London its top performer, after launching nationwide in late 2023.
It counts 47 property management companies among its clients, while more than 600 brands advertise on its screens placed inside 500 buildings. Not bad going for a business with only 10 employees.
So who are these advertisers? Both multinationals and local businesses, according to Liu.
“A burger shop might choose to advertise in the 10-20 buildings around them; but we also work with media agencies and specialists who have the likes of Uber Eats, Coca Cola and other massive companies [on their books].
“Our strongest selling point is that we know who our audience is. All our displays are integrated with cameras so we can get the demographic data, and also track the occupant engagement. That’s also another layer of building security for the property managers.”
Ambition
By the end of this year, Liu wants to reach 1,000 buildings, then 2,000 in 2026. “We want to keep at least 100% growth – both for the building network and the revenue,” he expands. “Although [the latter] may be more like 200%.
“If the property managers and tenants are happy, then we can generate real revenue from advertising. We believe that if our product is good enough, the revenue growth will follow.”
30Seconds has raised funding on two occasions from private investors. Once it reaches 2,000 buildings – and profitability – the plan is to raise further funding to launch in Europe’s major cities, with Paris a key target.
Ascend
30Seconds Group, which featured on our 2025 GM Rising Stars of Business list, was part of the first cohort for GM Business Growth Hub’s Ascend Scale Up Programme, delivered in partnership with KPMG.
Liu says spending time with his fellow entrepreneurs has helped him to improve his social and communication skills, while the workshops have been incredibly valuable.
“KPMG gave us a workshop about how to create a financial forecast. I then updated mine and it is now more predictable,” he offers by way of an example.
“I may also be working with two of the other companies on the cohort in the future.
“Before, I would spend maybe 95% of my time inside the business – but it’s been beneficial to get out, open my eyes and see how other people engage with one another.
“It’s changed my way of doing things.”