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OUR EXPERIENCE · A BRITISH COMPANY

A British agency built on $70M+ in paid media.

Riibon Ltd is a British company, registered in England and Wales. Its co-founder, Melvin Salas, is British and Costa Rican: he co-founded a tech company in England backed by M&C Saatchi's investment fund, grew an app to 4 million users through paid ads, and ran advertising for some of the UK's best-known brands. Today he brings all of it, plus AI, to Riibon.

$70M+ad spend managed since 2015
4Musers grown with paid ads
£6.5M+(~$8.7M)raised by his previous company
50+people at his previous company, in 10+ countries

THE STORY

From a music app
to an agency.

  • 01

    A music app with 4 million users.

    Built between Costa Rica and England, through accelerators in Estonia (Startup Wise Guys), Google Campus London and Ignite, considered the UK's No.1 pre-seed accelerator, co-founded by Jon Bradford, who later launched Techstars London. It became the No.1 music platform in Latin America, top 10 in a third of the world, available in 187 countries.

  • 02

    Grown with paid media.

    As Head of Growth, Melvin drove 900,000+ installs at $0.10 each. Facebook published it as an official success story.

  • 03

    From app to agency.

    Brands started asking for the technology and method used to grow the app. The company pivoted to performance marketing and data science for e-commerce, with its own ad optimisation platform.

  • 04

    A team around the world.

    50+ people, half technology (engineers and data scientists), half marketing, across the UK, US, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, South Africa, Indonesia, Serbia, Russia and more, with 24-hour coverage.

  • 05

    Backed by top-tier investors.

    Over £6.5M (~$8.7M) raised across several rounds (see Investors below).

EVERY SEAT IN A GROWING COMPANY

The whole business,
not just the ads.

Melvin started as CEO, then served as CMO, Chief Growth Officer, Chief Design Officer and Chief Product Officer of the same company. So he understands the whole business, not just the ads: product, UX/UI design, brand, data and growth.

  • CEO
  • CMO
  • Chief Growth Officer
  • Chief Design Officer
  • Chief Product Officer

An architect by training and a self-taught programmer, he speaks the same language as technical teams.

TWO TECHNICAL FOUNDERS

An agency founded by
people who write software.

Melvin Salas and Sofia Alpizar founded Riibon and Creative Accommodations together. Both build software, which is why Riibon is more than a traditional agency.

Melvin Salas

CO-FOUNDER, RIIBON

  • Built consumer and SaaS apps, for web, iOS and Android
  • The SaaS was marketing technology for agencies and brands: automation and insights for paid social across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network
  • Product Owner, then Head of Product, then Chief Product Officer of that platform
  • Architect (Universidad LCI Veritas) and self-taught programmer
  • $70M+ ad spend managed since 2015

Sofia Alpizar

CO-FOUNDER, RIIBON · SOFTWARE ENGINEER

  • 5+ years as a full stack software engineer (2018 to 2023) at the company Melvin co-founded in England
  • Software engineering degree from Universidad Cenfotec
  • Works in TypeScript, Next.js and Shopify
  • Co-founded Creative Accommodations with Melvin

Tracking is code.

Pixels, tags and conversion data are software. Founders who build software check them at the source.

AI native, not AI added.

Building with AI is engineering work. Riibon Intelligence, our own AI, watches every campaign and remembers every decision.

Our own tools.

The Riibon app, our free ad tools and Riibon Talk are built in-house.

INVESTORS · PREVIOUS COMPANY

Over £6.5M (~$8.7M) raised
across several rounds.

These investors backed the company Melvin co-founded in England, before Riibon. They are not investors in Riibon.

Saatchinvest

The investment fund of M&C Saatchi, the agency of Maurice and Charles Saatchi, founders of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the most famous advertising agencies in the world.

Stephen Pankhurst

Co-founder of Friends Reunited, the UK's first mass social network (15M users), sold to ITV for £120M (~$160M).

Maven Capital Partners

UK private equity firm with about £944M (~$1.26B) under management; led the £1.75M (~$2.3M) round in 2021.

British Business Bank

The UK government's development bank, through its Future Fund.

Northstar Ventures

Technology venture capital fund in the north of England.

AngelList investors

Angel investors through AngelList.

OUR FOUNDERS' EXPERIENCE · PREVIOUS COMPANY

Advertising for some of
the UK's best-known brands.

Work our founders led at the company Melvin co-founded in England, before Riibon. It is the experience we bring to every client, not Riibon's own client list.

Footasylum

UK sports fashion chain, 70 stores, about £195M (~$260M) a year in sales, later bought by JD Sports for £90M (~$120M).

+66%Black Friday sales year on year, at the same ad spend

Bear Grylls

The TV adventurer from "Man vs. Wild", known worldwide.

7xreturn on ad spend launching and scaling his online store

Go.Compare

One of the UK's biggest insurance comparison sites.

15%lower cost per customer

Snug

UK online sofa brand.

19%lower cost per customer

ALSO WORKED WITH, AT PREVIOUS COMPANIES

RIIBON RESULTS · OUR OWN CLIENTS

The same method,
now at Riibon.

HEALTHTECH MARKETPLACE (UK)+1,000%revenue in year one
HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDER (UK)181consultations booked in 20 days at £26 (~$35) each
OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES MARKETPLACE (UK)83bookings a week
SEASONAL MARKETPLACE+83%revenue year on year
PAID ACQUISITION AVERAGE~8xback: ~£8 ($10.70) revenue per £1 ($1.34) of ad spend

Companies Riibon works with today: Saltroad, Wild With Consent, Wilder Trips, Platinum Property Academy and Star Dental Implant.

Read the case studies ↗

SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR

£450K+ (~$600K) a year, in under two years.

With his wife and co-founder, Sofia Alpizar, Melvin built Creative Accommodations, a UK accommodation and property company, from scratch to £450K+ (~$600K) a year in under two years: 13 short-term let properties in the North East of England. They also run a second investment company.

CREDENTIALS

OFFICIAL PARTNER
Google Partner, Meta Business Partner, Shopify Partner (at his previous company)
AWARD
Big Chip Awards, Manchester Digital (at his previous company)
STARTUPS
Y Combinator Startup School Europe 2014
ARCHITECTURE
Part of the winning design in the national competition for the Jade Museum of Costa Rica, later built
CERTIFICATION
Google Ads Search certification 2026, passed with 98%
COMPANY
Riibon Ltd, company number 13801001, registered in England and Wales
TODAY
Riibon, a London-based paid media agency built from the ground up on AI

WHY RIIBON

Paid advertising done well,
measured properly.

Few people have done both: grown their own company from zero with paid ads, then run the ad spend of brands turning over millions. What Melvin saw again and again, in his companies and his clients', is that what carries growth is paid advertising done well and measured properly. Riibon exists to do exactly that.