{"id":33965,"date":"2023-10-20T14:32:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/stagebitz-snags-890000-from-multiple-investors-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:32:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:20","slug":"stagebitz-snags-890000-from-multiple-investors-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/stagebitz-snags-890000-from-multiple-investors-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"StageBitz snags $890,000 from multiple investors &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tech23 alumni <a href=\"growth\/start-up-profiles\/2011-06-27\/stagebitz.html\">StageBitz<\/a> has raised $890,000 in funding from investors including ANU Connect Ventures and the Sydney Angels Sidecard Fund, as it seeks to revolutionise the arts industry.<\/p>\n<p>  <span id=\"more-8017\"><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>StageBitz, founded in 2010 by Catherine Prosser and Mat Lawrence, creates online project and inventory management tools for anyone who uses props, costumes and scenery.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It aims to solve a constant problem faced by professionals in theatre, film and TV, and events \u2013 the lack of suitable collaboration and inventory systems for the industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to StageBitz, more than 25 million props are created every year, but most of these items are only used once.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>StageBitz provides a central tool that allows directors, designers, makers, buyers and production and stage managers to collaborate online.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Together, they can create all the necessary design, technical and usage information to complete these items, as well as task and budget information.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>StageBitz then automatically collates the items into a central company inventory, allowing customers to share, hire or sell their items online.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, StageBitz travelled to the United States after <a href=\"growth\/gocatch-takes-out-top-prize-at-tech-23\/201108243681.html\">winning the $25,000 Catalyst Award and the ATP Innovations Silicon Valley Explorer Prize<\/a> at Tech23.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The start-up has now secured an $890,000 co-investment from ANU Connect Ventures, the Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund and a number of private investors.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>ANU Connect Ventures is a pre-seed venture capital fund associated with the Australian National University, while the Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund counts <a href=\"funding\/jayride.com-raises-$400k-from-local-investors\/201202225471.html\">Jayride<\/a> and <a href=\"funding\/bubble-gum-bucks-gaming-industry-gloom-with-$2.5-million-funding-round\/201206266726.html\">Bubble Gum Interactive<\/a> among its investment projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are really pleased to be working with organisations like ANU Connect Ventures and the Sydney Angels to help grow StageBitz globally,\u201d Prosser says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is wonderful to see innovation in the creative industries being recognised and having such an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, the funds will allow Prosser and Lawrence to work on StageBitz full-time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMat is just wrapping&nbsp;up his current position as head of props manufacture at Opera Australia and will join me as director of product development,\u201d Prosser says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be fantastic to have a second brain on this full-time. Secondly, that will free me up to really focus on customer development and sales.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will be focusing on companies here in Australia initially, but Mat and I have trips planned to the US and the UK next year, which will give us a great chance to establish those important overseas customers. Those are really the main things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs much as anything, it will just be so good to focus on the business instead of on the funding for the business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tech23 alumni StageBitz has raised $890,000 in funding from investors including ANU Connect Ventures and the Sydney Angels Sidecard Fund,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}