{"id":41178,"date":"2023-10-20T15:12:09","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/pre-launch-melbourne-startup-foxley-secures-more-than-700000-in-seed-funding-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:12:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:09","slug":"pre-launch-melbourne-startup-foxley-secures-more-than-700000-in-seed-funding-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/pre-launch-melbourne-startup-foxley-secures-more-than-700000-in-seed-funding-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-launch Melbourne startup Foxley secures more than $700,000 in seed funding – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A Melbourne-based website design platform has secured more than $700,000 in seed funding before it has even launched.<\/p>\n

Foxley aims to a be a universal system to produce \u201cbadass\u201d business websites, enabling users to design and build online businesses for a monthly subscription fee.<\/p>\n

Foxley founder Bianca Board says she decided to approach investors early on in order to have adequate funding to help build the perfect platform.<\/p>\n

The capital injection comes from a range of sophisticated investors and was facilitated by Tauro Caital Partners, who produced a 107-page memorandum that was sent out to high net-worth individuals.<\/p>\n

Board says the market is ready for a platform like Foxley, which will provide knowledge, tools, motivation and support for designers in building successful business websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing is perfect now and we wanted to get it to market quicker,\u201d Board tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are getting fed up and small businesses are failing at generating new business and keeping up with technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we thought we really needed to strike now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says having Tauro on board early on helped to establish a team of powerful investors including Chris Riquier, Chris Pattas and James O\u2019Donnell, bringing together digital experience from brands like MYOB, Aussie Home Loans and TNS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were so many different opinions and advice being thrown our way in all these interviews and meetings – Tauro acted as a filter for that,\u201d Board says.<\/p>\n

Building the prototype<\/h3>\n

In order to attract this very early-stage capital, Board says it was crucial to establish a working prototype and some interest in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a few months developing a really detailed model and go to market strategy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo as much as you can to have something you can walk people through, that they can touch and feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The startup already has 500 users selected to test a beta version and 2000 other hopefuls on a waitlist.<\/p>\n

This helped to ensure potential investors that users will jump on board as soon as Foxley launches.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of founders are afraid of rejection – the fear of people not liking their product,\u201d Board says.<\/p>\n

But she says this fear needs to be addressed before money is wasted developing the perfect product that no-one wants to use.<\/p>\n

The Foxley offering will be rolled out in three distinct stages, with a beta business builder platform expected in October, an AI and marketing platform slated for March next year and finally a designed marketplace later in July.<\/p>\n

The pitch<\/h3>\n

When actually pitching to the high-profile investors, the Melbourne-based founder says it was crucial that she had a deep knowledge of the business, the financial model, roadmap, marketing strategy and growth forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it came time to pitch to investors we knew all the details inside out,\u201d Board says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t skip the detail and the planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

But most of all, the ability to raise funding for a pre-launch ventures comes down to the people behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I asked our investors a few weeks after why they invested in us, it came down to my partner and I and our passion,\u201d Board says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter,<\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Melbourne-based website design platform has secured more than $700,000 in seed funding before it has even launched. Foxley aims<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41178"}],"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=41178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}