{"id":41207,"date":"2023-10-20T15:12:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/buddy-australia-secures-1-8-million-pre-revenue-to-build-app-inspired-by-groupon-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:12:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:22","slug":"buddy-australia-secures-1-8-million-pre-revenue-to-build-app-inspired-by-groupon-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/buddy-australia-secures-1-8-million-pre-revenue-to-build-app-inspired-by-groupon-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddy Australia secures $1.8 million pre-revenue to build app inspired by Groupon &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"332\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Buddy-Australia-Danny-Simmonds-640x332.jpg\" alt=\"Buddy Australia Danny Simmonds\" title=\"Buddy Australia Danny Simmonds\"><\/div>\n<p>After buying a camper van and embarking on a market research tour of Australia\u2019s eastern seaboard, a Queensland founder has secured $1.8 million in funding to bring a new app idea to life.<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by platforms like TripAdvisor and Groupon, former restaurant owner Danny Simmonds wants to launch an app that helps local cafes, restaurants and takeaway shops gain exposure to new customers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be a tailor-made app,\u201d the founder of Buddy Australia tells <em>StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will only list restaurants and cafes you\u2019re interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/advice\/growth\/start-up-profiles\/from-noosa-to-melbourne-why-this-startup-founder-bought-a-camper-van-to-build-an-app\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Read more:&nbsp;Why this startup founder bought a camper van and travelled around the country to build an app<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Simmonds says he raised the $1.8 million in capital from two private investors in return for a combined equity stake of 15%, but is keeping the identity of the investors under wraps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are guys that have been in the industry for over 30 years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>With the help of Queensland\u2019s chief entrepreneur Mark Sowerby, Simmonds says he is also being introduced to industry heavyweights like Wotif.com founder Graeme Wood as his business takes shape.<\/p>\n<p>Together with business partner Tony Blackmore, Simmonds is hoping to release the app around September this year.<\/p>\n<p>He says it will take 100,000 active users for the company to be profitable and expects this will happen in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c100,000 would certainly stamp us into the market,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to providing an income for Simmonds, the $1.8 million in funding will be spent on app development, marketing and branding, and business travel, with some funds to be retained to cover expenses \u201cif things go south\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s one year\u2019s worth of wages covered,\u201d Simmonds says.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on how he managed to get such a large investment pre-revenue, Simmonds believes it boils down to a massive amount of work and self-belief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe very passionate. If you have the opportunity to pitch in front of investors don\u2019t hold back, take all the risks, be honest, be active,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInvestors invest in the person not the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>*This article was updated on March 2, 2017.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow StartupSmart on&nbsp;Facebook,&nbsp;Twitter,&nbsp;LinkedIn&nbsp;and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After buying a camper van and embarking on a market research tour of Australia\u2019s eastern seaboard, a Queensland founder has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61008,"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\/41207"}],"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=41207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}