{"id":41509,"date":"2023-10-20T15:14:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/poweredlocal-scores-125000-investment-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-more-than-4-5-million-less-than-a-year-after-launch-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:14:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:29","slug":"poweredlocal-scores-125000-investment-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-more-than-4-5-million-less-than-a-year-after-launch-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/poweredlocal-scores-125000-investment-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-more-than-4-5-million-less-than-a-year-after-launch-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"PoweredLocal scores $125,000 investment valuing the Melbourne startup at more than $4.5 million less than a year after launch – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A Melbourne social Wi-Fi startup has scored a $125,000 investment from former OpenTable Asia-Pacific managing director Adam Clarke, valuing the tech firm at $4.625 million.<\/p>\n

PoweredLocal gives businesses a WiFi connection which allows users to get a free internet connection in-store in exchange for checking-in to the venue on social media, in turn creating on-site data for the business and word-of-mouth marketing.<\/p>\n

Clarke recently left his role at US booking powerhouse OpenTable to invest in startups, and this marks his first contribution to an Australian company.<\/p>\n

The investor has chipped in $125,000 in exchange for 2.7% equity in the company, with the funding to be used to further expand the startup\u2019s operations and further invest in the product.<\/p>\n

The right fit<\/h3>\n

PoweredLocal co-founder and CEO Michael Jankie says he wasn\u2019t even on the hunt for funding when he and fellow co-founder Gary Tramer met with Clarke, who sold his company AS Digital to OpenTable in September last year in a multimillion dollar deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly didn\u2019t go in looking to get some money \u2013 it was to make some introductions for us,\u201d Jankie tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just sat down and from the first sip of coffee things just clicked. From the first moment we realised we were on to something that had really great potential and real global potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was asking all the right questions and he said the business has more potential than the one he just sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jankie says PoweredLocal has secured more than 300 partner venues in the last six months, and recently opened a new office with a team of five on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

On-site data acquisition<\/h3>\n

The startup\u2019s platform offers a flat-rate monthly WiFi service for businesses to offer to customers in exchange for checking in on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Jankie says this offers an easy way for businesses to gain useful on-site data of their customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all businesses, on-site data acquisition is really, really difficult,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re singularly owned, the owners are busy running their business and don\u2019t have a lot of free time. For larger groups, achieving anything on-site is really tough. To walk around with anything more than a fishbowl to collect business cards is really hard to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tapped into solving that problem. How do you do word-of-mouth automation? You check into the business on Facebook and build a big list of data. It opens up a simple way for anyone to add in marketing automation and to easily do nothing. You just give out the WiFi and people will trade that for checking in on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarke says PoweredLocal has the potential to be a global leader in this lucrative space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for a product or service that\u2019s going to provide value to consumers and businesses,\u201d Clarke says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor businesses, customer data is incredibly important. It was one thing we tried to focus on in our systems at OpenTable, but we could only ever get one name \u2013 the booker \u2013 even though there could be eight other people at the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoweredLocal has developed a way to build a comprehensive customer database, a highly useful asset for businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jankie says the startup\u2019s biggest competitors are larger shopping centres and airports operating their own Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t like that and we don\u2019t agree with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really going after very detailed data. They\u2019re less interested in any form of marketing and more interested in knowing if you\u2019re swiping left or right on Tinder and what country your emails are coming from. I don\u2019t think that sort of information is right to be gathering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to ask to check into the Wi-Fi and get an email address, and another to say \u2018read these 16 pages of terms and conditions\u2019 and then bury in there that you\u2019re going to know who they\u2019re banking with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are competitors but they\u2019re not focused on what we\u2019re doing, which is promoting a business by word-of-mouth and building on-site data acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focus on running the business, not raising funds<\/h3>\n

He says that this latest funding round was secured when the PoweredLocal team was entirely focused on building a sustainable business rather than preparing pitch decks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t prepare pitch decks, we didn\u2019t prepare a roadshow and we didn\u2019t present to anyone \u2013 we weren\u2019t looking for funding,\u201d Jankie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur business would not be as strong as it is today if we had decided to raise money instead of building the business. We would have been spending all of our time building investor docs and PowerPoint presentations rather than building a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t go out looking for money. We went out looking for advice and the investment followed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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