{"id":41972,"date":"2023-10-20T15:17:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/melbourne-startup-koobee-launches-with-200000-in-seed-funding-to-help-you-find-the-perfect-present-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:17:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:17:48","slug":"melbourne-startup-koobee-launches-with-200000-in-seed-funding-to-help-you-find-the-perfect-present-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/melbourne-startup-koobee-launches-with-200000-in-seed-funding-to-help-you-find-the-perfect-present-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne startup Koobee launches with $200,000 in seed funding to help you find the perfect present – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Koobee<\/div>\n

A Melbourne startup has launched an app aiming to help you find the perfect present and avoid unwanted gifts with the help of $200,000 in seed funding.<\/p>\n

Koobee is an app allowing users to create a curated wish lists of things they’d like to receive for a birthday or special occasion and can be shared with friends and families. Gift givers can then click “grant” on an item to make sure someone else doesn’t buy it too.<\/p>\n

The platform also has a trending system and is location sensitive for users to find and add products to wish lists for themselves or others.<\/p>\n

Koobee co-founder Russell Brooks says Australians are spending more than $500 million on unwanted Christmas gifts and that it’s “not really okay” to re-gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the main issues that I’ve personally had is trying to find the perfect gift for somebody,\u201d Brooks tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

Generally, when you ask someone what they want, Brooks says the answer is \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t bother\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to address that issue with an app where users can create wish lists and share them with friends and family,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Brooks has been building the app for the last year from BlueChilli after receiving $200,000 in funding from two unnamed investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting funding]was so random, it was extremely blas\u00e9,\u201d Brooks says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe explained the concept, they liked the idea and it just went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Brooks isn\u2019t new to the startup scene – Koobee is his fourth venture into the tech world.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur knowledge as a team has gained a lot in terms of working together to create a product that we\u2019re not too sure about,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all of us seeing the same vision and wanting it be a lot bigger than what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aiming to turn over at least $2 million within a year, Brooks says the company will need up to 100,000 active users and 1000 brands using the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a business partner who owns the startup Do You Even, which has 4-5 million users and we will be pushing it through that network,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Brooks and his team will continue to build partnerships with brands and retailers, which will add revenue through commission on click-through rates and product exposure.<\/p>\n

Brooks says he wants Koobee to be used in physical stores with consumers around the world scanning products for instant information, reviews and wish lists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create a cross platform where offline is allowing people to have experiences with brands and, online these brands can utilise the app by sharing their latest products,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He says persistence is key when building a startup from the ground up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to go through hard times, you just have to stay focused in your vision and continually work at it,\u201d Brooks says.<\/p>\n

And even if you don\u2019t think the idea is fully ready yet he says it\u2019s crucial to put a product out to see how the market responds and learn from that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got all these ideas and think it\u2019s not ready yet, it\u2019s not ready yet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the first one out, see how it goes, otherwise you\u2019ll end up with a product only you think is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

A Melbourne startup has launched an app aiming to help you find the perfect present and avoid unwanted gifts with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41972"}],"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=41972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}