{"id":42614,"date":"2023-10-20T15:22:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/sydney-startup-snappr-closes-500000-pre-seed-round-as-the-newly-implemented-tax-incentives-cause-a-mental-flip-in-investors-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:22:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:29","slug":"sydney-startup-snappr-closes-500000-pre-seed-round-as-the-newly-implemented-tax-incentives-cause-a-mental-flip-in-investors-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/sydney-startup-snappr-closes-500000-pre-seed-round-as-the-newly-implemented-tax-incentives-cause-a-mental-flip-in-investors-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney startup Snappr closes $500,000 pre-seed round as the newly implemented tax incentives cause a \u201cmental flip\u201d in investors – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

On-demand photography startup Snappr has closed an oversubscribed $500,000 pre-seed round on the day that the government\u2019s new early-stage investment tax incentives came into effect.<\/p>\n

The Sydney-based startup initially planned to raise a small round from family and friends but strong investor interest led to a more sizable round. After raising $200,000 in less than a month<\/a>, the team decided to cap it at $500,000.<\/p>\n

Snappr co-founder Matt Schiller says it could have been even bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to close the books on it,\u201d Schiller tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had more interest than we had room to take on and that\u2019s a very good problem to have. It\u2019s great to have that level of investor interest as we go forward for future rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiller and co-founder Ed Kearney only started working on the two-sided marketplace for professional photography services two months ago, and wanted to keep this round small.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest factor for us was that we initially intended for this to be a small family and friends round,\u201d Schiller says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to become a full seed round so we wanted to stay this size so it could be a pre-seed round and not get too big too early.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact of the tax incentives<\/h3>\n

Snappr began talking to investors as the government\u2019s early-stage startup investor tax incentives were set to be implemented<\/a>, and Schiller says the impact of this on potential backers was obvious.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were absolutely sold on the business model and expansion plans for the business but the incentive scheme definitely helped to seal the deal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore importantly than just being a little monetary bonus, it had the effect at a higher level. It added to the sense of bubbling momentum and excitement in the startup scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the incentives have helped to show startups as legitimate investment opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Fishburners we\u2019re surrounded by other startups that are all raising money at the same time,\u201d Schiller says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve felt that the coming in of this scheme has given the signal that startups are a very viable investment option. The government is encouraging smaller investors to get involved in early-stage ventures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real mental flip for the Australian investment sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on growth<\/h3>\n

The Snappr platform was officially launched out of beta last week, and Schiller says it is growing rapidly, with 700 photographers having applied to be listed on the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last 30 days since we closed the round people have become more aware of the business and there has been a huge jump in the quality of applicants,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With the cash injection, Schiller says he\u2019s excited to be able to return his full attention to growing the burgeoning startup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a time-consuming and taxing thing every time you go through an investment round,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be able to go straight back to focusing 100% on growth. Now we\u2019re really focused on marketing the brand and growing here in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Snappr has global ambitions, the focus in the early days will be on conquering the local market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to bunker down here in Australia,\u201d Schiller says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still very early days and we don\u2019t want to go too wide and take things too quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have international ambitions and will be talking more about that in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

On-demand photography startup Snappr has closed an oversubscribed $500,000 pre-seed round on the day that the government\u2019s new early-stage investment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42614"}],"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=42614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}