{"id":42862,"date":"2023-10-20T15:24:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/oneflare-raises-3-million-plans-to-scale-up-australian-growth-and-abandons-international-expansion-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:24:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:24:19","slug":"oneflare-raises-3-million-plans-to-scale-up-australian-growth-and-abandons-international-expansion-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/oneflare-raises-3-million-plans-to-scale-up-australian-growth-and-abandons-international-expansion-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Oneflare raises $3 million, plans to scale up Australian growth and abandons international expansion – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australian local services marketplace Oneflare has announced it has closed a $3 million funding round and will focus on the Aussie market, suspending plans for an international expansion.<\/p>\n

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Oneflare allows users to find, compare and ultimately hire local services, and provides access to half a million consumer reviews to assist with this decision.<\/p>\n

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The round, which was led by Microequities Asset Management, will be used to market the platform and expand the startup\u2019s team, founder Adam Dong says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re looking at getting a lot of data scientists, a lot more engineers, and a lot more developers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of our success is down to hiring the right people. We had 15 at this time last year, and now we have 40.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Sydney-based startup launched in early 2012, and now has 70,000 registered businesses and attracts over 1.3 million unique visitors each month.<\/p>\n

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Focusing on Australia<\/b><\/h2>\n

In February Oneflare bought Word of Mouth Online<\/a>, the largest customer review site in Australia, and last year secured an additional $1 million in funding as they prepared to expand internationally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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But Dong says they\u2019ve decided to concentrate their resources on Australia for the time being.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to focus on the Australian market,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a really big market here still left to win. It\u2019s the last classified that doesn\u2019t have a dominant player.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That said Oneflare has many competitors, among them TrueLocal and Gumtree. But Dony says that Oneflare\u2019s actual product is what sets it apart.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s all about our product, which has been emphasised by our organic growth,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe pride ourselves on the product itself \u2013 what actually happens to the customer when they come onto the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Plans to triple revenue<\/b><\/h2>\n

Oneflare\u2019s goal is to triple revenue this financial year. To do this, it needs to attract more businesses to fulfil the backlog of requests from customers on the site.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have too many job requests coming in, so it\u2019s about making calls to businesses and telling them that they\u2019ve got this business here,\u201d Dong says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow it\u2019s a matter of playing catch-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Raising your<\/i> first round of capital<\/i><\/a>? Starting a<\/i> crowdfunding campaign<\/i><\/a>? Want to grow your business<\/i> with Instagram?<\/i><\/a> <\/i>StartupSmart School can help.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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