{"id":44927,"date":"2023-10-20T15:39:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-funding-round-startup-founders-down-under-share-in-53-3-million-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:39:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:39:39","slug":"the-funding-round-startup-founders-down-under-share-in-53-3-million-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-funding-round-startup-founders-down-under-share-in-53-3-million-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The Funding Round: Startup founders Down Under share in $53.3 million – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Deputy-startup-founders-photo-640x427\"
Deputy founders Ashik Ahmed and Steve Shelley <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

This year is shaping up to be big year for local startups, if the investment deals secured so far are anything to go by.<\/p>\n

After Atlassian\u2019s $577.8 million acquisition of Trello<\/a>, Australian startup founders and one expat have celebrated securing more than $50 million in investment deals to go bigger and higher this year.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a round-up of some of the biggest deals.<\/p>\n

1. Deputy from Sydney banks $33 million<\/h3>\n

The elevator pitch:<\/span> \u201cSoftware for easy employee scheduling, time and attendance and communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by:<\/span> Ashik Ahmed and Steve Shelley.<\/p>\n

How much:<\/span> $US25 million ($33 million) in Series A funding.<\/p>\n

From who:<\/span> Boston venture capital firm OpenView.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/span> To speed up expansion across the United States, United Kingdom and Philippines.<\/p>\n

Shelley told StartupSmart<\/em> Deputy, which turns over north of $10 million and serves over 28,000 clients<\/a>, has outgrown its bootstrapping days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that for us to allow the business to grow and meet the global demands, [we] really needed to invest a lot more into our marketing, sales and talent,\u201d Shelley said.<\/p>\n

2. GreenSync from Melbourne banks $11.5 million<\/h3>\n

The elevator pitch:<\/span> \u201cA technology company that is part of a new generation of energy innovators using smart software control to optimise the use of energy resources in electricity grids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by:<\/span> Dr Phil Blythe.<\/p>\n

How much:<\/span> $11.5 million in Series B funding.<\/p>\n

From who:<\/span> The round was led by Clean Energy Finance Corporation (part of the Australian government’s Clean Energy Innovation Fund) and Southern Cross Venture Partners’ renewable energy fund.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/span> To develop the company’s suite of energy-tech products and expand overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to raise a serious amount of capital is about how we build the technology that allows us to scale globally and move globally,\u201d Blythe tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Local Measure from Sydney banks $4.5 million<\/h3>\n

Elevator pitch:<\/span> \u201cLocation based social media monitoring and customer experience management. Discover public content from social networks posted at your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by:<\/span> Jonathan Barouch.<\/p>\n

How much:<\/span> $4.5 million.<\/p>\n

From who:<\/span> Mix of private investors, funds and private equity firms from the Asia Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/span> Local Measure is opening a sales and account management office in Dubai this month and will be setting up a new office in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

It already has offices in Sydney, Singapore, London and Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur technology leverages the growth of social media to provide a new and powerful tool for hoteliers and tourism asset managers,\u201d Barouch said in a statement.<\/p>\n

4. Postr from New Zealand banks $3 million<\/h3>\n

Elevator pitch:<\/span> \u201cPostr puts brands on their audience’s lock screen and pays people to use their phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by:<\/span> Milan Reinartz.<\/p>\n

How much:<\/span> $3 million.<\/p>\n

From who:<\/span> The round was led by private investors from Singapore and supported by existing backers.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/span> To go global.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand is a fantastic testing ground, but from a commercial perspective just too small a market to stay put. Our intention has always been to eventually grow globally,\u201d said Reinartz in a statement.<\/p>\n

5. Aussie expat Process Street banks $1.3 million<\/h3>\n

Elevator pitch:<\/span> \u201cProcess Street is the home for your teams\u2019 recurring tasks. Create, track and optimise business process work-flows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by:<\/span> Sydney expat Vinay Patankar (now based in San Francisco).<\/p>\n

How much:<\/span> $1.3 million seed funding.<\/p>\n

From who:<\/span> Round led by Blackbird Ventures and AirTree Ventures.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/span> To further product development and invest in sales and marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe create a collaborative checklist and workflow app used by over 49,000 businesses to help teams manage their processes and automate workflows,\u201d Patankar said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re taking on companies like Atlassian and Microsoft who create bulky and unintuitive workflow software – Trello excluded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: The Funding Round\u2014Online grocer, world-changing startup and wallet-replacing watch bank $6.3 million<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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

Deputy founders Ashik Ahmed and Steve Shelley This year is shaping up to be big year for local startups, if<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19,25,8,6,23,13,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44927"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}