{"id":45180,"date":"2023-10-20T15:41:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-expense-check-secured-a-1-million-investment\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:41:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:41:41","slug":"how-expense-check-secured-a-1-million-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-expense-check-secured-a-1-million-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"How Expense Check secured a $1 million investment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A Melbourne entrepreneur says taking the time to build relationships with investors before holding any official meetings helped him to secure a $1 million investment in his startup.<\/p>\n

Industrie IT\u2019s VC Fund the Grid has contributed the cash injection for Expense Check, a startup that aims to provide small bussineses with their own digital CFO by using data mining to save them money.<\/p>\n

Co-founder Nigel Fellowes-Freeman says getting referrals into close-knit VC circles was the most difficult thing about the funding round.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeed phase funding is quite scarce in Australia,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Coffees and breakfast<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When approaching VC investors, he spent about two months warming up his network before any official meetings took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to everybody I knew within my networks who knew investors we wanted to approach,\u201d Fellowes-Freeman says.<\/p>\n

Fellowes-Freeman says he also made a big effort to research investors of interest, their portfolios and the type of founders and businesses they had already backed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought a lot of coffee and breakfast to be able to chat to the right people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

After a series of pitching to various VC firms who interrogated him on the problem Expense Check solves, how big the problem actually is, the market size and how capable their team is to execute their plan, he found a match with Industrie IT\u2019s VC fund The Grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt they had a really great network that aligned with what we wanted to do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really willing to roll up their sleeves and get deep into the business in the early phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

To fellow startup founders planning to approach investors, Fellowes-Freeman encourages them to take the time to research who they\u2019re pitching to and what they put value in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTarget your pitch specifically to the VC,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He adds that founders must be well prepared to handle hard questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll always ask questions that you don\u2019t want to answer,\u201d Fellowes-Freeman says.<\/p>\n

The trickiest questions relate to financials, he says, like making projections on what can be achieved, speaking to those details and providing reasoned answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked really hard at modelling to enable me to answer them with a deep understanding which gave me confidence,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A virtual CFO<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fellowes-Freeman started working on the app to create a seamless and automated way for business owners to address their biggest problem: A lack of time and money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be the company that enables small businesses to make great decisions,\u201d Fellowes-Freeman says.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we do is focused on value.\u201d<\/p>\n

The app operates like an automated CFO, making smart decisions based on financial and market knowledge to help business owners cut down on unnecessary costs, Fellowes-Freeman says.<\/p>\n

With a couple of clicks, users can review better deals on service providers by entering invoices directly through their accounting software or a photo which takes about 30 seconds, Fellowes-Freeman says.<\/p>\n

Expense Check is integrated with Xero and the team hopes to have QuickBooks and MYOB on board by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The path forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n

He says scoring $1 million in VC funding will be a major boost for the startup as it amps up its internal tech, marketing and sales team to drive up scale.<\/p>\n

Prior to this, Fellowes-Freeman says the startup raised $50,000 in grant money through the Tech Development Voucher allowing them to build the MVP.<\/p>\n

Fellowes-Freeman now plans to spend the next six months \u201cacquiring aggressively\u201d with a bigger and sophisticated team to build out its integration and verticals beyond electricity to business insurance, telecommunication and even office supplies.<\/p>\n

Looking back to day one when he first started working on Expense Check, Fellowes-Freeman says he\u2019d tell himself to jump in quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of making mistakes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think you have to know everything straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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