{"id":47653,"date":"2023-10-20T15:54:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/capital-raise-puts-micro-location-startup-localz-closer-to-leaving-its-mark-on-legacy-technology-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:54:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:29","slug":"capital-raise-puts-micro-location-startup-localz-closer-to-leaving-its-mark-on-legacy-technology-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/capital-raise-puts-micro-location-startup-localz-closer-to-leaving-its-mark-on-legacy-technology-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Capital raise puts micro-location startup Localz closer to leaving its mark on legacy technology – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Micro-location startup Localz has raised \u00a3100,000 ($A187,000) after winning European omni-channel retailer John Lewis\u2019 JLAB incubator program, taking the nine-month-old startup\u2019s total seed funding just shy of $1 million.<\/p>\n

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Localz is a software-as-a-service platform that allows large enterprises to connect legacy technology with micro-location experiences, whether it be iBeacons, near field communication technology, or geo-fencing.<\/p>\n

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Co-founder Tim Andrew says while \u201cany digital agency worth their salt\u201d can develop interesting retail experiences using such technology, it\u2019s integrating it with the systems of retailers that can be difficult.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSomething that stood out about us to John Lewis was our ability to help them do this with their existing technology,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s an enormous amount of hype around beacons, but there\u2019s not as many people who can turn it into a decent application.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The startup allows business clients to rapidly deploy production-ready micro-location solutions via a range of ready-made adaptors that work with their existing systems and processes. Andrew says the \u201csweet-spot\u201d for Localz is in the financial services and retail space.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRetail seems to be the most progressive on the question of on and offline customers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Localz\u2019 technology aims to narrow the gap between on and offline shopping experiences. Andrew says the most progressive retailers realise there\u2019s no such thing as online retail and offline retail, there\u2019s just retail.<\/p>\n

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What does that look like in practice? He explains with a use-case that Localz is working on with John Lewis. Customers make a purchase through the website and choose \u201cclick and collect\u201d for in-store collection. When they arrive at the store, Localz\u2019 micro-location technology can notify John Lewis employees, who can take the product to their car, or meet them at the door.<\/p>\n

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Another example Andrew gives is helping customers locate items on their online shopping cart, when they\u2019re in the physical store.<\/p>\n

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Andrew says the startup, which is setting up an office in the UK, has a valuation \u201cin the high seven figures, not quite eight but close to it\u201d and is being \u201ccourted\u201d to relocate to the UK.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve got all the fundamentals there, which you don\u2019t have to relocate to capture, the size of the market opportunity, for example,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut the relocation incentives hinge around obvious things like the UKTI (UK Trade and Investment), the government body that has people on the ground to help encourage companies move and get established in the UK.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s very good grant schemes in the UK, something where there\u2019s a bit of a gap here in Australia. There is also an equivalent if not better research and development structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite all of that, Andrew says Localz isn\u2019t planning a complete relocation just yet.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe love Australia,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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<\/i><\/p>\n

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

Micro-location startup Localz has raised \u00a3100,000 ($A187,000) after winning European omni-channel retailer John Lewis\u2019 JLAB incubator program, taking the nine-month-old<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,22,18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47653"}],"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=47653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}