Participated · Series C · Sep 2024

InDebted provides organizations with a technology-driven, customer-centric alternative to traditional debt collection, using machine learning to personalize each collections journey alongside a dedicated Customer Experience team. The company employs roughly 300 people, with almost half based in the United States, and its founder and CEO relocated to the US in 2023. InDebted now generates 70% of group revenue from US operations, a market that grew 195% over the last fiscal year. The business reached operating profitability in February 2024 and reports a compound annual growth rate of 110%. Management plans to use new capital to fund market expansion, pursue an M&A strategy, and continue product and solution development, with launches planned in the UAE and Mexico next month and later expansion into Europe and South America. Investors and advisers point to InDebted’s product innovation, global traction and category-leading position displacing incumbents as drivers of continued support. InDebted is a fintech startup that helps people manage overdue payments. Its core product is a debt-management platform aimed at improving the overdue payments process. The company announced expansion into the UK and highlights employee-focused policies such as a four-day work week. In its 2022 financial year it doubled its revenue. At the end of the financial year it raised $22.5 million and saw its valuation double to $200 million. The business also cut 40 staff and the CEO has signaled a shift away from 'growth at all costs.' Founded in 2015 and based in Sydney, InDebted provides a technology platform designed to facilitate debt collection for businesses while taking a friendlier approach than traditional collectors. The company has experienced rapid commercial growth, reporting 300% revenue growth over the past 12 months. Co-founder Josh Foreman says valuation has grown roughly 18× since its May 2017 seed round. InDebted raised a $1M seed from Reinventure in May 2017 and has continued to attract repeat investment from that fund. The platform is focused on scaling its collections technology and expanding its customer base among businesses requiring receivables management. InDebted provides a technology platform to help businesses, including SMEs, get paid quickly and efficiently by facilitating and managing debt collection. The company offers contingency-based debt collection services as its primary mercantile service for SMEs. For larger companies and lenders it sells a platform-as-a-service model. InDebted was founded by Josh Foreman in 2015 and is Sydney‑founded. The startup aims to disrupt Australia’s multibillion-dollar debt collection sector. It recently secured close to $1 million in seed funding to support its growth.

Participated · Series B · May 2022

Shippit is a logistics platform that connects retailers, carriers and consumers to manage e‑commerce deliveries and last‑mile fulfillment. The company emphasises reducing waste in e‑commerce logistics and has pursued vertical integration, including acquiring last‑mile technology platform Premonition. Shippit powered over 40 million deliveries in 2021, a roughly 300% increase on pre‑pandemic levels, and reports that Singapore and Malaysia now account for about 10% of platform bookings. Recent strategic moves include a same‑hour delivery partnership with Uber and executive hires including chairman David Gordon. Shippit aims to deliver 200 million shipments without waste by 2025. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate customer acquisition, product development and expansion across APAC. Shippit provides e-commerce fulfillment software that automates tasks across order fulfillment, including an allocation engine that finds the best carrier, package tracking and returns handling. The company integrates with online shopping carts to streamline merchant workflows and reduce carrier selection friction. Shippit currently handles five million deliveries per month in Australia for thousands of retailers, including Sephora, Target, Big W and Temple & Webster. Founded in 2014 and based in Sydney, the company has launched in Singapore (May) and Malaysia (August) and is considering expansion into the Philippines and Indonesia. Management plans to double the team by hiring 100 people, including 50 software developers, as part of its regional expansion. Shippit says its Australian operations have seen a threefold increase in delivery volumes over the past 12 months and expects its Southeast Asian business to grow 100% year-over-year for at least the next three years. Shippit is a five-year-old Sydney SaaS startup that provides an order-fulfillment and shipping platform for retailers. It began serving fashion and homeware boutiques in Surry Hills and has since expanded to major retailers including Cotton On, Accent Group, Kathmandu, Sephora, Cue, Temple & Webster and General Pants Co. The company processes more than two million deliveries a month and has seen active senders on its platform quadruple year‑on‑year, with staff headcount up 50% over the same period. Shippit recently launched a second major product, Shippit Returns. The business plans to use the new funding to upgrade technology and engineering and to ramp up sales presence across Australia and into Asia. The round was oversubscribed and more than doubles total investment in the company to over $10 million. Shippit.com is an Australian shipping management platform. The article describes it only as a shipping management platform and provides no further product detail. The company raised $1.63 million (A$2.2 million) in a Series A funding round. The round was led by venture fund Aura Group, with participation from Addventure Fund and RTL Group Investments. The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or user counts. The article does not describe any future plans or use of proceeds. Shippit is a Sydney-based delivery startup that provides a cloud-based software platform allowing retailers to book, track and manage shipments. It launched a premium, GPS-enabled scheduled delivery service to an invitation-only group of boutique online retailers in February and has since added a competitive low-cost national delivery option. Early clients include fashion and designer labels such as The Academy Brand, Urban Couture and Seletti, and the company says it has signed one of Australia’s iconic electrical goods retailers (not yet announced). The team claims a data-driven approach cuts the number of missed deliveries by around half by focusing on getting packages to people rather than places. The founding team has retail experience and is led by co-founder and CEO Rob Hango-Zada with co-founder William On. Shippit will use recent funding to expand the team and support growing demand for its services.

Participated · Series D · Jun 2021

Songtradr operates a music-licensing platform that connects songwriters and musicians with opportunities to place music in film, advertising, television, video games and apps. The company was founded by an Australian songwriter who transitioned into tech entrepreneurship. It is described in the reporting as US-based and focuses on helping musicians monetize their compositions through sync and licensing. Songtradr completed a marathon capital raising campaign that totaled more than $100 million. Its latest close was a US$70 million tranche (reported as $109 million) that was reached after an 18-month process. After the fundraising, the company is described as being worth $879 million. Songtradr is a music licensing marketplace that licenses music for advertising, films, TV, gaming and other uses for clients such as Disney, Netflix, Apple, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Google. The platform hosts songs from roughly 600,000 musicians, songwriters and rights holders. Over the past year the company has acquired multiple businesses, including MassiveMusic, Cuesongs, Song Zu, Pretzel and Tunefind. Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Europe and the Asia‑Pacific region, Songtradr says it will use new funding for further M&A, new product development and to grow global headcount. The company reported 100% year‑over‑year revenue growth for 2020. Songtradr is a cleared-for-licensing B2B music rights and licensing marketplace that connects a global community of artists, songwriters and music rights owners to corporate music users. Led by CEO Paul Wiltshire and based in Los Angeles, the company operates offices across Europe and APAC. The platform’s core product is a marketplace facilitating licensing transactions between creators and buyers such as brands, advertising agencies, streaming platforms, SVOD networks, film, TV and gaming companies. Songtradr connects 500,000+ artists, songwriters and rights owners. The company raised US$30M in a Series C that valued it at US$165M. It intends to use the funds to accelerate global expansion, product development and to fund key acquisitions. Songtradr is described as the largest music licensing platform in the world and operates a fully automated, open marketplace for music licensing. The platform connects artists to film, TV, brands and other media while enabling creators to control their content and rights and monetize music including distribution to major streaming platforms. Songtradr reports a catalog of over 400,000 artists and catalogs from 190+ countries and year-over-year revenue growth of over 400 percent. The company uses proprietary technologies to simplify licensing for music supervisors, brands, filmmakers and other creatives. Leadership emphasizes product development and growth, and the company says the recent financing will fund rapid global expansion and acquisition plans. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif., and is led by founder and CEO Paul Wiltshire. Songtradr is a fully automated, worldwide music-licensing marketplace that connects music creators to tastemakers, brands, apps, TV and filmmakers. Led by founder and CEO Paul Wiltshire, the platform uses proprietary search and variable-license-pricing technology to enable easy licensing. Music creators retain control of their rights and are provided tools to monetize their music assets. The company hosts more than 140,000 artists and catalogs from 150+ countries. Songtradr raised a US$4M Series A and intends to use the funds for ongoing expansion; the round brings total capital raised to US$9M.

Participated · Equity · May 2021

Animoca, also known as Outblaze Ventures, focuses on developing and publishing mobile games and educational applications for iOS and Android devices. Since its debut in January 2011, the company has launched over 150 titles across smartphones and tablets. Animoca also operates several brands, including Dream Cortex, to broaden its reach in the mobile entertainment space. In only ten months on the market, its apps have amassed more than 40 million downloads worldwide, underscoring strong early traction with users. The firm’s rapid content rollout demonstrates an aggressive product strategy targeting global smartphone audiences. Backing from major technology investors suggests confidence in the company's ability to scale its portfolio further. While revenue figures were not disclosed, the significant download volume highlights Animoca’s potential for future monetization and growth opportunities.

Led · Convertible Note · Aug 2020

Zoom.ai is a Toronto-based startup that offers smart meeting-scheduling software that integrates with Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts and Microsoft Teams. Founded in 2016, the company pivoted from a broader automated personal assistant to focus on scheduling and now targets recruiters, salespeople and mid-market and SMB customers. The startup reported a surge in traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming new user registrations, customers, and active users grew five-fold in March and meetings scheduled through its platform grew six-fold since mid-March. Zoom.ai plans to release a new payment processing product to enable bookings where users sell their time, a use case the company has explored as "virtual e-commerce." Financially, the company said it raised C$600,000 in a combination of equity and debt classified as bridge financing to extend its runway, and it hopes to close an additional C$300,000 in the next quarter. The product focus narrowed after a 2019 product-market fit exercise that reduced staff and concentrated the team on scheduling, integrations and faster learning cycles. Zoom.ai, founded in 2016 by Roy Pereira and based in Toronto, builds Ava Zoom, an automated virtual assistant and chat-based productivity tool for enterprises. Ava Zoom automates meeting scheduling, meeting preparedness, introductions, travel logistics, searching files and document generation, acting as an intelligent layer between a company's chat application and its tech stack. The product centralizes corporate data and applies machine learning to surface and stitch together insights through chat. Zoom.ai reports that the assistant saves employees 10+ hours per month and boosts productivity by 14%. The company has partnerships with Microsoft and Google and has received awards including IDC Research’s Top 5 Canadian AI Innovator, OpenText’s Best Enterprise Software, and Best New Startup at the Canadian Innovation Awards. Zoom.ai plans to use recent funding to accelerate product development, grow the team, expand sales into the US and Europe, and emphasize enterprise security. Zoom.ai is a Toronto-based developer of an automated virtual assistant that helps users offload menial administrative and administrative tasks. The company has been incorporating learnings from enterprise customers into its product and pitches to enterprise buyers. Financially, Zoom.ai recently closed a $2.1M seed round and won a C$100,000 grand prize at the OpenText Enterprise World Pitch Contest. The company says the prize extends its runway by about two months, giving it “more buffer room” to hit metrics needed for a Series A. The award also includes one year of free entrance into the OpenText Global Partner Program, which provides training and product knowledge to help achieve business targets. Founder and CEO Roy Pereira characterized the win as validation of Zoom.ai’s vision to enhance employee experience in the modern enterprise. Zoom.ai positions itself as an automated executive assistant for enterprise rather than a consumer chatbot, aiming to save managers time on scheduling, contact lookups, and meeting logistics. The product runs across many messaging platforms (Slack, Telegram, Messenger, Kik, Line, Skype, Hangouts, Cisco Spark, SMS and email) and is available as a free preview. The company emphasizes robust NLP and user-aware memory, training its models to recognize varied phrasings and context across different chat UIs. Zoom.ai has built much of its machine‑learning stack in‑house, recruiting talent (including from the University of Toronto) and enhancing off‑the‑shelf tools to meet its needs. The team says it uses available user data to inform personalization and reduce error rates, and is open to integrating better external ML tools as they become available. At the time of the article the startup was roughly six months old and focused on expanding its domain capabilities while keeping error risk low.