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Newcastle startup eCoach is an online learning platform that focuses on simplicity

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ecoach

The global education industry is worth over $4 trillion, with the smart education and learning market set to reach a value of $446 billion by 2020. With the Asia-Pacific region particularly ripe for growth, the number of Australian EduTech startups keeps growing. Newcastle education startup Futura Group, which won the Educational Solution of the Year award last year, works with clients including the Queensland Government and TAFE Queensland and NSW to deliver online learning solutions and courses. Through this work, they noticed a need for simplicity and built eCoacha cloud platform which helps teachers build interactive courses online and then share them with students to help them go over work at home. The focus on simplicity means the eCoach platform is fairly basic - even the least tech-savvy of teachers can easily create a course using one of 20 templates. They can then share the course link with students, who can view the course on any device through external platforms like Google Classroom. Ryan Macpherson, a product developer at Futura Group, said the idea for the platform came from the startup’s frustration with other authoring tools. “We decided to make our own framework which started life as a flash-based solution which was managed by manually updating our database and XML files. We eventually converted the framework into HTML, making it responsive and adding a visual interface for rapid authoring,” Macpherson said. “In late 2014, we made the decision to develop our own SaaS product for educators. There weren’t many other cloud-based solutions - actually none that we know of - that offered such a simple way to make great looking courses.” [caption id="attachment_44012" align="alignnone" width="720"]ecoachbuilder.com ecoachbuilder.com[/caption] Currently in beta, eCoach is planned to launch commercially in November, with the standard subscription costing $49.95 per month with no limit on the number of courses a teacher can create; teachers and other educators with an educational email address will receive a 40 percent discount. With laptops and tablets almost mandatory in today’s classrooms, eCoach isn’t the only platform looking to help teachers and students work better together online, with Smart Sparrow and Blackboard big names in the space. Though he acknowledges the similarities, Macpherson believes eCoach differs by providing a “consistent shape and form to lessons” through templates which both teachers and students may find easier to follow, which is an important consideration - while teachers are largely getting better at using new technologies, there are still those for whom sophisticated online tools are too difficult to learn how to properly master. Macpherson added, “The other key difference would be that the time outlay to design and develop an online course would be significantly less when using the eCoach than other tools on the market, such as Smart Sparrow, which require a greater time investment to create content.” Given teachers are notoriously time-poor, this is another important point. 175 teachers have registered to use the platform in beta, with the majority having signed up after meeting the Futura Group at an EduTech conference in Brisbane this year, or discovering the platform through Twitter. The startup will be targeting individual teachers rather than schools, hoping to develop a devoted user base that grows from word of mouth. Beyond schools, Futura Group aims to grow eCoach into a learning management system for training organisations that want to build and deliver their own courses. Launching in 2016, this platform will have a new feature set and pricing model, based on the number of active users in each calendar month, with a third tier to be developed for enterprise-level users and the HR market.

Energy-tech startup carbonTrack raises another $2 million as it sets sights towards the Asian market

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Geoff Gourley Social Entrepreneur

Energy-tech startup carbonTRACK announced it closed a new $2 million round of funding. The capital will be used to scale up the organisation within Australia and expand internationally. Founded by Leonie Ladgrove and Spiros Livadaras, carbonTrack allows users to track their energy use in their homes and pinpoint their biggest areas of cost and energy consumption. The application also allows its users to turn appliances on and off via their mobile phone no matter where they are in the world, helping them manage their usage in a more productive and effective manner. Last financial year, the company completed a $1.1 million round that was led by Wolf Capital. This has allowed the startup to grow quite rapidly within the local market, adding 15 new people to the team within the last 12 months alone. The company was also recently shortlisted to pitch in the NRMA Slingshot Jumpstart Scale-up Program. This latest round of funding saw investors Geoff Gourley and Julio De Laffitte of Impact Investment Fund join Wolf Capital. The $2 million investment will allow the company to commercialise its patented technology, continue its rapid local expansion as well as begin to explore international opportunities in Asia. The current valuation placed on carbonTRACK after this latest round is $22.5 million. carbonTRACK has offices in Melbourne and Johannesburg, with plans to expand its presence into Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The startup will also participate on a trade mission to Singapore next month that will be hosted by Gemstar technologies in conjunction with AusTrade. Gourley will also be joining carbonTRACK's board as a Director and will be supporting the global expansion, in addition to forming strategic partnerships to help scale the local business. “The founders were seeking to scale and expand the business and we knew we needed a capital injection as well as expertise that is complimentary to our existing board. Geoff certainly brings that to the company,” said Global CEO, Tom Jamieson. In addition to this new role, Gourley is also the co-founder of Impact Investment Fund and is an active investor in another energy services company called NuGreen Solutions. The Impact Investment Fund invests in companies that promote a positive social or environmental outcome. It also invests in media ventures that communicate social and environmental messages, such as digital media companies that have a social focus. Examples of such companies include highly-scalable startup companies like ThankYou Group and TOMS Shoes. It is also the world’s first Impact Investing Fund to be Branded Trust Certified. Branded Trust is similar to B Corporations, however, the process for certification is a lot more rigorous in the assessment and the benchmarking. “It is exciting to see a Melbourne-based tech startup develop a unique technology which can save businesses and home owners significant money and also reduce carbon emissions whilst preparing for a truly connected future," said Gourley on the latest investment into carbonTRACK. "Being able to manage how and when you use power, tracking your solar generation, being ready for electric vehicles connected to battery storage and, the Internet of Things (IoT) is disruptive and available now". There are currently a number of startup players similar to carbonTRACK in the Australian energy space like PowerTracker and WattCost that are also experiencing healthy traction with their products and services in the local market. There is yet to be a dominant player, and given the vast addressable market for energy, it will be a while before one of these organisations becomes the industry leader.

Can Adelaide AgriTech startup GrapeBrain revive the grape production and wine industry?

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Seer Insights

Australians have been planting grapevines since the 18th century. Today, grape growing is the largest fruit industry in Australia, with wine grape production the most predominant of the three viticulture industries, producing 1.7 million tonnes of grapes in 2014. Although traditional industries are diverging rapidly into a digital world, Australian grape producers are still plagued with the inefficiencies that come with doing things the old way. Even today, many grape growers are estimating their yield by recording bunch counts on paper while out in the vineyard, followed by doing some basic mathematics. For years, this has meant that predictions of annual grape production are out by up to 30 percent. However, with grape producers exiting the industry due to economic instability and wineries feeling the pinch, innovators are racing against the clock to revive the industry.

One startup looking to eliminate inefficiencies in the industry is GrapeBrain, a ‘viticultural intelligence system’ which leverages Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning to significantly improve grape production forecasts. By feeding large data sets into Azure Machine Learning, GrapeBrain identifies patterns and insights from current and historical data, and uses what’s happened in the past to make predictions of what might occur in the future. Over time, yield estimates become more and more accurate. Added to that, the technology can be applied to other agricultural industries, which could mean significant improvements in global food supply.

GrapeBrain, a product of parent company Seer Insights, was founded by three students from the University of Adelaide. Harry Lucas, 20, is currently studying Mechatronic Engineering, while Liam Ellul, 23 is completing a combined degree in Commerce and Law. Petros Bakopoulos, 21, who joined the company later, is studying Mechanical Engineering and Finance.

The idea for GrapeBrain came about through Ellul and Lucas’s participation in the Tech eChallenge program, run by Adelaide University’s Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre and the School of Computer Science, in partnership with Microsoft. This was mid-2014. However, they wanted to take their concept outside the university environment and throw themselves into the world of real business.

Lucas said the original idea was to create drones for broadacre farming; the drones would have been designed to help grape producers identify problems with crops. But through market research, they learned that the most underserved problem for wineries and grape growers was the inability to accurately predict yield - that is, the number of grapes that will come off a vineyard at the end of the season.

“The unanimous feedback we received was that wineries don’t need drones, they need results. They’ve been gathering data for years and lost a lot of money due to problems surrounding a process called Yield Estimation,” said Lucas.

“We started looking into this interesting problem and we just got more and more engaged. It turns out that the logistical implications of not knowing how many grapes you'll have at the end of the season are massive, some wineries lose over $200,000 per year here in the Barossa. We think its crazy that it’s not possible to do this in this day and age, so we set out to solve the problem.

The problem is costing Australia around 100 times this amount, not taking into account the challenges faced in other agricultural sectors. Lucas said the platform is applicable to other crops as well, and that the company has already been approached by bodies who administer these other crops.

“[We’re] excited to discuss our future potential collaboration with them,” said Lucas.

It may be difficult to comprehend how technology can predict grape production when there are various environmental factors that come into play, however Lucas insisted they adopt many different techniques to improve accuracy. As mentioned earlier, one major contributor is GrapeBrain’s use of the Azure Machine Learning system, which Lucas admitted has “opened up the whole field of data science to us”. GrapeBrain collects all available data that contributes to yield prediction, like weather and soil chemistry, and subjects that data to a predictive analytics process, which is part of the Azure Machine Learning system.

“The thing about modelling natural processes is that there’s many different factors which affect them. If we’re talking specifically about grape yields, there are a myriad of factors which impact a solid yield estimate, [such as] weather, soil chemistry and even the type of pruning used. That's only three factors, and it certainly gets a lot more complex in the field,” Lucas explained.

“Our system certainly takes this data into account, but it goes far beyond this. The accuracy of our predictions depends on all of these factors as well as human input. With poor data comes poor results, as you can imagine.”

What’s powerful about Seer Insights’ first solution is not only that it can make sense of data, but enables grape producers to act upon that knowledge. They can manage their soil and water better and make other informed decisions to ensure the best outcome.

GrapeBrain is currently web-based and also available as a smartphone application. The smartphone application enables grape producers to do mandatory bunch counts when out in the vineyard, eliminating the need to use a pen and paper. The data is processed and sent to the cloud.

Ellul said GrapeBrain’s ideal customer is a corporate scale winery that has an international presence - this is strategic for the startup, as it allows GrapeBrain to scale through organisations. Ellul also admitted that they’re in the process of securing deals with some large organisations so they can start testing the platform this growing season.

“The organisations we're testing with are actually our future customers and have been specifically selected due to their large overseas presences, allowing us to scale THROUGH organisations, rather than opening up entirely new sales channels overseas,” said Ellul.

GrapeBrain does not yet have a monetisation strategy set in stone. The startup will doing extensive testing before executing a business model.

“We're still taking feedback on this, but we're currently intending to charge in a fashion that scales with organisation size. It's very important to us to make this software as accessible to smaller, independent customers as it is to corporate wineries,” said Bakopoulos.

The startup had been self-funded up until recently when it secured a grant from the Bank of South Australia - a much needed capital injection. Bakopoulos admitted that the last few months have been tough for the startup both development-wise and financially.

“We've been feeling the pressure trying to get our software into shape for roll out this year, and before we received the support from BankSA we were struggling to support the financial implications of running a startup. We've passed through that hurdle now and we're excited to see our platform in use at the end of this year,” Bakopoulos said.

The co-founders are no longer actively looking for investment, however are open to the prospect of raising funds at a later stage depending on circumstances.

Lucas, Ellul and Bakopoulos have a lot to be proud of. Prior to being named as South Australia’s Young Innovators of the Year, they were personally invited by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill to present to Cabinet. They were also invited to Seattle by Microsoft. However, what the co-founders are most proud of is the progress they’ve made with the product and the global implications of their solution.

“I'm very proud of the fact that we're solving a problem which has some incredible future applications. Our software has the ability to be adopted to other crops, and I feel like this has some incredible applications in third world countries and feeding the world. I'm most proud of the fact that we have the ability to help people,” said Bakopoulos.

Lucas communicated a similar sentiment: “I'm most proud of the software that we've built. There's nothing more satisfying than taking our platform out to a grower or winery and seeing how excited these people get to try our system out. I don't think I've ever felt anything quite like it.”

Over the upcoming months, the co-founders will be finalising their initial product offering, testing the software and executing a sales strategy. They’re also eager to test their software in California’s Napa Valley before the end of next year.

Coindesk and MIT Media Lab offering 50 diversity scholarships to increase diversity in bitcoin community

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coindesk

In an effort to increase diversity within the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology space, digital currency-focused media outlet Coindesk, in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative, is offering 50 diversity scholarships for the Consensus 2015 conference being held in New York City next month. The scholarship is targeted at "people of colour and women between 18 and 25 years of age". Coindesk's recent study of over 3,500 bitcoin users revealed that less than one in 10 bitcoin owners (8.2 percent) are female, while over 72 percent describe their ethnicity as "white". The vast majority of bitcoin users also fall into the 25 to 34 years age group (39.4 percent). It's worth noting that most of the respondents are from North America and Europe, and that the study is only reflective of Coindesk's audience.
This data, like any, has its limitations. The four web surveys – offered in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and English – were propagated across various local interest groups, but were predominantly accessed via CoinDesk's main site and social media platforms. For this reason, responses are largely linked to our North American and European readership and do not necessarily reflect the profile of bitcoin users outside these regions. For example, our Chinese language survey received comparatively few responses, though there are known to be many cryptocurrency users in the region.
However, the general consensus is, as Fred Wilson of Union Ventures points out, "the bitcoin community is a fairly homogenous group, mainly white and mainly male". Huffington Post even described the bitcoin community as "a rich, white male disaster" in a headline. With this issue in mind, the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Intitiative and CoinDesk will work with local groups, such as CODE2040, Girls Who Code, Microsoft-sponsored TEALS programme and National Center for Women & Information Technology, to select Consensus Scholars. Consensus Scholars will get the opportunity to attend Consensus 2015 for free - the standard ticket price to the event is $1,199, while the full ticket price is $1,499. The scholars will also gain to mentorship during the event to develop a deeper understanding of the digital currency economy. Mentors include executives from Citi, the title sponsor of the conference, and other speakers at the event. “Our hope is to expose more young people, from a diverse set of backgrounds to the powerful potential of digital currency. The Consensus Scholarships will allow young people to ask questions, gain unique insights and meet with leaders in the digital currency movement,” said Brian Forde, director of the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative.  Those interested in becoming a Consensus Scholar can apply here.

Sydney EduTech startup vClass rebrands to Inkerz and announces major Chinese partnerships

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inkrz

Sydney education startup vClass has rebranded to Inkerz after its move into the Chinese market, this week signing partnerships with Shenzhen Yifang Digital Technhology and Shijiazhuang Dazhong Network Communication. These partnerships are the latest in a line of big steps for Inkerz, which was part of the muru-D accelerator program's second intake. In May, the company told Startup Daily that it had raised a seed funding round of $450,000 that was led by two Taiwanese investors - this funding has now reached $470,000 - and also announced that it had $1.8 million in revenue under contract after signing a major customer out of China. Its current clients include muru-D partner Telstra, Macquarie University, and the University of NSW. With Shenzhen Yifang Digital Technology manufacturing tablets, stylus pens, home automation and smart wearable devices, the Inkerz deal will see the startup's collaboration platform incorporated into each Yifang device sold around the world. Shijiazhuang Dazhong Network Communication, which specialises in multimedia teaching controls, computer network design, and software development, has been appointed Inkerz' exclusive distributor in Hebei Province. Founded by Masoud Douzan, Vahid Douzan and Shoaleh Baktashi, the startup aims to help teachers and tutors teach remotely in real-time, replicating a face-to-face lesson through the use of a digital pen and a small recording device of sorts. Unlike other online educational tools that facilitate collaborative learning and teaching, vClass uses the traditional pen and paper rather than an app and special writing tool that needs to be used on a screen. There is a huge opportunity for the startup; its technology can be seen as a tool that allows bricks and mortar education companies to scale without exorbitant spending by allowing them to expand their businesses into new states and countries. Stuart Ayres, the NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events, said the partnerships highlight the potential of the Chinese EduTech market for local startups. "NSW is lending invaluable support and expertise to China in the emerging field of education technology. It is estimated by 2017, the value of China's online education market will reach $36 billion so there is enormous benefit to NSW in exchanging knowledge and ideas with China in this sector," Ayres said. The deal was made during Inkerz's recent trip to China as part of a delegation of 10 NSW EduTech startups, organised by StudyNSW to showcase new technology to potential Chinese partners and investors. Other startups who travelled to China as part of the delegation include Literatu, LearnCube, and Chatty Kidz.

Mr Tradie is the latest startup looking to help tradies experience the benefits of technology

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mr tradie

Most people stopped using the Yellow Pages to find a tradesman a decade ago. Since then, the number of websites looking to help consumers connect with the right plumber or electrician has grown exponentially, but the battle is now on between apps looking to corner the tradie market. Despite the competition, Melbourne startup Mr Tradie believes it has the tools to do it. Founder Ishan Dan said the idea for the app came from a conversation he had at the pub with his friends, one a plumber and the other a builder. Both were having trouble getting their businesses off the ground. “I asked them what their marketing strategy was and how they were attracting business. Both looked me rather stunned and said, we don’t really use marketing, we rely on word of mouth. That was my lightbulb moment,” he said. “It dawned on me that while most tradies have learned the basics of business and their trade, they weren’t employing effective marketing strategies such as a website, SEO and proper use of digital marketing to expand their business and gain leads.” The first step for tradies is to register their business on the app. They can then wait for customers to contact them directly to request a quote or by sending a job callout. The tradie then has 24 hours to respond to the job request. A feature to come in the app’s next update will allow tradies to browse a job board of callouts that were not accepted by others in the 24 hour window. Customers can browse businesses by trade, with search results showing the closest businesses to their GPS location, with their feedback score also listed. Once a tradie has been selected, the user answers three questions - what do you need done, where do you need it done, and when do you need it done - and can take three pictures of the required job; this information is then sent to the tradie via a push notification. For those less picky, the job callout feature sends a callout to the five tradies and posts the callout on the job board. Free to download for consumers, listing on the app will cost a tradie $10 per month, or $100 per year through a one-off payment. “There are platforms that charge tradies every time they receive a quote, regardless of whether the tradie gets the job or not. One of the many complaints I hear from frustrated tradies is when they receive invoices at the end of each month for a heap of job quotes they’ve received, but never actually carried out the work.” Bars and pubs have been fertile ground for Dan, who found investment through an old work connection turned successful entrepreneur after bumping into him at a bar a few years ago, when Mr Tradie was still just an idea. “He was impressed by the idea and absolutely loved it. We didn’t cross paths again until early this year when he asked me how the idea was progressing. So I brought him up to speed and told him the iPhone app had just launched, but needed an Android version and a marketing strategy,” Dan said. The connection, who was involved in the ASX listing of Rewardle, has invested $100,000 in the startup. Despite finding investment relatively easily, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Dan; what he thought was a six month job took the developer two years to complete. That said, he's quite content with the result. Dan is not daunted by the competition in the market - namely popular platforms hipages and Oneflare, which has 70,000 registered tradies and attracts 1.3 unique visitors a month. “If you look at tradie apps on the market at the moment, they’re merely extensions of a website. They are simple, boring, and limited in functionality. Some are just the Yellow Pages dressed up. Mr Tradie is more than that. It has been built from the ground up and isn’t an extension of a website. Like Uber, it has full GPS, maps, Facebook and push notification integration that will enhance the user experience.” With the iOS app already out, Dan is aiming for an October release of the Android version, with a major update coming for the platform soon after. He said, "Over the next 12 months our aim is to capture the Melbourne tradies market and possibly Sydney. We’re aiming to have 5,000-10,000 tradies on board by this time next year, and to have the app being used by consumers in both states. It’s a big ask, but I think it’s possible."

Stone & Chalk launches Sydney’s second Fintech hub, placing the city in a unique position to be a world leader in Fintech

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SandC_MinisterRoberts_Chelsea_Dunne_fincast_cofounder_AlexScandurra

FinTech is fast becoming a sought after space within Australia, especially at a corporate and government level. That probably has something to do with Australian financial technology companies being some of the best in the world. They are global, are growing rapidly and are serving both the consumer and enterprise markets. It is little wonder that cities like London are beginning to wine and dine our local founders playing in this space with free overseas trips and educational tours in the hopes of wooing them to move offshore and call its city home. Last night, in hopes to keep Australian Fintech businesses within Australia, Stone and Chalk opened its doors at 50 Bridge Street in Sydney's CBD. The event was attended by respected figures in Sydney's startup ecosystem, particularly in the finance sector, and the space was officially opened by The Hon. Anthony Roberts, NSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy. “Sydney is at the nexus of Australia’s finance, digital, creative and startup sectors," said the Minister. "We’re ideally located for growth in the Asia Pacific region. Stone & Chalk is a great example of the exciting collaborations that are developing out of the NSW Government’s Knowledge Hubs initiative.” Stone and Chalk's ambition has always been clear; the independent and not-for-profit organisation wants to be seen as the heart of FinTech within the Asia-Pacific region. This is no small feat when you are competing with the likes of Singapore, an expat city built on the shoulders of financial companies. There are 41 companies that were chosen by Stone and Chalk to be its founding residents, they were chosen to be part of the space after an intense six month selection process, which has resulted in around 120 people moving into the 2300 square metre space. [table caption="Foundation Residents" width="700" colwidth="250|250|250" colalign="center|center|center"] ,, Calibre Financial Technology,Crowd Money,easyshare Ei8ht,Financial Crimes Solutions,Fincast Foreign Exchange Central,FUNDEXA,Grow Capital H2 Ventures,iDATS,Inamo InstaReM,iungo.co,Macrovue Mafematica,Metamako,Monetise Moroku,Neu Capital,NexPay Open Orbit,Ordermentum,Physi Secure Piggy,Private Reporting,ProWise Rental Cover,RainCheck,Reinventure Simple KYC,SuperGuide,TradeFloor VentureCrowd,Zetaris,Source: Stone and Chalk [/table] “From the outset our aim has been to attract the highest quality fintech startups in Australia, co-locate them under one roof," said Alex Scandurra, CEO of Stone & Chalk. "We want to support fast tracking their growth to ultimately help them go global. We have been inspired by the talent and diversity of the startups who have applied, and the potential they have to transform Australia’s multi-billion financial services sector. And today is just the start, as we continue to welcome more Stone & Chalkers over the coming months and fill around 200 seats by the end of the year.” The organisation has received more than $2 million in funding to launch the space. Investors include some of Australia's most well-known enterprises who have also been listed as foundation partners of the space such as American Express, AMP, ANZ Banking Group, the ASX, KPMG, Macquarie Group, Oracle, Suncorp Bank, Veda, Westpac Banking Corp and Woolworths. The foundational residents also come from a wide and varied collection of industries under the FinTech banner including superannuation, big data and analytics, consumer finance, crypto currency, capital raising and funding, as well as education. It is especially interesting and no doubt exciting for the residents that organisations like Reinventure, VentureCrowd and H2 Ventures have moved into the space, proving how serious Stone and Chalk is about helping its members access funding and mentoring from those connected with the highest calibre people in the finance industry. As I have been saying a lot recently in previous articles about Australia's startup ecosystem, proximity plays an important role when it comes to success within tech. There are now two Fintech hubs in the Sydney CBD with Tyro being just down the road from Stone and Chalk. This places the city in a really unique position to be a world leader in the Fintech space, especially if we see some cross-space collaboration. The goal should be attracting as much FinTech talent from around the country and overseas into the Sydney startup ecosystem as possible.

Interactive document software startup Qwilr announces new features and integrations

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KateDisherQuill_Qwilr_75

Sydney startup Qwilr, which is looking to change the way people share documents by turning them into data-rich and interactive web pages, has released a suite of new features as it looks to attract a wider market. The platform, which the team describes as something like what you would get if Squarespace and Medium had a baby, is updating the old PDF by allowing users to share interactive documents for things like businesses proposals and presentations. For example, a business being pitched another company's services can view their expected ROI figures through the page by inputting their own data alongside that provided by the other business.  Among the new tools is an 'accept' feature, which allows prospective customers reading a Qwilr page to instantly agree to a proposal, with e-signature functionality further speeding up the agreement process. Users are now also able to create a customisable quote online for projects, with the ability to display various payment methods through currency support.  Just like many other companies before it, Qwilr has also integrated with accounting platform Xero - when a proposal made through Qwilr is accepted by a client, the platform will automatically connect to Xero to create an invoice for approval. Also new is integration with Slack, allowing teams to be notified when a Qwilr Page is opened and feedback is given. Still key to the platform is its data tracking and analytics, with Qwilr helping monitor engagement with content by tracking each view and link click to ensure businesses know where they're going right - or wrong - with proposals and presentations. Dylan Baskind, co-founder of Qwilr, said the new features mean the platform is ready for a wider range of business users. “Documents are now getting smarter. A well-known business contradiction is that, as your business grows and gains more knowledge, it becomes harder to gather all the right knowledge when you need it. Qwilr solves that for document creation," he said.  "Until now, innovation in documents for business has really only achieved one thing: putting the A4 / letter sized page in the cloud. With Qwilr, web pages go from being something you might build once or twice a year, to something your business can create daily or weekly, with little effort." The platform now also supports iframes, allowing users to import external content like spreadsheets, graphs, and Google Maps. The new features come a few months after the startup raised a $500,000 seed round, led by Sydney Seed Fund and Macdoch Ventures, bringing the total raised by the company to $600,000 after a $100,000 raise last year. Qwilr has already found a substantial user base around the world, with thousands of users across Australia, the US, and Europe, with a significant uptake in Asia over the last few months.

Mail the Finger is a ‘fingers-as-a-service’ company that will send your enemies foamboard middle fingers

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TheFinger2

We’re either turning into a really angry, shouty bunch, or it’s just getting easier to untap our anger and put it on show for the world to see thanks to social media. Either way, it’s been fun to see the rise of online stores this year that are helping users send their enemies glitter, bags of dicks, or musical cards that won’t stop playing. The latest is Mail the Finger, a self-proclaimed ‘fingers-as-a-service’ company which sends out foamboard middle fingers to people who’ve pissed you off one time too many. Cofounder Shane Lee, who describes himself as “generally a ridiculously nice fellow” who has “spent the majority of the past ten years working in different capacities with a very small but select group of people he wishes he could tell to @$%# off,” said there was no one dramatic, angry moment that led he and his two cofounders to launch the product; they merely thought it would be a fun idea after one received a bag of gummy dicks. Mail the Finger warns the faint-hearted to turn back before they get in too deep by asking, “Are you the kind of guy who gets along with everyone else? If you are, go back to your Crossfit routine and Paleo diet. There’s nothing for you here.” If not, though, keep going and don’t feel bad about what you’re about to do. As the site explains, “We're all pretty nice chaps but c'mon, anybody can think of somebody they want to give the finger to.” True. What’s more, Mail the Finger doesn’t blame you for your anger. In fact, it totally gets where you’re coming from and thinks you should just let it out: “You’re a good guy. You’ve trudged on through life stoically enough, soldiering on despite the inherent shittiness of everyone around you. You’ve given it your best shot and I applaud you for it. Unfortunately, sooner or later, something has to give.” Now, Mail the Finger acknowledges that there are other ways for you to tell someone to rack off, but it believes it’s the only one that will really get the message across. “This isn’t some passive-aggressive shit like glitter or dick-candy. This is a Grade-A, aggressive-aggressive symbol of contempt, a symbol that says “fuck you”, “fuck off”, “up yours” and “go fuck yourself” all at the same time. Our foamboard middle finger isn’t some limp-wristed, wishy-washy bird.” “It’s the middle finger to end all middle fingers, a middle finger with the chutzpah to brazenly tell its recipient exactly what you think about them, the same kind of middle finger you used to give Mr White when you were a kid.” You can unleash your anger by post for $12. If you’re extra pissed off, you can send a ‘double bird salute’ for $21, or a finger and a certificate of authenticity for $15. Now, despite the strong copywriting, the co-founders know their product’s really just a gag and the vast majority of people who send a finger are actually going to send it to a friend as a joke rather than mail it to someone they hate. We may be shouty on social media, but it turns out we're mostly fine in real life. Lee said, “I'm proud of the fact that we've managed to ship something that we hope will bring a smile (or frown, depending on that person's constitution) to someone's face. This, despite the occasional negativity we've gotten. Most people laugh and recognise this for what it is...a fun and novel gag gift but haters will come up with a thousand and one ways to shit on you. There've been countless haters for the myriad gag products out there and ours won't be any different. All we can do is continue to work hard and to mail them the finger.” TechCrunch had a go earlier this month, railing against the likes of Dicks by Mail and Ship Your Enemies Glitter in a post titled ‘Your Edgy Startup Idea is Stupid’. Sure, all of these are pretty stupid and not actually edgy at all, but they can make for a fun joke between friends. What's more, the people behind this stuff know it too: Lee and his cofounders want to stay, for the most part, anonymous, as Mail the Finger is just a fun side project for them outside their corporate jobs. In the mean time, let people enjoy a joke.

Shopper Tech allows bricks-and-mortar retailers to capture the same level of data as ecommerce stores

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Editorial of Max Valente from Thought StudioPhotographer: Adam Yip

One advantage ecommerce businesses have over their bricks-and-mortar counterparts is consumer data. When consumers visit websites, fill out forms and purchase products, they leave a massive data trail. In turn, ecommerce businesses can use this data to understand consumer behaviour and identify ways to interact with customers and prospects will maximise click-through and conversion rates. Unfortunately, this is not so easy for bricks-and-mortar retailers. In response to the shift in consumer shopping habits, as well as growing concerns amongst retailers about becoming irrelevant in the face of technological change, Sydney-based software development company Thought Studio has come up with a solution to help retailers track customer behaviour in physical stores, and use that information to identify ways to gain and retain customers. Thought Studio’s latest creation is a retail intelligence system called Shopper Tech, which captures data from up to 100 sensors in a retail store including information around customers’ age and gender, as well as how often and for how long certain products are handled. The technology can even capture insights like what part of the store attracts women over the age of 30 or the most popular shoe in NSW. The data is sent to Azure and instantly stored in a cloud database, after which it is pushed through to Power BI, which displays real-time data on a live dashboard. The data is analysed so that business owners and managers can make changes to their current processes to remain relevant and competitive. Thought Studio’s founder Max Valente said, “That’s one store with 100 sensors, but say you had 100 stores with 1,000 sensors in each one – that amount of data starts to become amazing.” “We envisioned a viable business that actually generated revenue for retailers, not simply the hype or promise of revenue. We wanted to provide relevant, valuable and informative insights for them in real time, to enable them to make the best decisions that would benefit their business’ bottom line.” Valente said the Shopper Tech solution marks the next stage in the evolution of Thought Studio’s existing products in the retail space. The company was building digital signage solutions and deeper instrumentation into its kiosks, and the level of data that was being captured was “astonishing”, according to Valente.  “For example, we were able to notice the engagement time around our digital signage systems increased based on certain drivers in the message. As software developers we’re always curious as to how our users interact with our systems, the only real way to determine that is by instrumenting interactions,” said Valente. Shopper Tech is currently undergoing several proof of concepts with large retailers in Sydney. Microsoft, for instance, is using Shopper Tech to display marketing material on 700 screens across JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman stores. Once testing is complete, Valente said the company will be looking to partner with retail point-of-sale specialists and business analytics companies to provide a turnkey solution for retailers. Six months ago, Thought Studio also launched Visitor Tech, a hybrid solution that leverages both cloud and on-premise hardware, allowing users to book and manage meeting rooms, sign in visitors and manage digital signage as well as car parking, catering and hot desking. “It’s a turnkey solution requiring little by way of maintenance and minimises man-hours required to carry out tasks usually considered mundane, even if they are essential to a business,” said Valente. “It is the only solution that combines all the facets of facilities management throughout a modern office and helps to streamline activity-based working.” Last month, the company launched a full Visitor Tech integration into Dexus Place, which provides meeting, training and conferences space in Sydney. Dexus Place uses the Visitor Tech system to manage all of its room-booking, visitor sign-in, catering, payments, and so on. When a visitor arrives at a facility, they will see a tablet mounted at the entrance. They sign into the building using Visitor Tech’s sign-in system, after which they are guided through the facility by wayfinders and a digital signage system to their meeting room.  Visitor Tech has been a success with many large multi-office installations across Australia and New Zealand. Companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Samsung, Fujitsu, HCF, Bupa, Qantas Credit Union, Charter Hall, Dexus and Colliers have all implemented the solution. “We plan to use the same successful model for Shopper Tech, using large companies to generate interest and, therefore, potential sales channels,” said Valente. Thought Studio generates revenue by selling licenses for each of its products; this is coupled with an ongoing maintenance and support contract. Valente admitted he doesn’t see Visitor Tech and Shopper Tech as complete products; the company will continue the refine the product based on feedback. “We plan to continue improving our solutions and not rest on our laurels. I believe our proudest achievement is yet to come,” said Valente.  Thought Studio has self-funded its products to date, with Valente saying he wanted to build a “think tank was funded from the group up by the technology we create”. However, the company is entertaining the prospect of raising capital to help fund its expansion into international markets.  One of our biggest challenges for Thought Studio thus far has been bringing together a team of software engineers that all “operate on the same creative frequency”. “Our team is our strength and I’m constantly humbled by the technology we’re able to create with a small team of focused and talented individuals,” said Valente. “[We’re] constantly on the lookout for talented software engineers, we have a very unique culture here at Thought Studio.” Over the next 12 months, Thought Studio plans to set up a sales channel of licensed installers and consultants internationally, similar to its Australian channel. The company’s expansion into Asia and the US will coincide with the launch of a new version of Visitor Tech.

Featured image: Max Valente, Founder, Thought Studio. Source: Provided.

Wellington will be holding Australasia’s first Lean Startup Methodology Conference

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Stefan Korn

While most local tech entrepreneurs would be familiar with the Lean Startup Methodology and the annual conference held in San Francisco every year, not many have had the opportunity to attend such an event. Over the years many coworking spaces have partnered with Lean Startup Co to live stream the event to an Australian and New Zealand audience. However in October this year, Wellington-based startup incubator and accelerator space/program Creative HQ will be holding the first ever on-the-ground version of the conference called Lean 15. The conference which will take place from October 5th to 7th will revolve around disruptive innovation and the use of The Lean Startup Methodology in large organisations and startups alike. Made famous by Silicon Valley based entrepreneur Eric Ries, the Lean Startup Methodology provides a simple framework for businesses to maximise their impact within an industry while using minimal resources at a rapid pace. Creative HQ was launched back in 2003, which could be described as the formative years of incubation for the region. The space was originally set up by a local politician who thought it would be a great way to stimulate the local early-stage startup ecosystem. Creative HQ has been using Lean Startup Methodology with its ventures for over 10 years and CEO Stefan Korn sees a far wider use for the methods than just applying it to startups. “Corporates and government have just as much, if not more to gain from working Lean," says Korn. "Including learning how to move at rapidly, scale efficiently and operate in conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
Lean 15 is being supported by Callaghan Innovation, Grow Wellington and Deloitte, and will bring together six of the world's leading experts on the topic to share the case studies and actionable processes that are currently shaping the future of business. Keynote speakers at the event include US-based Lean experts like David Bland, Alistair Croll and Josh Seiden who work with Fortune 500 companies, as well as the United States Government on the implementation of lean innovation practices within large organisations.
The format of the conference will be a blend of best practice keynotes and hands-on workshop style sessions that will provide a range of support to people that are new to the Lean Startup and push seasoned practitioners who want to dive deeper into methods. "Lean Startup Methodology is tried and tested in the Northern Hemisphere but still a relatively new concept in Australasia,” says Callaghan Innovation’s Business Acceleration Manager, Cath Hopkin. “We are keen to see the impact this kind of thinking will have on organisations aiming to stay competitive in the face of highly dynamic market forces." Early bird tickets are currently on sale (for a limited time), with workshop only or full conference tickets both available. More information on the conference is available via lean15.co.nz

Featured image: Stefan Korn, CEO, Creative HQ. Source: Provided.

In the future, all products will be designed for a market of one

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One of the ways to think about product evolution, the evolution of marketing and communications, or perhaps more accurately, the evolution of the overall customer experience is through “push and pull” strategy. This is explained, specifically in a marketing context, very well here.

In 2007, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote “In a great market - a market with lots of real potential customers - the market pulls product out of the startup.”

Much has been written about the failures of pushing whole products and product messages to unsuspecting, potentially uninviting markets, with the expectation that “meaning” and “value” to the customer were things you could define through a set of assumptions and effectively deliver through a solid plan.

In fact, this is the very premise through which The Lean Startup and similar methodologies were conceptualised. Most products still find their beginnings through vision or insight, but rather than building the entire product, we build the minimal thing (i.e. the minimum viable product or MVP) that will enable us to validate the accuracy or inaccuracy of our assumptions. We then use this learning to drive our next assumption and set of tests.

As Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup (2011), writes, “We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”

The key thing here is learning, not dictating. We now actively engage in constant learning; learning about behaviours, about needs and about beliefs. Our ability to learn what we need to about the customers we aim to serve is driving the change or evolution I refer to.

This evolution of products and experiences, at least in chronological terms, started with us - the people building and marketing products - pushing whole products to markets. Think Don Draper. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn’t. We then began building products for people, people that existed within markets, and those people proceeded to pull the products they genuinely wanted directly from us.

The result of this, at least for many large enterprises, was a shocking revelation or “turn of the tide” as it were, where the customer or user became the boss. This turn of the tide, for some organisations, resulted in flipped org charts with the customer on top and the CEO at the bottom, challenging the assumptions about not only what products we should or shouldn’t build, but how we should interact with our customers throughout the entire customer journey.

At this moment, we are on the cusp of a move right back to push, where we once again take parts of the burden of choice away for the user. This may sound contrarian, however, the key difference is that this time the push from us to the individual people we aim to serve, within the market we intend (or may not intend) to serve, comes with context.

Context is of course, king.

In the future, the products we build and consume will be made for a market of one. What I mean by this is each and every product will be optimised for one individual person; constantly learning and constantly evolving. Pushing us what we need when we need it. 

An early incarnation of this can be seen through Meeco.me, a product that helps everyday consumers define their intent, and build context rich relationships with the brands and products that are meaningful to them. Users of Meeco are part of the early movement towards “market of one” experiences.

My understanding is Meeco users currently do this by defining their intent, however, I believe products like Meeco will begin to predict and push.

Coming back to context, you and I clearly care about different things and we are therefore willing to pay different amounts of money, at different times, for the things that we believe deliver us value. As an example of a current use case, two people may order the exact same product from Amazon, but one of the people has a serious sense of urgency, because they need to use it tomorrow for a specific purpose, and is therefore willing to pay almost whatever it takes to get that product ASAP.

Our context is what sets us apart, drives our behaviour and controls our propensity to pay.

Taking this further, consider the progression of the Quantified Self movement, the Internet-of-Things and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This divergence of market forces and technological capabilities can help us deliver context rich, predictive customer experiences with the user as the primary beneficiary.

What’s really interesting about the journey to this future “state” is that, at times, it feels to be taking forever. But when you think about it, the iPhone was only released in 2007, wearables are only now becoming valuable, and AI (depending on what side of the fence you sit) finally seems to be progressing.

In the words of Chris Dixon, “exponential growth curves seem gradual and then sudden.”

Singularity University frames it slightly differently, stating our perception of seemingly gradual progression is mostly deception. This deception, likely due to time our short-term inflated expectation, often results in disappointment.

This can perhaps be explained more simply using the below image:

[caption id="attachment_44376" align="alignnone" width="865"]Deception of growth Deception of linear vs exponential growth. Source: Singularity University.[/caption]

Amara’s Law explains this deception perfectly: "We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run."

My prediction is that the somewhat linear growth we have experienced is coming to its end, and that exponential growth, as described above, is the phase in which “products for a market of one” can become a technical and commercial reality.

Imagine an interface, with a suite of “things” or capabilities that understand you? I mean really understand you. This “thing” knows what you care about, it understands your intentions, your desires and your goals, and, it helps you figure out the optimal way, each and every day, to achieve the things that mean the most to you.

What’s the market for such a thing? Does it help us achieve our daily jobs, both in work and in life? Does it eliminate fundamental pains or create new potentials for gain? What secrets are waiting to be uncovered? Who are the customers? Is it everyone who currently has a smartphone? How do you interact with it? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What’s the experience and how does the experience differ from you to I? What’s the minimum thing we can build to validate the key assumptions we have about how this changes our experiences, our interactions or our behaviors? When might this become real? Are we way too early to even start thinking this way? Who are the early adopters? Which platforms will it integrate with, or will it create something entirely new?

What do these questions mean? Opportunity. Opportunity to find a secret truth, to ride or even drive this evolution, and create context rich products and experiences that genuinely delight people all around the world.

This is why people like you and I will have work in the future.

Featured image: www.commerce.gov.

Houzz acquires GardenWeb; Coursera raises $49.5 million Series C round; Accodex raises $180,000 seed round

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At the end of another busy week across the startup space, home design community Houzz has acquired GardenWeb, investment management firm BlackRock has acquired online financial advisory startup FutureAdvisor, and learning platform Coursera has raised $49.5 million. Closer to home, EnergyTech startup carbonTrack raised $2 million and Adelaide accounting startup Accodex raised $180,000 in seed funding. Acquisitions ixigo acquires Square Hoot Hikes Indian travel search marketplace ixigo has acquired Square Hoot Hikes, the parent company of Rutogo, an aggregator service for inner-city taxis. Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO of ixigo, said in a statement, “This acquisition fits well with our overall strategy of providing comprehensive choice across intra-city and inter-city taxi booking options. We will be launching outstation taxis in the coming weeks, and will also be opening up the cabs marketplace and partner with other booking apps in the inter-city taxis space shortly. With flights, trains, buses, and cabs, we are now the most comprehensive transportation search in India.” Life360 acquires Chronos Life360, a startup making apps to keep families connected, has acquired Chronos, which has created apps that passively collect vast amounts of a user's data to highlight connections and trends. In a statement, Alex Haro, cofounder of Life360, said, "The Chronos technology allows us to give our users an even deeper level of contextual awareness around their family's daily activities. By showing them where they go most often and how much time is spent on specific activities, we can empower our families with key insights around family behaviour." BlackRock to acquire FutureAdvisor Investment management firm BlackRock has signalled its intent to buy FutureAdvisor, an online financial advisory firm. The startup will operate as a business within BlackRock Solutions. Tom Fortin, head of retail technology for BlackRock, said in a statement on the deal, "As demand for digital wealth management grows, we believe that our combined offering will accelerate our partner firms’ abilities to serve the mass affluent in a convenient, scalable way." Houzz acquires GardenWeb  Home design community Houzz has acquired GardenWeb, a site devoted to homes and gardening, from NBC Universal, who had bought the site as part of the $600 million iVillage package in 2006. The GardenWeb platform and its forums are already being integrated into the Houzz platform. Hortonworks to acquire Onyara Big data company Hortonworks has acquired Onyara, the creator of Apache NiFi, a top-level open source project they have developed in conjunction with the NSA. A statement from Hortonworks explained that the acquisition will make it easy for customers to automate and secure data flows and to collect, conduct and curate real-time business insights and actions derived from data in motion. Chic by Choice acquires La Remia Portuguese fashion startup Chic by Choice, which lets customers rent designer dresses, has acquired German competitor La Remia. The founders of La Remia, Anna Mangold and Claudia von Boeselager, will be staying on as advisors. Funding carbonTrack raises $2 million Energy-tech startup carbonTRACK announced it closed a new $2 million round of funding. The capital will be used to scale up the organisation within Australia and expand internationally. Last financial year, the company completed a $1.1 million round that was led by Wolf Capital. This has allowed the startup to grow quite rapidly within the local market, adding 15 new people to the team within the last 12 months alone. The company was also recently shortlisted to pitch in the NRMA Slingshot Jumpstart Scale-up Program. Accodex raises $180,000 Adelaide accounting startup Accodex, which has created a cloud-based platform for freelance accountants, has raised $180,000 in a seed round from private investors around Australia and North America. The funding will go towards expanding in the US; the startup opened its first North American office last month, with CEO Chris Hooper set to relocate next year. Mocacare raises $2 million HealthTech startup Mocacare, which ran a $120,000 Kickstarter campaign for its heart health tracker, has raised $2 million in a Series A round led by Singapore-based JDM Mobile Internet Solutions Co. This brings the total raised by the startup to date to $4 million. Velostrata raises $14 million Series A round Hybrid cloud startup Velostrata, which ""streams production workloads to and from the cloud in minutes while keeping the storage and boot images on-premises," has this week come out of stealth mode and announced that it has raised a $14 million Series A round led by Norwest Venture Partners and Greylock IL Partners. Intercom raises $35 million Series C round Intercom, a startup promising to change the way internet companies communicate with their customers, has raised $35 million in a Series C round led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from The Social + Capital Partnership and Bessemer Venture Partners. The funding will go towards building new and existing products on the platform. Modumental raises $33.5 million Modumental, a Seattle company that develops nanolaminated metals for the gas and oil industries, has raised $33.5 million in a round led by Founders Fund. There is a huge opportunity for the startup in gas and oil, industries which lose trillions of dollars a year due to corroded equipment and pipes. EHANG raises $42 million Series B round Chinese drone startup EHANG has raised $42 million in a Series B round led by GP Capital, with participation from GGV Capital, ZhenFund, Lebox Capital, OFC, and PreAngel. The startup has also announced the appointment of four new senior executives who have experience at companies like21Vianet, Lenovo, and Microsoft. EHANG raised a $10 million Series A round last year. Yuneec raises $60 million Another Chinese drone startup, Yuneec, has raised $60 million from Intel, with the two companies set to work on developing new products together. Spare5 raises $10 million Spare5, a startup helping companies outsource menial data-related tasks, has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Foundry Group, Madrona Venture Group, and New Enterprise Associates. The funding will go towards growing Spare5's engineering, design, marketing, community management, and customer relationship capabilities. BlueData raises $20 million Series C round Big data infrastructure startup BlueData has raised $20 million in a Series C round led by Intel Capital, with participation from existing investors including Amplify Partners, and Atlantic Bridge. Doug Fisher, senior vice president of Intel and general manager of its Software and Services Group, will join BlueData’s board of directors as part of the deal, while BlueData and Intel are also embarking on a collaboration through which they will execute a joint engineering roadmap and joint go-to-market strategies that include coordinated product, channel, and sales programs. Eko Communications raises $5.7 million Bangkok-based corporate communications startup Eko Communications has raised $5.7 million in a Series A round led by Asian venture capital firm Gobi Partners. The funding will go towards expanding into new markets, growing its team, and upping its marketing efforts. Coursera raises $49.5 million Series C round Online education startup Coursera has raised a $49.5 million Series C round led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, International Finance Corporation, and Indian newcomer Times Internet Limited. This brings the total raised by the startup to $600 million and will be used to further its global expansion. Greenhouse raises $35 million Recruitment startup Greenhouse has raised $35 million in Series C funding led by Thrive Capital, with participation from return investors Benchmark, The Social+Capital Partnership, and Groupe Arnault. The startup previously raised a $13.6 million Series B round in March. The funding will go towards expanding its team and offering. Everything but the House raises $30 million Series B round Online real estate marketplace Everything by the House has raised a $30 million Series B round led by Greenspring Associates, with participation from existing investors Greycroft Partners and Spark Capital. The funding will be used to expand into additional US markets, grow the executive team, and optimise the user experience. It brings the total raised by the startup to date to $43 million. Narvar raises $10 million Narvar, a startup looking to improve the way online stores interact and engage with customers after an online purchase, has raised $10 million, bringing its total raised to date to $12 million.

Image: Accodex founders Chris Hooper and Markus Cirillo.

INCUBATE reveals new cohort of student tech founders and announces partnership with Lenovo

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Group and team portraits for Incubate Winter 2015.

INCUBATE, a University-based accelerator programme founded in 2012, has revealed its latest cohort of startups and its new partnership with Lenovo. As part of the partnership, Lenovo is supplying the technology support for all the startups participating in the programme. The founders participating in INCUBATE's latest programme come from a variety of backgrounds, industries and degrees, but have the common goal of building a globally-relevant business that is scalable, uses technology and addresses a big underserved problem. The eight startups participating in INCUBATE's Class 6 include Abyss Solutions, Fluid Education, Tuckerbox, Hireflow, FirstStep Investing, Uprise, Persollo and Basketball Forever. James Alexander, Founder and Programme Manager at INCUBATE, says the programme "proves that with more support from universities, industry mentors and experienced seed investors, young entrepreneurs can launch innovative and globally competitive tech companies from local university campuses." “We’ve seen great talent come through the program. Basketball Forever, from Class 6, has over 700,000 online fans; Breathewell from Class 4 just raised $400,000 from local investors; and Tzukuri from Class 3 has now raised over $1 million from leading US and Australian Investors,” he adds. Startups participating in the programme complete go through 14 intensive weeks of mentoring, workshops and development to accelerate their business, test their market and pitch to investors. “The connections to the broader startup community that INCUBATE provides through first-class mentors has already opened doors we could never have foreseen,” says Alex Sumsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Basketball Forever. Three years ago, when Sumsky was just 17 years old, he started creating visual basketball-related content with a unique aesthetic style. Today, his team has built up a community that averages 23 million unique impressions per month across all social platforms. Their vision is to be a world leading media sports business, powered by a custom technology platform. The co-founders of 'backpack' app Fluid Education, Giorgio Doueihi and Declan Scott, met and developed their product while they were in high school. The app has been designed for school communities who can benefit from having their timetables, calendars and class resources available in one app. Fluid Education has been embraced by Milson's Point Catholic school St Aloysius College, with over 1,000 active students. The co-founders are currently in their first year of University and have the chance to build the business side of Fluid Education. FirstStep's co-founders Vanaja Sriskandarajah, Shiraj de Silva, and Tarang Patel started investing in the stock market when they were in their early teens and wanted other Australian kids to do the same. The startup's micro-investments mobile app lets users automatically invest their virtual loose change from everyday transactions into a diversified, low-cost investment portfolio. Sriskandarajah praised INCUBATE for helping the co-founders "transform our fledgling startup to one with serious potential to disrupt the status quo of traditional wealth management in Australia." Matt Codrington, Managing Director, Lenovo Australia and New Zealand, said the company is "delighted" to support INCUBATE, and praised it for being "a fantastic programme that gives Australian startups the opportunity to get in front of some of the country’s leading veteran entrepreneurs." “Many startups are struggling to get the support and funding they need and it’s through programmes like this that these innovative businesses and talent can be discovered. We’re delighted to support these bright-minded and determined entrepreneurs by supplying them with their technology needs.” Class 6 startups will be pitching on October 13th at the University of Sydney.

Trimantium Capital thinks there are huge gaps in the Australian VC sector that it is beginning to fill

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It is no secret that Australia has a venture capital problem. However, it would be remiss to say there aren't people within the startup ecosystem that are doing their bit to help solve that problem. Five years ago, Australians had no where near the amount of access to seed capital as they do today; and though it is still early days, the access to Series A capital is beginning to improve. One such venture capital firm striving to make a difference is Trimantium Capital, founded in 2008 and led by entrepreneur and investor Phillip Kingston. The firm targets early-stage FinTech and HealthTech companies, meaning it invests between $500,000 and $2 million in startups that are either pre-revenue or early revenue. “We’re probably one of the only Australian VC firms working in the real US valuation model,” says Kingston. “Essentially we are not interested in questions like ‘How do we get good value and more equity?’ and instead ask real questions like ‘What are the equity dynamics to ensure that the company’s going to be successful?’. I don't want to dilute startups too much because I know [they are] going to have five more rounds in order to reach growth milestones. So we ask the question 'What's the best amount of equity so that you can be successful.' That's a very different way of approaching a valuation. So I'm happy to pay more if it gets a better outcome". Trimantium has invested in startups like Good Super co-founded by Dr Aron Ping D’Souza. Good Super is Australia's first all online superannuation fund where users can actually sign up, roll over money and everything will happen without them doing any paperwork. The startup has been a great investment for Trimantium; it's grown rapidly to 12,000 members within its first six months of operation and recently acquired a competitor fund. The firm has also invested in Tom Dawkins' crowdfunding site StartSomeGood. "I think we're trying to find companies that are either going to absolutely dominate a weakness in Australia or are global from the start," says Kingston. "We're not interested in replicating other global companies. In that sense, we are similar to funds like Blackbird VC." Kingston says there are not many investors in Australia with global connections; this is what Trimantium solves. "They talk about having global connections. However, this year alone, I have been to the US every single month. It provides us with a different level of global interface. Half of my investors are from the US and half are from China. Four out of seven of our Directors are American. So whilst we're Australian, we have this global thesis and our money is smart in the market," says Kingston. "We are able to find under-appreciated, undernourished Australian and Asian opportunities and then get them to the big guys in China and the US. There's no one doing that here in Australia."

Kingston does make a good point about the issues Australian startups experience when it comes to raising capital. There have been many times when individuals and startups that have participated in well-known accelerator and incubator programmes, have attempted to raise money in the US and heard nothing but crickets. If American investors do not have skin in the game, we are going to have trouble getting them to take the Australian ecosystem seriously.

"All of our investors are from these markets so when I bring them in, they have a vested interest in introducing the startups to everyone in New York or Silicon Valley or LA, because that's how they make money - by getting these companies funded," says Kingston. "It's about aligning the domestic knowledge with a commercial incentive."

Kingston did tell Startup Daily that he has a problem with some of the 'support structures' currently in place in Australia's startup ecosystem - particularly programmes that are not entrepreneur-friendly and are set up to make money from entrepreneurs by charging them for services or forcing them to work with associated companies. He believes that the approach of certain Australian incubators has been absolutely devastating for the startup community and some entrepreneurs.

"I have had entrepreneurs literally crying in my arms about how they've been loaded up with debt from these incubators, and forced to buy stuff they don't want," says Kingston.

"The equity deals that have been made are meaningless; the incubators got equity on the basis of false pretences like 'we'll get you over to the US for additional funding'. I don't caution entrepreneurs against that, I just say, 'make sure you're very clear on what you want. Very, very clear and then make sure they're the best partner to have'.  If founders want US investors, this isn't the best way to get them. I think a lot of people do these type of deals because they're not sure what to do next."

This suggests that there's a pre-education phase that is missing in the startup ecosystem. As startups have become more 'sexy' in the last few years, it has resulted in more people running into the market - some of them are perhaps not the best ones to be teaching or guiding entrepreneurs.

Kingston wants Trimantium to play a role in the whole ecology of Australian entrepreneurship. For him, this is not about getting 'all the deals'. He says that the firm believes and loves co-investing and doing deals with other investors.

Kingston certainly has strong opinions on incubators and accelerators, opinions that could be seen as contrarian to a large portion of the players in the Australian ecosystem.

"Compared to the average Australian fund we're contrarians," says Kingston.“There’s three major things that are contrarian about us. First, we believe impact investing is more robust over the longer-term; second, we have a very different view on valuation than most people; and third, we believe very heavily against a lot of things like incubators and accelerators.”

Until there is data that actually supports claims that incubators and accelerators actually produce global companies that make a difference, Kingston stands firm on the belief that they are not great for the ecosystem.

"We don't believe in incubators and I don't think that accelerators work at all. Entrepreneurs need to be able to fail quickly. The problem with incubators is that they keep them alive. Just die. That's what you need to do and incubators do not create that outcome and that is very unfortunate."

Featured image: Philip Kingston. Source: Provided.


Airinum wants to protect millions from air pollution with its breathing masks

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With an increase in population comes increased pollution. In densely populated countries, a yellow haze falls over the skies and smog suffocates the air, with outdoor living conditions found to be equivalent to smoking two packets of cigarettes a week. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), seven million premature deaths annually are linked to air pollution. The WHO has stated that "air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives." With pollution at an all time high, face masks and additional protective wear are starting to emerge and become profitable. Companies like 3M have dedicated their services to respiratory protection and several fashion companies, including Vogmask and Respro, are trailing closely behind with unique designs, colours, and patterns. Looking to disrupt this space and rival the leading competitors is Swedish startup Airinum. Cofounded by Alexander Hjertström, Fredrik Kempe, Johannes Herrmann, and Mehdi Rejraji, Airinum has released a breathable mask that combines comfort with style. Unlike 3M, whose masks are rather unflattering, Airinum has crafted a mask that looks like Bane of The Dark Knight Rises fame just stepped off the runway. But don’t be fooled, this new mask design is not just Bane’s latest fashion statement. It comes equipped with a filter, adjustable straps, and stretchable material with different sizes to fit all. The team from Airinum used a three-layer high-tech filter technology that protects against up to 99 percent of viruses, bacteria, allergens and smog. “Through tests conducted, it’s proven that our masks protect up to six times better than any other similar products, something that we really take pride in,” said Airinum. [caption id="attachment_48521" align="aligncenter" width="591"]http://www.airinum.com/ http://www.airinum.com/[/caption] Airinum envisions a world where everyone breathes clean air. The idea was based on cofounder Alexander Hjertström’s personal experience and battles with air pollution. On a exchange trip to Ahmedabad in India, Hjertström began to experience asthma symptoms that had not troubled him for years. He saw just how bad air pollution was in India and that wearable masks were either too uncomfortable or not aesthetically pleasing. Thirteen of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are found in India, causing 620,000 deaths each year. India’s capital city ranks in top place for air pollution, being 10 times higher than the acceptable standards. WHO reports that India has the world’s highest death rate from chronic respiratory disease and asthma than any other nation. “Today millions of people get problems with asthma, lung cancer and heart diseases, often leading to premature deaths. Thus, it is necessary to create better protection equipment for civil everyday use, so people can protect themselves against the acute health issue that air pollution causes,” said Hjertström. Airinum has received funding from the Swedish government, business angels and an accelerator program in Stockholm. Their Kickstarter campaign, which launched on November 23, has over 700 backers worldwide. “With our Kickstarter campaign we aimed to receive funding of 10,000 euros which we did within 24 hours. Currently, we’re on track with funding of over 30,000 euros,” said Hjertström. Airinum will be the first ever mask that offers a subscription service, giving buyers the option to subscribe to a long-term filter subscription plan. Filters on average will last up to 200 hours before they have to be changed. The masks are planned to have a retail price of 49 euros, which will include the breathing mask, travel pocket, headstrap, and two filters. The next step for Airinum is to break into the markets where these masks are needed the most. The team is looking to move to Asia next year, where they can be closer to partners and consumers. While social media will play a big role for the team in marketing their product, their future goals are aimed towards addressing air pollution and identifying sustainable solutions. Hjertström said, “In the future, we are planning to look into ways to address the root cause of air pollution and identify opportunities, through smart tech or working with relevant authorities to reduce air pollution."

Image: Airinum Team, Source: Supplied

Accelerator program muru-D announces perhaps its most diverse group of companies for class 3 intake

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MuruD

Telstra-backed startup accelerator program muru-D announced its latest intake of startups last night after an intense three-day bootcamp that saw 10 companies selected out of 40 that were on the shortlist when it began on Saturday. These 10 companies will make up muru-D Class 3, through which they will receive up to $60,000 in seed funding and have the opportunity to receive further funding of up to $120,000 via the muru-D follow on fund announced in October.

The new program will kick-off on February 1st 2016 and startups will immediately benefit from the growing community of muru-D mentors and industry professionals. Class 3 also sees perhaps the most diverse intake of companies from muru-D in regards to industries, as well as a solid mix of software and hardware plays.

From aquatic drones that inspect underwater assets to a ride-sharing service to space aboard nano-satellites, it is undoubtedly the most ambitious I have personally seen muru-D be in terms of taking a risk on companies that are literally creating new industries, not just revolutionising existing ones.

Cofounder at muru-D Annie Parker said that it was encouraging to see so many applications for this current intake and that it was a reminder of how the sentiment and support of the wider community can make entrepreneurship and innovative concepts really flourish.

“We accepted 390 registrations and 171 completed applications and were blown away by some of the creative ideas we received this year," says Parker. "Between the drones, the nano-satellites, apps and internet of things platforms, this intake has raised the bar again and reminded us what an incredibly exciting time it is to be part of today’s technology landscape. I’m also thrilled to say that this year 60 percent of the startups have a female founder or team member, which almost double the industry average."

The fact that five of the ten teams have female founders or cofounders is not just great for muru-D, but it is also an important milestone for the Australian startup ecosystem; in fact I believe to my knowledge muru-D is the first major local accelerator program to achieve this.

The ten successful companies for muru-D #SYD3 class are:

Abyss Solutions

Founders: Nasir Ahsan, Hina Ahsan, Abraham Kazzaz and Masood Naqshbandi

The company provides automated (robotic) asset inspections with a specific focus on underwater assets, i.e. waterways and reservoirs.

Drive Yello

Founders: Steve Fanale and Johnny Timbs

The company provides a service ensuring the efficient and reliable delivery of food by allowing food service businesses to search, book, manage, pay, train and monitor their delivery drivers.

ELLA

Founders: Atul Pandey, Matthew Esterman and Wai Yat Wong

It stands for Educators Lifelong Learning App and the company is like a “fitbit” for teacher’s professional growth.

Fluid Education

Founders: Giorgio Doueihi and Edward Colyer

The company has created a web and mobile app for schools, combining homework management, learning resources, student reporting, and communication into a single, unified experience.

Helian Systems

Founders: Brendan Myers, Luke Taylor and Rory Gleeson

The company has created a software infrastructure for Internet of Things that connects the sensors to existing business applications.

Our Little Foxes

Founders: Phoebe Adams, Luis Lequerica, Donna Armstrong and Ryan Cross​

The company has created a craft and activity box subscription service for kids aged three to 10 years old.

Persollo

Founders: Kyrylo Medvediev, Olga Oleinikova, Yaroslav Prisiazhnuk and Stanislav Prisiazhnuk

The company has created a tool that makes selling online, making donations or trading services quick and easy by using a simple URL.

Quberider

Founders: Sebastian Chaoui and Solange Cunin

The company allows experiments by students to be conducted in space using a technology ride sharing service to space aboard nano-satellites.

Simpla

Founders: Sean King and Bede Overend

The company allows web developers to build better websites, web apps, and tools much faster by enabling edits to be made live on a page.

Uprise

Founders: Jay Spence, Paul Korzhyk and Phoebe Lau

The company has created a mobile app that provides preventative mental health support to employees and improves their productivity.

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It is also important to note that as part of the new partnership between Seven West Media and muru-D, which will see the company supporting startups in the media industry, Simpla has been chosen to receive specialist digital media mentoring and support by the organisation.

Chief Digital Officer of Seven West Media Clive Dickens addressed the audience at last night's intake presentation, telling everyone that Seven was committed to supporting great startup ideas.

He said, “Seven West Media is embracing disruption as an enabler and we are committed to supporting entrepreneurs and startups with great ideas. Our new partnership with muru-D allows us to do both.

Shoes of Prey closes US$15.5 million Series B round with US retailer Nordstrom on board as equity partner

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shoes of prey

Shoes of Prey is developing a habit of going into Christmas with a lot of cash in its pockets. Last December the startup announced that it had raised a US$5.5 million Series A to help further its expansion into the US market, and this year it's almost tripled that, closing a US$15.5 million Series B round led by BlueSky Venture Capital, with Greycroft and US retailer Nordstrom coming on board as equity partners. This round brings the total capital raised by Shoes of Prey since its founding in 2009 to US$24.6 million, and follows the shifting of its headquarters to LA earlier this year. It will go towards furthering the growth of Shoes of Prey's omni-channel retail presence in the US, as well as increasing production capacity in the startup's China factory to keep up with demand. More than five million pairs of shoes have been created through Shoes of Prey. Shoes of Prey co-founder Jodie Fox said, "We’re thrilled to have forward-thinking partners who believe in our mission to empower customers to shop without compromise. Our customers know exactly what they want in shoes, regardless of whether it’s in stock or in season, and we’re proud to deliver a solution that caters to that otherwise unserved need." She said it was "an easy decision" to welcome Nordstrom to the startup's investor group, with the retailer's other investments showing its commitment to offering customers new, "unparalleled" shopping experiences. The startup's involvement with Nordstrom goes back to last year, when Shoes of Prey signed a deal to launch physical design studios in six Nordstrom stores across the US. This new partnership will see the launch of new studios, while the Shoes of Prey brand is now also available on Nordstrom's online store. This blend of online and bricks and mortar, which Shoes of Prey began with David Jones in Australia, has been highly successful for the startup. For the retailers, the design studios offer a way to deliver new experiences to customers and create a deeper sense of engagement. Scott Meden, executive vice president and GMM of Norstrom, said, “With personalisation becoming more important to how the customer views good service, it’s important for us to find opportunities to stay increasingly relevant. Shoes of Prey offers us a way to enhance and deliver a great customer service experience that aligns well with our strategic vision and long-term goals as a company." As well as expanding its physical reach, Shoes of Prey has signalled its intention to expand into new product offerings, beginning with women's handbags. It will face competition from dozens of startups that applied its model to various products, such as Mon Purse in the women's handbag space, but its proven track record and big name backing will undoubtedly hold Shoes of Prey in excellent stead.

Social Playground is updating the old photobooth to drive brand engagement online and off at events

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annabelle smith

The photobooth has long been a staple of big events like weddings, school formals, and milestone birthday parties, but its popularity has waned somewhat since the rise of the selfie and Instagram. Social Playground is a Sydney startup looking to blend the two, bringing an online component to the old photobooth. Founded by Annabelle Smith in 2013, the startup looks to merge the online and offline at events through its Instagram printer and Instagram live feed. The Instagram printer works by having partygoers snap a photo, upload it to Instagram, tag it with the event hashtag, and then collect it from the printer within 20 seconds. The live feed works in a similar way, but without the last step - instead of photos being printed, they’re shared on a screen. The startup also provides event staff to help drive engagement with the product. Smith said she decided to launch Social Playground with the printer as its core product after seeing it while living in New York. “Upon returning to Australia, I discovered the technology wasn’t available here. I took a calculated risk based on the success I had seen for the concept in the US and decided to launch it to the Australian market. The market here was still in its infancy in terms of social media engagement at events, and Instagram was just beginning to build traction. It was the perfect time to bring something innovative and exciting to Australian consumers,” Smith said. With Smith having experience in events and PR, she was able to develop the product into something that would resonate strongly with Australian brands looking to create a sense of engagement. Her experience in the space also meant she had a handy book of contacts to approach and pitch to. Since launch, Social Playground has had an Instagram printer at almost 2000 events, working with brands including Spotify, Fox Sports, Topshop, and Virgin Mobile. Social Playground’s pricing ranges from $850 to $1500 per three hour hire of its products, which includes event staff on the ground. While Smith admitted it sounds pricey, Social Playground's solutions have proven popular because they drive engagement both offline at the event, and on. As we know, content is key online, and given there's no social platform cooler than Instagram right now, having eventgoers constantly upload pictures positively referencing a brand for others to see is extremely valuable. As such, growth came quickly for Social Playground, with the company signing an international deal in Singapore within three months of launching in Australia. However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, and Smith said she has learned to put more time into planning planning. “Knowing the speed in which the social media and technology space moves, we launched Social Playground fast. This meant little time was allocated to planning and the early days saw us fly by the seat of our pants in some of our decision making and company vision. This also brought with it mistakes and learnings in terms of fast expansion and growth, in particular in overseas expansion,” Smith said. The company tried to launch its own offices in the UK and New Zealand, learning in the process how hard it can be to find and manage international staff. Social Playground has since switched to a licensing model, and now has partners in Singapore, the UK, and New Zealand. Smith said she has become smarter in assessing the opportunities available and choosing the best ones to pursue, with more time dedicated to planning the future and where she actually wants to take the company. The company has been bootstrapped to date, with Smith keen to have further growth funded by revenue. With a number of similar offerings popping up in the events space, she said Social Playground will keep looking to differentiate itself through “innovation and exceptional service.” “There are many ‘copycat’ companies in the space, which is quite frustrating. We have actually been astounded at how competitors have ripped off our design and tried to piggyback off our success (note to self: always register your design before going to market). However, we will always strive to be first to market in Australia with our products, which helps sets us apart,” she said. Further international expansion is on the cards for the next 12 months, with Social Playground also beginning to offer custom development for brands in the Australian market.

Leaping Tiger is a friend-finding app for gamers to connect and form friendships in the real world

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In a sports game you know your fellow team mates, their personality, looks and skill set - basically, there’s nothing they can hide from you. But in the online gaming world you’re running into that zombie fight blind. Who are your teammates? Are they robots or was it the little old lady next door that just fought a damn good battle and saved your life? It would be nice to connect to these fellow gamers and replay with those like-minded individuals. Who knows, that little old lady could be your perfect gaming match. Leaping Tiger is an app that offers a streamlined approach to finding new gaming friends and players with similar skill sets. Cofounders Jordan Lilley and Amy Potter describe their startup as a matchmaker for gamers, where social features allow people to match and challenge opponents in their local area and form friendships beyond the dimensions of the game. “If Foursquare and Tinder had a baby, and that baby was really into gaming, that’s Leaping Tiger,” said Potter. Leaping Tiger was founded in New Zealand by two friends, both life-long gamers. Together they saw a lack of social experience in gaming that, at many times, failed to reach beyond profanity and your mother jokes. “There can be a toxic culture in gaming, which we believe stems from the faceless multi-player nature of modern online games,” said Potter. Leaping Tiger puts a face to those names and a personality to that character to enhance the online social experience for gamers. The startup is less about romantic relationships and more about skilled relationships, where you can join forces with your perfect opponent. “We have seen a lot of social platforms move away from lengthy newsfeeds and extensive profiles, but social platforms for gamers have lagged behind. We are providing a product that is the evolution of the online social experience for gamers,” said Potter. From a player’s perspective, Leaping Tiger is a simple process that works with a few clicks. It works off a check-in system and is based upon a players location settings. The gamer creates a profile of their gamertags, allowing other players to identify similar interests. Before a game, the player checks in to view a list of all other players in the same game, which is ordered by those who are physically closest. The gamer can send someone a play request and ask them to join, or wait to receive a request, making Leaping Tiger a fast and easy way to find a new gaming friend. Those friends can be saved on the platform, making future interactions as easy as a direct message and invite to play. Through this they could choose to converse and meet up in the real world, though Leaping Tiger focuses on the gaming aspect. In Australia the number of gamers has doubled to 26 percent in the last few years, where consoles are used by 63 percent of households. This makes the average Australian a gamer, according to a 2014 report by The Digital Australia. That is a lot of faceless people in the online world, running side by side their virtual friends and leaving them behind in the real world. The mockup of Leaping Tiger was pitched to thousands of gamers at a gaming convention in New Zealand in 2014. After receiving 2,000 pre-registrations in just two days the team moved ahead to the creation of their first product. The platform was launched in 2015 on iOS and web, and last month the team celebrated the first Android release. Since the launch of their first product, Leaping Tiger has travelled by word of mouth and has become increasingly popular in the gaming community. The team wanted to prove their product's worth to the community before undergoing an investment round. “We decided to dip into our savings and power full steam ahead, building an app that now has thousands of users. Having proved the need for our product is real, we can now raise capital for growth,” said Potter. The popularity of their product has revealed just how large the gap in the marketplace is. Traditionally games do have in-built matchmaking systems, however those systems are based on a randomised setting, allocating players with anonymous strangers that will never be seen again. Gaming is a social platform, but unlike other sites, gaming fails to encourage friendships and true connections. There are so many social sites these days where the people you interact with online are friends in real life, and it’s about time gaming facilitated that same interaction. Gamers would take a bullet for their gaming partner, but in the real world wouldn’t even give them a seat on the train. Potter and Lilley have partnered with existing gaming groups running podcasts and YouTube channels, allowing both communities to connect via Leaping Tiger. From day one they have operated in a global space, with a majority of their community located in North America. “As a tech company from a small country, it has always made sense for us to think global from day one,” said Potter. Over the next 12 months, Leaping Tiger are looking at monetising strategies and marketing campaigns that will help to further develop and add more value to the gaming community. The team has overcome their biggest hurdle of generating exposure on a zero budget and believe that their product has the potential to grow and expand in the gaming community, not only in New Zealand but around the world. 

Image: Amy Potter and Jordan Lilley, Source: Supplied

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