Bugherd named BRW’s Top 10 Startups to Watch
February 9th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
BUGHERD
| Jessica Gardner
Notable achievement: Successfully raising three rounds of cash in its first year.
Alan Downie and Matt Milosavljevic have created software that aims to make communication between web developers and their clients, who are often not tech-savvy, simpler and more effective.
Their company, BugHerd, enrolled in the inaugural class at start-up incubator Startmate in early 2011. As part of Startmate’s standard terms, they received a $25,000 cash injection in return for 7.5 per cent of the company. However, Downie says Startmate is not about the money. “It was more about the mentors and the access to the network of people,” he says.
One of BugHerd’s key mentors at Startmate was Alan Jones, the founder of online strategy company Doing Words. Jones was the lead investor in an angel round that raised a further $240,000 for the company in return for 15 per cent.
When the company enrolled in Startmate, Downie says “we were probably undervalued but we were really keen to get into the program”.
Although BugHerd was still “pre-revenue” in July 2011 when the angel investment round closed, he reckons the six months of development work and enquiries from potential customers that had begun to flow in were two factors that contributed to the rise in the value of the company.
Finally, in January 2012, BugHerd announced a $500,000 investment from Australian venture capital fund Starfish Ventures. Downie would not disclose the total equity now held by investors but confirmed he and Milosavljevic still had a majority share.
“[BugHerd] is a brilliantly executed product that’s dead simple to use,” Startmate co-founder Niki Scevak says. “The initial customers are really happy and that’s enabled [Downie and Milosavljevic] to raise funding. They want to build a large company for the long term. It has the right ingredients.”
Jessica Gardner
Press Release
February 1st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Google Drawings pioneer Anthony Glenning joins DesignCrowd board
Australian crowdsourcing company DesignCrowd appoints Stanford University graduates to board and executive team shortly after launching in Australia
DesignCrowd (www.designcrowd.com.au) – an online ‘crowdsourcing’ marketplace that launched in Australia today – is pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony Glenning (who sold his business, Tonic Systems, to Google in 2007) from Starfish Ventures to the DesignCrowd board, and Christopher McNamara (a recent graduate of Stanford Business School) to the position of Chief Operating Officer. The appointment of Glenning and McNamara coincides with the launch of DesignCrowd’s Australian crowdsourcing service and follows shortly after its acquisition of US business rival (Brandstack) in December.
Both Glenning and McNamara attained post-graduate degrees at Stanford University. Glenning graduated from the Electrical Engineering Faculty in 1992 and McNamara completed his MBA from the Graduate School of Business in 2009. Prior to joining Starfish Ventures, Glenning lived and worked in Silicon Valley for 14 years. In 1999 Glenning founded Tonic Systems, a company that was ultimately acquired by Google in 2007. He spent the next two years in the Google Docs team before returning home in 2007 and joining Starfish Ventures in 2010.
“I’m really excited to be joining the board of DesignCrowd and about the opportunities ahead for the company. Crowdsourcing is a tremendous space and growing rapidly. DesignCrowd is applying this new paradigm to a huge market, connecting designers to companies from all over the world. Despite DesignCrowd’s fast growth, the potential opportunity has barely been tapped,” said Glenning.
McNamara who studied Bachelor of Commerce at the University of New South Wales and recently completed his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business joins DesignCrowd as its new Chief Operating Officer. McNamara said, “It‟s a great time to be joining the business. We‟re really well placed to take advantage of the tremendous growth in demand for crowd-sourced services. Right now, I’m focused on building an international team which will help us reach more people than ever before.”
DesignCrowd founder Alec Lynch said, “As an Australian business trying to grow in the US, it’s fantastic to have Aussies with experience in Silicon Valley, returning home and joining our business. Australians talk a lot about a ‘brain-drain’ but this is a good example of a ‘brain boomerang’.”
The appointments of Anthony Glenning and Chris McNamara reflect DesignCrowd’s appetite for fast- growth coupled with an international outlook. Lynch said, “We’ve just opened a new office in Surry Hills that’s big enough for over 30 staff and we expect to hire our first US employees in the coming months.”
Contact Chris McNamara, +61-402-945-323 chris.mcnamara@designcrowd.com
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About DesignCrowd
Launched in January 2008, DesignCrowd Pty Ltd is a leading crowdsourcing company that operates a number of online crowdsourcing marketplaces including BrandCrowd.com, DesignCrowd.com, DesignCrowd.com.au andDesignCrowd.co.nz. The platforms enables buyers to post a design contest or a logo, website, print orgraphic design project on the DesignCrowd network and select their favourite design of hundreds received from designers around the world. DesignCrowd’s business includes users in 159 countries including over 50,000 designers. In 2011, DesignCrowd received a $3M of investment from Starfish Ventures.
About BrandCrowd
BrandCrowd (formerly Brandstack) was launched in April 2008 and is the world’s largest marketplace for ready-made brands and logo designs. BrandCrowd helps logo designers monetize their unused logo designs, brands and domains. BrandCrowd is owned by DesignCrowd.
About Starfish Ventures
Established in 2001, Starfish Ventures is an Australian owned venture capital fund manager seeking superior returns through active investment in innovative technology companies. Starfish Ventures has over $385 million in funds under management and has made investments in over 40 companies to date.
Starfish Ventures seeks investments in emerging Australian businesses across all technologies sectors including information and communications technology, biotechnology and life sciences, industrial technology, and cleantech. For more information go to www.starfishvc.com
DesignCrowd // BrandCrowd Contact
Chris McNamara, chris.mcnamara@designcrowd.com
Ph: +61-402-945-323
Starfish Ventures Contact
Katya Baxter, Katya@starfishvc.com
Communications Manager, Starfish Ventures
Ph: +61-3-9654-2121 or +61 438-123-356
Media coverage – Bugherd investment
January 30th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Press Release
January 26th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
DesignCrowd Launches 100% Australian Crowdsourcing Service
25 Jan 2012 – Crowdsourcing startup DesignCrowd has launched an Australian-only crowdsourcing service to help businesses crowdsource only to Australian designers
International crowdsourcing marketplace DesignCrowd – who previously specialised in helping businesses outsource or ‘crowdsource’ to designers around the world – has launched a new Australian-only country-specific crowdsourcing service. The new website – DesignCrowd.com.au – will allow Australian businesses to crowdsource designs exclusively from Aussie designers.
This innovation is unique among existing creative crowdsourcing services and offers Australian businesses the opportunity to only engage local design talent, supporting the local industry and combining the benefits of crowdsourcing with the benefits of local designers. The new website which was launched in response to customer demand to limit projects to their favourite Australian designers will also offer Australian currency, local customer service and favourite a directory of top Australian designers – important features for small business owners who are heavy users of the platform.
It’s estimated that the local design industry is worth at least $4B annually. Australian design agencies employ 11,000 designers full-time while DesignCrowd already has 60,000 designers registered on its site. The company hopes to recruit more local design talent to its ranks and is offering local design agencies a white-labelled crowdsourcing platform.
DesignCrowd CEO Alec Lynch said, “Australians have been early adopters and heavy users of crowdsourcing but they also like to support local industry. Our new service will let Aussie businesses combine the benefit of crowdsourcing with the talent of the Australian design community. Clients in Sydney will be able to post a project on DesignCrowd and get 50-plus designs from designers in Melbourne to Mackay. If they want to they can also get designs from designers in places like Mumbai and Miami.”
DesignCrowd’s new Australian-focussed service further enhances Australia’s reputation as a leader in crowdsourcing. Ross Dawson, author of Getting Results from Crowds, said “Crowdsourcing will be central to Australia’s future. The growth of Australia as a global crowdsourcing hub demonstrates that we see the opportunity and are actively engaged in the reality of a world of connected work. It is exciting to see innovations such as DesignCrowd’s expand opportunities for Australian businesses and put Australia on the forefront of the global crowdsourcing landscape.”
The launch of the Australian service coincides with the appointment of Google Docs pioneer Anthony Glenning to the DesignCrowd board and follows a busy 3-month period which has included $3M investment from Starfish Ventures, the acquisition of US business Brandstack and the launch of BrandCrowd.com.
Press Release BrandCrowd // DesignCrowd
Contact
Contact Alec Lynch, +61 412 370 537 Alec.Lynch@designcrowd.com
About DesignCrowd
Launched in January 2008, DesignCrowd is a leading online graphic design service marketplace for design contest, logo contest and graphic design outsourcing services. The platform enables buyers to post a logo, website, print or graphic design project on the DesignCrowd network and select their favourite design of hundreds received from designers around the world. Watch DesignCrowd’s “How It Works” video.
DesignCrowd’s multi-million dollar business spans 159 countries and 60,000 designers and is headquartered in Sydney. In 2011, DesignCrowd received a $3M of investment from Starfish Ventures.
About BrandCrowd
BrandCrowd (formerly Brandstack) was launched in April 2008 and is the world‟s largest marketplace for ready-made brands and logo designs. BrandCrowd helps logo designers monetize their unused logo designs, brands and domains. BrandCrowd is owned by DesignCrowd.
DesignCrowd // BrandCrowd Contact
Chris McNamara, chris.mcnamara@designcrowd.com
Ph: +61 402 945 323
Download this Press Release in PDF
Portfolio News: DesignCrowd acquires US rival
December 23rd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Starfish Venture portfolio company and Australian crowdsourcing website, DesignCrowd, has acquired its US-based rival, Brandstack.com for an undisclosed price, and has followed up the acquisition by launching BrandCrowd.com, which will combine the Brandstack service with the existing DesignCrowd community.
For more media coverage -
http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/20/brandstack-pulled-from-the-deadpool-acquired-by-designcrowd/
http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/market/51951-designcrowd-acquires-us-rivala
insight into Biotech investment trends
December 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Michael Panaccio, Investment Principal
The biotechnology industry has gone through a challenging few years and we have seen a number of new trends emerge. The most obvious is the venture investors are no longing willing to assume that new investors will be identified in the future to share the capital requirement to take a product to market or to reach a milestone that will enable the sale of the company. New investments fail to complete unless their business plans are “fully funded”. We have seen syndicates that have raised $20 million fall over because they are $5 million short of their $25 million target – something that would not have occurred 5 years ago. Fully funded business plans, strong investment syndicates and “pay to play” have become the norm. However, these syndicates tend to invest in later stage deals and early stage investing has struggled.
It is pleasing to see the emergence of corporate venture investing in biotechnology. In the last two quarters we have seen both Merck and AstraZeneca (through MedImmune) commit funds to corporate venturing – US$600 million in new capital will be a great boost to a biotechnology industry that is starved of capital. The benefits of corporate venturing is not only the capital, but access to advice and guidance from their R&D and corporate activities. We are confident that MedImmune Ventures will be a great investment partner with us in Neuprotect and provide invaluable advice and guidance as the company moves its lead product into the clinic.
Press Release: Starfish Ventures invest $3M in Aussie start-up DesignCrowd
November 3rd, 2011 § 1 Comment
3 Nov 2011 – Australian based Internet start-up DesignCrowd has received a $3M investment from leading Australian venture capital firm Starfish Ventures
DesignCrowd.com – an online marketplace that helps businesses around the world outsource or „crowdsource‟ creative projects – has received a $3M venture capital investment from Melbourne based Starfish Ventures.
DesignCrowd, which was founded in 2007 by Alec Lynch at the age of 23 from his “mother‟s dining room table”, is now a multi-million dollar business with users/clients spanning 159 countries. DesignCrowd‟s disruptive crowdsourcing business model has helped it grow internationally and attract clients like Harvard Business School (who received 267 logo designs from 57 designers when they „crowdsourced‟ their Forum for Innovation and Growth logo via DesignCrowd). DesignCrowd already has 40,000 registered graphic designers from around the world (four times more than the 10,000 designers employed in design studios in Australia).
Founder and CEO Alec Lynch said, “Starfish‟s investment is very exciting – it will help us grow from a bootstrapped Sydney start-up into a global company. We‟ve done well in Australia, now we want to take on the world and Starfish is the perfect partner to help us succeed.”
Tony Glenning of Starfish Ventures (who led the investment in DesignCrowd) said, “We really believe in the crowdsourcing model. In particular, we are really attracted to the idea of crowdsourcing the solution, rather than simply providing a marketplace for outsourcing, which ends up as a race to the bottom and is neither beneficial to the customer nor the designer. Alec and his team have done a great job providing a unique offering that serves both.”
Starfish‟s investment in DesignCrowd is particularly noteworthy given the current economic climate. It is the second time DesignCrowd, which launched during the „global financial crisis‟, has raised capital during an economic downturn. In 2009, Lynch received $0.3M of investment from „angel‟ investors and the business has since grown more than 1300% – highlighting the strength of DesignCrowd‟s model and team.
DesignCrowd plans to use the investment to grow its client base in markets outside Australia (particularly in the US) and to launch two new services in 2012. In the short term, DesignCrowd plans to hire aggressively and Lynch says “We‟re looking to hire ten people by January and we need a Chief Operating Officer immediately to help us handle the growth and implement our plans.”
Contact
Alec Lynch, +61 412 370 537, alec.lynch@designcrowd.com
About Starfish Ventures
Established in 2001, Starfish Ventures is an Australian owned venture capital fund manager seeking superior returns through active investment in innovative technology companies. Starfish Ventures has over $385 million in funds under management and has made investments in over 40 companies to date. Starfish Ventures seeks investments in emerging Australian businesses across all technologies sectors including information and communications technology, biotechnology and life sciences, industrial technology, and cleantech. For more information go to www.starfishvc.com
For further information:
Katya Baxter
Communication Manager, Starfish Ventures, Ph: 03 9654 2121
Australian technology companies’ success in the US
September 29th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Starfish Ventures portfolio companies make the Inc. 500:5000 fastest growing companies in America list (2011)
Every year, Inc. magazine awards the distinction of being named the gold standard of entrepreneurial success, only to the very best private firms in America. The ranking is based on revenue growth in the 4-year period from 2007-2010
In 2011, Innovative Retail and Health mobile communications provider, 5th Finger International is ranked #168. The PDF Software developer, Nitro PDF, is ranked # 699 (coming in at #57 in the Software Category and #27 for San Francisco based firms)
5th Finger International’s 2010 revenue was 2.6million which is a 1,752% growth over 3 years. (reference: http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2011)
In 2007, NITRO earned $1.6m, increasing to $9m in 2010.
About Nitro PDF
started in Australia in 1997 as ARTS PDF selling a range of Adobe Acrobat plugins. However over the years, Nitro came to the conclusion that they could deliver a better solution to Acrobat itself and at a more economical price point. In 2005, Nitro Professional was launched as the first true alternative to Adobe’s offering. On the back of their success, Nitro opened a US office in 2007 and has continued to grow ever since.
Starfish Ventures investment director and Nitro PDF director Anthony Glenning says “It is wonderful to see Australian start-up achieve such growth and recognition on an international stage. Australian firms have a market size disadvantage from the beginning, so to crack the market in the US and be recognised as one of the fastest growing US companies is a great credit to Nitro.”
About 5th Finger
5th Finger is one of Australia’s most recognised mobile marketing companies. Over the first half of the last decade the 5th Finger team grew a dominant business in the Australian mobile landscape, leading to the acquisition of the company by Ninemsn in 2006. In 2007 part of the team branched out and took the 5th Finger story to the USA, establishing a standalone business with the core technology and brand that had demonstrated such success in the Australian market. The company opened an office in San Francisco and is now a leading provider of mobile marketing technology and services to major brands, retailers and healthcare providers across North America.
Malcolm Thornton, Investment Director at Starfish and director of 5th Finger believes that “The commendable growth of these Australian firms as highlighted by Inc. 500:5000 is important example of the importance of VC investments in Australia. With the investment capital and support services Starfish could provide, the 5th Finger team were fully equipped to bring their market experience, standout technology and entrepreneurial enthusiasm to this major global market.”
For more information on Inc. 500|5000 - http://www.inc.com/inc5000/welcome
10th Anniversary Celebrations
September 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
It has been a festive month at Starfish, celebrating the 10th year anniversary for Starfish Ventures.
Here are some happy snaps from the occasion
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Happy 10th Birthday Starfish!!!
Investment Director Ivor Frischknecht will present at The Clean Technology Revolution, China and Australia Conference
September 2nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Ivor Frischnecht will present at
~The Clean Technology Revolution, China and Australia~
Workshop, 8 September 2011
The workshop will focus on two themes:
- Adopting a low carbon pattern of development in China and Australia
Debate the necessity, and scope, of deeper structural reforms to each nation’s economy in tackling rising energy use and carbon emissions as well as realising the opportunities of green growth - Australia, China and the Clean Technology Revolution
Examine the development of ‘low carbon’ clean technologies in China and the implications for Australia with an emphasis on identifying potential partnerships and complementary relations in the energy and clean-technology sectors.
