AFR: Stackla eyes further international growth after $6.1 million funding round
by Paul Smith, Technology Editor Australian Financial Review via www.afr.com.au
Social media marketing start-up Stackla has closed it first major investment round, bagging $6.1 million of funding led by ASX-listed Bailador Technology Investments.
The company has been raising the initial funding since last year, and earlier pulled in investors including start-up agency and advisory Rampersand, and former ninemsn and Yahoo! Australia chief executive Tony Faure. It has added to that backing with increased funding from Bailador of $2.5 million, and intends to use the fund for further international expansion.
Originally founded in Sydney in 2012 by a pair of sports journalists, Stackla is now based in San Francisco and employs 50 people worldwide.
In a statement to investors Bailador said Stackla's annual recurring revenue had increased 98 per cent in six months, placing it on track to achieve 100 per cent growth during 2016, underpinned by strong growth in average contract values.
"The follow-on investment from Bailador is great validation not only for Stackla's recent progress, but for the underlying value we provide digital marketers every day," Stackla co-founder and chief executive Damien Mahoney said. "We look forward to working alongside Bailador and our other investors during our next exciting growth phase, which will include the establishment of a Singapore office and expansion of our US and EMEA [Europe, the Middle East and Africa] operations."
David Kirk, a Partner at Bailador, said Stackla represented exactly the kind of start-up that Bailador and other investors were looking for among the crowds of nascent companies seeking funding. "They are killing it over in San Francisco," Mr Kirk said. "They are an example of a company that builds a globally competitive technology in Australia, proves their market here and then gets investment from someone like us in order to go global."
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