Hi everyone,
Itās been a few months since we last checked in. From visits west to India and east to San Francisco, investments across the US, Singapore and Australia, acquisitions, new products and more, thereās a lot to update you on.
A reminder about who we are:
We're building out Australia & New Zealand's largest syndicated venture capital platform, with 500+ investors made up of early employees, executives, and founders of some of the world's most exciting companies.
If you are excited about investing in global startup companies alongside us and our investors then you can sign up here (AUS/NZ Sophisticated investors only).
New to the TEN13 Portfolio ā”ļø
Mercu š±
2.7b workers globally are classed as 'deskless', working outside a traditional office environment. Despite being such a large and important part of the global economy, these workers have been chronically underserved by incumbent communication, onboarding and engagement software.
Mercu is building the first communication Operating System for the deskless workforce, via a mobile-first chat-based engagement platform that enables businesses to truly engage, grow, and retain their staff.
TEN13 is delighted to announce our investment into Mercu, and founders Jascha Zittel and Elliott Gibb. TechCrunch coverage here and read more about our decision to invest below.
After šļø
After.com is the fastest growing cremation company in the U.S. and leading provider of end-of-life services, announcing the close of its series seed funding round of US$4M.
This new investment will further accelerate After.comās expansion into new markets nationwide. The latest round was led by Boulder-based Matchstick Ventures with participation from Revolution.comās ROTR Seed Fund, Sweater Ventures, Breaktrail Ventures and angel investors Aaron Skonnard and Chris North, among others. Read the announcement here.
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For more on our portfolio š«
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For a more accessible view of our investments to date, check out our new portfolio page which covers most of the 40+ investments we have made.
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What happening in the portfolio
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Go1 acquires Blinkist
Go1 completed its acquisition of Blinkist last month. Blinkist produces summaries of over 3,000 non-fiction books that can be read or listened to in 15 minutes. Founded in 2012, the German company had over a million paying users.
Congrats to Andrew Barnes, Chris Eigeland, and the Blinkist team on inking a great deal.
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Mr Yum - Victoriaās Startup of the Year
The 2nd annual Victoria Startup Awards recognised Mr Yum with the Startup of the Year award. Commercial success aside, the Victorian Government recognised Mr Yum for their community impact; āhelping local hospitality businesses stay open during the pandemic and now providing an operating system for businesses to grow their brands and offering.ā
Read more here.
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Pearler launches Headstart
Pearlerās mission is built around long-term investing; their customers are proud members of the āGet Rich Slow Club.ā Recently, the stock investing platform released a product for young investors.
Headstart allows parents to invest on behalf of their children, allowing up to 18 years of sweet compounding interest to take place. Read the article here or check out the product on Pearlerās website.
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Fintech for SMEs Treinta is now the largest B2B Marketplace in Colombia
Shifting across the globe, Colombian based SMB FinTech, Treinta is being recognised for its role in enabling SMBs to access finance and products across 46,000 users and 18 countries in LatAm. Read more on their quest to become the regionās biggest B2B marketplace. Note, translation from Spanish may be required.
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TradeMe buys into NZ arm of Autograb
The relatively recently-minted market data provider AutoGrab, which uses data analytics to price all used cars across the internet and can predict any future price movements, has secured investment from leading New Zealand classifieds company, Trade Me in their NZ arm.
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Joyn completed the acquisition of Arinex
Joyn, the online event management software, has completed its acquisition of Arinex, and relaunched as Arinex Live.
To date, Joyn, has assisted in running over 1,000 events. The new combined entity combines the technology of Joyn with the events network and expertise of Arinex. Congrats to both companies for the successful transaction. Read more here.
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"No borders, no bias"
At TEN13, one of our core values is to immerse ourselves in new geographies, build relationships, source exciting opportunities, and expand our networks.
That's why we're always eager to jump on a plane and explore new and old parts of the world in pursuit of these opportunities.
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Jetstream 2023
The TEN13 crew recently returned from their annual pilgrimage to San Francisco - Jetstream. Steve, Stew, and Sophie spent a week in San Francisco and Silicon Valley leading a group of 20 investors. During their trip, they met with over 35 VCs, founders, and industry experts from SF and the Valley. The dominant theme of their meetings was AI, and they were fortunate enough to talk with leading experts from Meta, Google, Nvidia, and Canaan, as well as Shyama Hitesh Anadkat from OpenAI.
The trip also included discussions with Jason Calacanis, Bill Tai, as well as sessions with Accel, M12, and IVP. TEN13 also had the opportunity to catch up with Ham from Chipper Cash and Kennedy from Kippa, two of our portfolio companies.
The main takeaway from the trip? In short, the AI revolution is here, and it's more than just hype. Investors and founders truly believe that AI is the most significant technological shift we've seen in over a decade, and it is improving at breakneck speeds. Stay tuned for more of our thoughts on the space.
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We're back from Bangalore! š®š³ā
Core to our model of ānetwork-based investingā, we are always looking to cultivate new, and deepen existing, on-the-ground relationships. Earlier in the year our Principal, Seamus Crawford, made the trip to India to meet over 40 founders, operators, and investors during a jam-packed week.
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Our next webinar...
You can join us on Tuesday, 25 July at 12:30pm AEST for our next webinar on the opportunities across financial inclusion in the ascending economies such as India, Nigeria, and Indonesia, run by Seamus Crawford & Stew Glynn.
Register HERE for Tuesday, 25 July @ 12:30pm AEST
Outliers is live on Substack
Those reading this update are probably familiar with Outliers, the regular newsletter we release on emerging markets ventures, startups, and tech. While this content is primarily for our investors and closest community, we have launched on Substack to make the content more accessible to all. You will still continue to receive Outliers in your email inbox, nothing has changed but if you prefer to read Outliers on Substack, here is the link.
You can also find some of the best Outliers we have written in the past.
Our favourites include:
- Indiaās evolution of payments and mobile money by Seamus Crawford
- We're still in the first innings of fintech by Stew Glynn
- Emerging markets fintech is a step ahead by Alex Barrat
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Our view of the world
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Over the last few months, we have hosted a series of online events that have delved deep into areas related to venture capital and investment strategies. For those who may have missed out on them or would like to rewatch, we have listed them below.
Steve Baxter: Journey of an Angel Investor (Passcode: SJ*Zi3Bs)
After making over 80 angel investments, Steve has learnt a thing or two about early-stage investing. In this Q&A session led by Stew Glynn, Steve shares his key learnings on investing.
The Art and Science of Valuations (Passcode: 2rM9q8*Y) - Led by Stew Glynn & Steve Baxter
Check out the online event we hosted on "The Art and Science of Valuations" to learn more about venture capital valuations and how we approach them. You can watch the recording here.
Top 5 Deal Makers and Deal Breakers (Passcode: 8H*#PPke) - Led by Stew Glynn and An Vo
There are dozens of inputs that go into the decision making process before we decide to invest. In this session, the team cover the factors that tend to push us towards a yes, or cause some hesitancy before investing.
What weāre consuming
Insight Partnersās Periodic Table for SaaS: all the milestones top tier SaaS companies are hitting in terms of revenues, growth, CACs, paybacks, and more š§š¬
Blume VCās guide to B2B Pricing including the story of how one company scaled their ACV by 32x š°
a16zās AI Glossary: Of course, we have to include AI. Upskilling in AI can be challenging. Seemingly every 101 guide is filled with never before heard acronyms. This glossary helps break down technical jargon in AI. š¤
IVPās AI Primer: Staying on the theme, IVP has put together one of the more informative guides on how exactly AI works for beginners. From the LLM/Infrastructure layer to the application layer, this is a great starting point š§
Thread of Coatueās View on Venture Markets: The macro narrative dominates VC now more than ever. This thread breaks down Coatueās presentation at their East Meets West Founder and Investor Conference. It includes insights into what the market is rewarding and how that has changed over time. ā°
Hiring across the portfolio
š Bookipi (Aus) has a number of roles for product managers, front-end and full-stack developers open
š¦ Glider (Aus) is also hiring across sales and engineering
šµ Kippa (Nigeria) hiring in Engineering and Data
š Partly (NZ) is hiring engineers and sales specialists right across the world
š QSIC (Aus) hiring in Engineering
šļø Tixel (Aus) looking for a CRO & SEM Specialist
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