Interesting article to note: From AFR Fri 10/09/21 @ 16:01
Aconex, Carsales founders buy into Shouta capital raise
A suite of successful Australian entrepreneurs have bought into digitalgifting business Shouta, which has surged through COVID-19, as people andenterprises look for new forms of gifts.
Aconex’s Rob Phillpot, Carsales’ Steve Kloss, and urban.com.au’s MikeBird and George Glover have also bought into the company’s $1 million seedfunding round.
Shouta co-founder Carly Shamgar has scored funding from a range ofnotable entrepreneurs for her digital gifting app.
Untitled Group’s Michael Christidis and Tom Caw have also invested, asdid ex-general manager of Commonwealth Bank’s private business, Amanda Coombs.
The business, which enables people to “shout” their friends, family orcolleagues, a drink, a meal, a manicure or many other forms of so-called “nano”gifts, was founded by Carly Shamgar and Nick Redwood in January 2020, andlaunched in December last year.
The pair both had family and friends in other states and wanted to beable to celebrate, or commiserate, life’s moments by sending a fun token to expressthey were thinking of them, without it being expensive and slow.
When someone receives a “shout” they are prompted to download the appand add the Shouta Mastercard (issued by EML Payments) to their digital wallet.They can then add their shout to the card and spend it anywhere that Mastercardis accepted.
“For example when you want to say thanks, congrats, well done, survivelockdown or anything else, and you’d love to put a little more behind it thanjust a text or email,” Shamgar says.
“We also have friends and family overseas and ultimately the goal is totake Shouta global and have this cross border, instant digital gifting atplay.”
When the pandemic struck and lockdowns stretched on, the businessexpanded into the enterprise market and launched Shouta Biz, designed to enablecompanies of all sizes to reward their employees easily.
The business generates revenue by charging an additional 7 per cent ontop of someone’s shout.
Phillpot said Shouta was a scalable business that maximised the “warm-fuzzies”.
“It’s a connected experience that allows users to integrate apersonalised and customisable approach to gifting. Building a large subscriberbase will be critical to the team’s continued success - and I think they’veassembled the right team and investors to do this,” he said.
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