First ever live investment during RiverPitch at Startup Invest
At last night’s Startup Invest, combining the RCL Accelerator’s Demo Day and River City Labs’ RiverPitch finals, history was made during question time of the last pitch.
Alexander Dreiling of Clipchamp explained his browser-based video sharing ( which eliminates the need for uploading) to an impressed audience of 250, but an even more impressed investor. An offer of $100,000 USD was shouted out at the end of Mr Dreiling’s presentation demonstrating, deals can be made anywhere at any time at RiverPitch.
Furthermore, one of the teams who pitched had their current investors kick in an extra $250k to their funding round, followed by interest of one of the Big 4 Banks and generated follow meetings with another investment group in Sydney the following Monday, a positive testament that RiverPitch is a great way to get in front of many engaged investors in one place on one night.
All six RiverPitch finalists delivered performances of incredible calibre as they looked to secure crucial Series A funding from the group of high-powered national and international investors.
River City Labs CEO Peta Ellis says Brisbane’s startup scene is developing each year and events like RiverPitch and Startup Invest are fast-tracking progress even further.
“Startups are growing, they’re scaling and seeking investment to fast-track expansion to become globally relevant companies. It shows a lot of maturity in the ecosystem that companies are raising Series A funds. It highlights the growth in Brisbane in particular.”
River City Labs founder and Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Steve Baxter says he admires entrepreneurs because they want to “change the world.”
“Pitching in front of investors is really serious stuff. People who head off on the entrepreneurial journey risk personal bankruptcy to try and change the world and we need to respect that.”
“They don’t know if they’re right or wrong, mostly they don’t care and that’s a lot of fun to be around. It’s a bit like a fountain of youth,” Mr Baxter said.
Mark Livings, investor and a founder at The Kinetic Agency, says Brisbane needs to host events like Startup Invest as much as possible, to develop the community as a viable alternative to the startup “juggernaut” in Sydney.
He says the things he is looking for as an investor are a “potential to go to $100 million, scalability, and a great founder with lots of passion.”
James Turner of Viberent, who pitched his SaaS cloud-based rental management platform, said afterwards that RiverPitch is a great opportunity for investment-ready startups to expose their opportunity and test themselves.
“It’s important to be out of your comfort zone constantly because that’s where you’ve got to be. Whether it’s nights like this or a meeting that’s touch-and-go, it’s important to be constantly pushed outside whereof you’d usually be.”
As Clipchamp’s Alexander Dreiling walked off the stage at the end of his RiverPitch, a few investors in the front rows reached forward to shake his hand. One of these was the U.S based investor who offered Clipchamp $100,000 USD. All RiverPitch finalists were seen in rapid-fire conversations with investors after Startup Invest concluded.
RiverPitch 2018 was hosted by River City Labs and supported by McCullough Robertson and Morgans.
RiverPitch finalists
TalentVine: A recruitment panel at the user’s fingertips to tap into the passive market, this recruitment consultant aggregator boasts a 38 percent saving in business recruitment costs. Only takes commission on successful recruitments, which stand at more than 80 percent. Seeking a $130,000 seed to give confidence back to the recruitment industry.
Paypa Plane: Wants to change the way we think about digital payments and how to make them secure. Digital payment management tools “significantly reduce missed/failed payment rates, administration and fees”. Uses two-step ‘Launch Code’, which verifies details with a bank before confirming the customer is in control of the account. Has already raised $770,000, seeking $1 million more.
Viberent: Comprehensive cloud-based rental equipment management platform used in 11 countries streamlining the process to save money on administrative costs. Has a $20,000 Monthly Recurring Revenue. Seeking a $1.5 million raise within the next two years.
Icosian: A “business in a box” which streamlines workforce and appointment management processes in the aged care and disability sectors. Aims to reduce incredible public and government spends on healthcare in Australia (i.e. NDIS, Medicare). Links health service providers directly to customers and manages that relationship.
Canaria: Has produced an earpiece powered by machine learning to biometrically monitor the wearer to predict catastrophic medical events before they happen. Particularly relevant for construction and freight industries, where fatigue causes two-thirds of all accidents. Medical grade and non-invasive, currently performing a trial with Origin Energy.
Clipchamp: Video sharing is becoming a more important part of organisational storytelling, and Clipchamp aims to capitalise on that market with their browser-based video sharing and editing platform. No upload required. More than 13 million users globally in 100+ countries. Clipchamp wants to “disrupt the disruptors” like Dropbox. Looking to raise $5 million Series A funding.
About River City Labs
River City Labs fosters the growth of start-up companies wanting to solve big problems. We provide resources to empower, support and connect entrepreneurs. Central to everything we do is a focus on collaboration and connection.
Since 2012 over 460 entrepreneurs have called RCL home. Through our events program, we have welcomed more than 16,000 guests into our community by hosting over 500 events aimed at supporting founders on their entrepreneurship journey.
River City Labs powers a range of programs, events and engagement opportunities, enabling our corporate partners to innovate differently and embed their teams within the start-up community.
River City Labs is a human-led organisation ensuring founders always come first and every engagement is underpinned by our core values of ‘Give Learn Grow’, ‘Take Action’ and ‘Always Challenge’.