Datagate Innovation has raised more than $1 million in capital as it gears up to hire salespeople and start selling into the North American market.
The growing Kiwi cloud start-up has raised $1,042,794 from new and existing investors, more than double its $500,000 target.
After originally tabled as a rights issue for existing investors, strong interest saw the company extend the capital raise to include new investors, as interest in the expanding business grows.
“We’re enjoying strong support from the investor community,” Datagate CEO, Mark Loveys, said.
“One of our customers has invested $100,000, government investment vehicle NZVIF $70,000 and angel investment group Enterprise Angels just over $300,000.
“The beauty of the angel groups is that they bring so much more than money to the table. They offer valuable networks, advice and introductions.”
Enterprise Angels joins Datagate’s two existing angel group investors, Ice Angels Nominees Ltd and FKA Nominees Ltd, better known as Flying Kiwi Angels.
“As we hire salespeople and prepare to enter the North American market later this year, our investor networks and expertise will assist with customer acquisition and strategic decision making,” Loveys said.
The move follows the appointment of Arron Patterson as a non-executive director, with the Dell EMC CTO of Asia Pacific and Japan also investing in the company through investment group Flying Kiwi Angels.
As reported by Reseller News, Patterson joins BankLink founder Malcolm McDonald on the Datagate board.
“These two investors alone bring enormous market expertise and valuable introductions, and they are just one part of our broader investor network,” Loveys added.
For customers including a network of Spark resellers and one of New Zealand’s largest IT services companies, Datagate’s cloud billing solution provides online billing, reporting and customer self-service for usage-based services.
According to Patterson, Datagate’s value is that it can bill, rate and present virtually any service that is subscription or usage-based.
“Part of my regional CTO role is to evaluate the cloud IT service provider market. One of the persistent challenges for these organisations is the need to carve up a service stream and give it to multiple metered customers.
“Metered billing continues to be an issue for managed service providers the world over, which is why Datagate has global growth potential.”
Loveys said said an additional 352,328 shares in Datagate Innovation Limited have been issued for $1.20 per share, 20 per cent above the share price of the first seed capital round which closed in February 2016.
