Tech Pique (15 April)
What piqued my interest in the world of tech and early stage investing (with an Aussie bias)
Elon Musk has made an offer to acquire Twitter.
Last week Elon purchased over 9% of Twitter’s stock and was going to join Twitter’s Board; earlier this week Twitter announced that Elon was not going to join the Board. Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, delivered one hell of a corporate email / tweet noting on one hand that he was excited to collaborate with Elon and on the other it would be best for him not to join the Board. As a result, speculation was rife that Elon was seeking to acquire Twitter. We didn’t have to wait long! Yesterday Elon announced his intention to acquire Twitter for $54.20 per share. We await the Board’s response. I suspect Twitter with Musk steering the ship would be a different beast – not a tiny blue bird with no wings. Musk is campaigning for “free speech” on the platform which on the face of it is a noble aspiration. There has to be a line though…and once you start excluding some speech where do you stop? It’s a question that all social media companies have been grappling with and it will be interesting to see how Musk plays it…if he gets a chance. More here.
Zilingo suspends co-Founder / CEO amid investigation into accounting practices
Scandal at one of South-East Asia’s tech darlings, Zilingo, which has suspended its Co-Founder and CEO, Ankiti Bose. Zilingo’s auditors raised questions about its accounting, noting it has not filed accounts since 2019. Interesting that this is being raised in 2022. Why did those auditors not speak up in 2020? Zilingo is backed by a host of large investors including Sequoia India, Temasek (owned by the Singapore Government) and Burda Principal Investments. Again, it’s interesting to note that none of these investors, at least publicly, have brought up any indications of wrongdoing in the last few years - Burda Principal Investments has appointed a Board member who would have even greater insight. It’s important to note that Anikiti has claimed her suspension is in part due to her complaints of the harassment and has hired an attorney. We wait with bated breath to see this story unfold. More here.
EQL raises $25m to help retailers manage hype product launches
4 key take aways:
EQL launched last year, validated its product globally and is now raising a proper growth round. Too often I see Aussie founders raise incremental capital that helps them survive for 12-18 months rather than raising a meaningful amount to grow quickly, gain market share and give themselves the best chance of outrunning any global peers.
Participation from international investors in Australian deals is continuing. Australia has well and truly established itself on the world stage as a producer of great technology companies solving global problems. Insight Partners co-invested with Airtree and a host of other local and global investors. My hypothesis is that this international funding is causing many local investors to look to invest earlier. International investors tend to come in at Series A, once a company has proven traction, and most don’t have a local presence which leaves local investors free to hunt earlier with no international competition.
I love that the founders started the business trying to solve their own pain point and then saw a much larger opportunity and ran with it. This is how some of the best tech companies are formed.
Tangentially, shout out to the OGs of (re)-selling sneakers, Justin Truong and Sandy Li of Pushas. If you’re into sneakers, you need to get on to Pushas.
More here.
Fabricant raises $14m to build digital wardrobe for the metaverse
The metaverse is certainly here. Have you bought a digital house yet? Apparently JPMorgan and HSBC are buying digital plots of land now (More here). If fashion is more your thing and you’ve got enough IRL pieces, then perhaps you want to buy a few pieces for your digital avatar(s). I’ll be honest, I’m sceptical…but the number of smart people investing has me interested to learn more. More here.
Jigspace collaborates with Alfa Romeo F1
It’s not often you see an Aussie start-up sponsoring a Formula 1 team! Actually, I’m not sure it’s been done before. Jigspace has provided sponsorship in-kind by helping Alfa Romeo F1 launch in augmented reality via the Jigspace platform. Jigspace has previously partnered with the likes of Apple, Snapchat and Verizon and aims to make 3D presentations as easy as powerpoint.
