Online reservation system Rezdy has snagged $300,000 from existing investors, adding to the $250,000 it raised earlier, but is already planning to raise up to $1.5 million in 12 months’ time.
Rezdy, founded by French-born entrepreneur Simon Lenoir, is an online reservation system for tours and activities. It initially worked out of co-working space Fishburners, but has moved into its own office.
In February, Rezdy raised $250,000 from Sydney-based “super angel” fund Grand Prix Capital via the Sydney Angels network. Grand Prix Capital is led by entrepreneur Les Szekely.
Now Rezdy has raised an additional $300,000 from Szekely and Jeffrey Tobias, another notable entrepreneur.
“We had market validation about 10 or 12 months ago now, and we’ve got close to 100 customers and we need to attract more customers,” Lenoir told StartupSmart.
“The funds will be used for software development and marketing.”
Lenoir says the process of raising the funds was “a pretty smooth story” simply because they came from existing investors. The big focus now, he says, is a major funding round.
“I went to the US for two or three weeks and met a few investors there, and got a bit of traction, but we’re too small at this stage,” he says.
“They’re looking for much bigger rounds, so that’s something that might be interesting in the future. We would be looking for a round in 12 months.
“I’m very happy to raise it in Australia… but I’m not very sure about it. We’re probably looking for between $1 million and $1.5 million.”
Lenoir says those funds would be used for scaling and international growth.
“We already have customers in close to 20 countries but right now we are only focused on Australia and New Zealand,” he says.
“The US is a very, very good market for us… There’s a lot to be done there.
“I have a European passport, so in 12 months we’ll be in the US and in 18 months we’ll be in Europe.”
Lenoir, who has been in Australia for four and a half years, says he wasn’t involved in the start-up scene in France, so it’s difficult for him to compare France to Australia in that regard.
“What I know for me is Australia is complex, being small and far away from everything, but I’ve found the start-up scene extremely engaging,” he says.
“Fishburners is a great place for your first year of business… We started fresh from Fishburners and left about a month ago because we needed a bigger space. We now have our own office.
“We wanted to establish a more corporate environment.”
Lenoir says Rezdy is “of course” looking for more staff to add to its team of three. In addition to a designer and a developer, it is looking for people in sales, marketing and product development.
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