9 Spokes rounds up AU$25m in IPO capital earlier than expected
New Zealand-based cloud app integrator 9 Spokes has drummed up AU$25 million in capital raising earlier than expected.
The funds will help the company list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) come June 9, 2016.
The company revealed that under the initial public offering (IPO), a total of 125 million new shares were issued at AU$0.20 per share, with 9 Spokes saying it did not incorporate any sell-down by pre-existing shareholders.
It added approximately 47 percent of shares on issue following the IPO, and will be subject to escrow for varying periods of time.
9 Spokes co-founder and CEO Mark Estall said the company is pleased with the support it has received from new investors and is looking forward to working with partners such as Barclays, Deloitte, and Suncorp.
"From the start, 9 Spokes was established as a global business and has focused on delivering to SME markets around the world. We're now executing on that strategy and we're delighted that so many of our first investors are with us on the journey," he said.
9 Spokes began its hunt for potential investors at the end of March, saying at the time that the money raised will help fund the company's international expansion plans.
The company has a number of international directors, including former Telecom New Zealand chief executive Paul Reynolds, who holds a small stake in the company, and former Walt Disney and Ticketmaster executive Wendy Webb, who is also an independent director of cloud-based software-as-a-service TV content provider TiVo.
9 Spokes' platform allows small businesses to aggregate their various cloud computing applications on a single dashboard, helping them track and peer-review their performance more cheaply than a corporate ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. They also get a single bill that covers all subscriptions to apps transferred in, or purchased through, 9 Spokes.
9 Spokes is not the only company expanding; Australian-based data services startup Skyfii has launched operations in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States through the opening of an office in Dallas, Texas.