Memory Box seeks $1.5m for expansion

Adelaide-based start-up Memory Box Backup has revealed it is seeking to raise $1.5 million in capital to take its technology onto the world stage, and believes it has the potential to list on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Trevor Glen, right, accepting an iAward
from Microsoft and Australia general manager Tracey Fellows (Credit: Memory Box)

The company has created technology that allows users to securely backup their data by encrypting it and replicating it across other users' PCs.

The capital raising, which Memory Box hopes to undertake through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board in parcels of $35,000, will allow the company to finalise its retail product offering for distribution through specialist IT resellers and retailers, according to managing director Trevor Glen, as well as fund further market research and ongoing software development.

Memory Box has been around for several years, and has already won several rounds of funding: tier 1 and tier 2 funding from the Federal Government's COMET (Commercialising Emerging Technologies) program, as well as $90,000 worth of investment from local angel contributors.

In addition, Memory Box has attracted only 200 users to its service over the past several years: each of which pays just $8 a month or less to access the backup service.

Glen admitted the company's development cycle has been slow, and says in hindsight the company could have been more iterative with its product, releasing quickly to the market in early versions and then continuing development.

"Engineers struggle with the idea of releasing something which is not quite complete," he said.

However, he added that the company's technology was quite complex behind the scenes, and said that part of the slow ramp-up has been making sure the company wasn't annoying customers, by getting the technology right before attempting to expand.

"Current revenues are not much at the moment, but that's expected given where we are in the commercialisation life cycle," he said. "The main reason that we are looking at funding is that we believe that the window of opportunity is relatively narrow and the funds will help us attack the market with sufficient funds to make it happen quicker than if we'd tried to do it out of cashflow."

Memory Box has some senior advisory talent on board and more on the way. It has been working with Adelaide marketing and commercialisation company Fit 4 Market for over three years. And it has recently taken Philip Vafiadis, the chief executive of audio and loudspeaker manufacturer VAF Research, on as a shareholder and board advisor.

"He also has key contacts across the world and is helping us negotiate with another potential board advisor in the US who will provide an important advocate and advisor in the US market," said Glen.