More cash flows to fledgling Aussie sites
Local web 2.0 investment house Future Capital Development Fund (FCDF) today revealed it had ploughed money into two more niche Australian websites, with chief executive Domenic Carosa billing the internet as being ready for a revolution based on real profits.
The companies, Imorial and Eventarc, will join the family of websites already under FCDF patronage, including Cheaphotels.com.au, Ourwishingwell.com and MyGuestList.com. Imorial and Eventarc are young but well-established businesses, with customers and transactional revenue that does not rely on advertising (although their businesses are rather differen).
Imorial offers a space where users can create free memorials both for people and pets. It has been operating for two years, building a community of nearly 14,000 members, with over 5000 memorials being officiated.
Melbourne-based Eventarc, in turn, is pitching itself as a self-service platform for small and medium business to manage the registration and ticketing of their events. After being launched in November 2009, Eventarc has processed more than $4 million in transactions.
Commenting on FCDF's investment, Carosa said the internet was ready for profit-making. "The next internet boom will be based upon fundamentals which include real profits," he said.
"There are plenty of good internet companies with good cash flow that are highly scalable, where their revenue can be doubled and tripled without increasing costs," he said.
FCDF invests in companies which are revenue-generating, moving funds from a hundred thousand dollars up to a million. FCDF usually gains a minority stake. Its services aim to give practical assistance, along with capital, to foster the company's expansion.
FCDF is planning to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in late 2011 or early 2012, and expects to raise between $10 million and $20 million from the process. As well as Carosa, the pool involves prominent business personalities such as former realestate.com.au CEO Simon Baker, founder of DWS Advanced Business Solutions Danny Wallis and Flexirent founder Andrew Abercrombie.
Wikileaks has polarised the globe. Tell us what you think in this worldwide ZDNet poll.