A former Perth entrepreneur has taken his latest startup public thanks to local investors’ renewed interest in technology.
After more than a decade on the east coast, a former Perth-based entrepreneur has rediscovered Western Australia as a valuable resource for his latest venture.
In 2001, Ruwan Weerasooriya, fed up with Western Australia’s mining focus, left Perth for Melbourne to establish a career in technology and media.
He had already gained success in Perth with the establishment of web development company Method + Madness alongside Quickflix founder Stephen Langsford, which sold to ASX-listed Sausage Software three years after launching.
The subsequent years in Melbourne proved fruitful for Mr Weerasooriya, with the founding of four startups and a startup incubator.
But Mr Weerasooriya has rediscovered the value of Perth’s investor market, which aided the listing of his latest venture, Rewardle Holdings, on the ASX.
Rewardle is a digital iteration of the loyalty card schemes used by many small and medium businesses, which also links with social media, mobile ordering and payment and prepayments.
The real benefit for businesses using the system, however, is the wealth of data gathered on customers and their behaviours.
Mr Weerasooriya said that, as the company gained traction and expanded, it became apparent investors on the west coast were once again becoming interested in technology.
“My impression is that, at the same time as the mining boom has been wrapping up, the market started to understand that there was a profound technological shift under way led by social, mobile, big data and the cloud,” Mr Weerasooriya told Business News.
“Speculative mining investors now seem to be on the hunt for tech opportunities that touch on these areas, and Rewardle is very much part of that disruption.”
The trend is evidenced by deals such as the back door listings of technology companies Bulletproof Group, PRM Cloud Solutions and Mig33 through former mining companies.
Leading up to the initial public offering, Mr Weerasooriya also secured former Fairfax chief executive Jack Matthews as chairman of Rewardle Holdings.
Mr Weerasooriya then attracted a range of local investors, both institutional and private, as part of the $4 million capital raising.
“I appreciate that there is a perception of Perth as the wild west, but there is also a bit of an east coast echo chamber where you only seem to hear about the same deals and same investors over and over again,” Mr Weerasooriya said.
“Given my background, there was an opportunity to do things a little differently and bridge the east-west divide.
“It’s a little ironic that after moving away from Western Australia to get away from the mining sector I actually managed to land in the business of mining data.”
Rewardle shares jumped 40 per cent on their first day of trading last week, closing the day at 28 cents to value the company at $11 million.
Mr Weerasooriya told Business News a perspective of the future valuation of Rewardle could be gained by considering the $356 million sale of 35 per cent of Virgin Australia’s Velocity loyalty program.
