Songtradr the next Unicorn?

2023 was a big year for SONGTRADR the music licensing platform founded by the musical genius   PAUL WILTSHIRE (in Picture )

Songtradr raised $109 million in 2023  at a valuation of $879 million.

Investors included  

• Epic Games — the same company that sold the D2C music sales platform Bandcamp to Songtradr last month 
• WiseTech’s Richard White
• Perennial and 
• Argo.

Investors in Songtradr include the 

• St Baker family office, 
• Regal Funds Management, and 
• Aware Super.

What it does 

Songtradr is like a B2B version of Spotify, says Paul - with songwriters and producers earning fees whenever a Songtradr client licenses their music. 

Songtradr aims to be an all-in-one music licensing platform for corporates, small businesses, and content creators. Its subscribers can select songs from the Songtradr marketplace or browse from playlists, including ones inspired by popular films and TV shows.

Wiltshire has previously described the platform as a B2B version of Spotify

Is Data Zoo on way to be the next unicorn?

Data Zoo is an identity verification software business founded by Accountant Tony Fitzgibbon in 2011 has just received $22.5m investment from Ellerston JAADE Australian Private Assets Fund - and others - valuing the business over $100m

What Datazoo  does 

Data Zoo’s core product is IDUX, a digital identity ecosystem for businesses to build mutual trust with their clients. 

IDUX provides identity proofing, fraud detection and user authentication tool gives organisations the ability to apply selective and intelligent friction that matches the level of risk involved in the situation, adopting privacy-by-design principles at its foundation.

It’s  identity verification software is used by financial services companies such as MoneyGram, eToro and Mitrade to verify consumer and business identities.

Data Zoo plugs into data sources from 170 countries to offer Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) compliance checks and fraud prevention to financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs to onboard their customers.

Data Zoo’s Competition

Its main rivals in the identity verification and fraud prevention space are Canadian-based Trulioo, UK-listed GBG and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Growth 

Datazoo has grown organically over the past decade, gaining a foothold in Asia and its three-year revenue compound annual growth rate is more than 30 per cent.

In February Tony passed the Batton of CEO to New York-based Charlie Minutella once it landed its first USA client. Charlie was previously the boss of Refinitiv, a data provider owned by the London Stock Exchange.

Is Datazoo the next unicorn?

 

Kanwal Rekhi and Saber Bhatia - Silicon Valley legends

I had the pleasure of hosting Kanwal Rekhi at a forum when he came to visit Sydney . It was definitely a bucket list moment for me !!

Kanwal’s post on his Hotmail story!!

I first met Sabeer Bhatia when he started Hotmail. I passed on his request for investment because I could not figure out how he would make money. His Webmail was great and solved many problems with early email. Email for most was tied to their job and only available from office. Webmail made it independent of job and accessible from any browser. 

But it was free and I would say why not charge a dollar a month? He did not want any friction in way of acquiring users. Sabir would talk about building a user base of 10 million. He invented virality and was getting 60,000 users a day at one time. He would talk about upselling to those users. I would say, Sabir, you have nothing to upsell.

I finally warmed to investing one million dollar in his company. I was on my way to India in the fall of 1998 and said that I would invest when I am back in 2 weeks. While in India, news broke that Microsoft was acquiring Hotmail for $400 million. I was shocked to hear that.

It was a great learning experience for me. Sabir did not have any thing to upsell but Microsoft did. Microsoft had spent $2 billion to build its MSN and had only one million users. With the acquisition of Hotmail it was acquiring 10 million users for only $400 million. I realize for the first time that an asset has a different value in the hand of a different user.

Microsoft had a great deal at $400 million and Sabir was proven right that it would be worth a lot if he had 10 million users, even if he did not have any revenue.

The sale of Hotmail started the dotcom gold rush in earnest.

https://www.bsi.com.au/kanwal-rekhi-the-sage-of-silicon-valley/

Scott Farquhar - the Ozzie tech Godfather - creating a new chapter!

David Swan - tech editor of the Age and SMH talks about Scott Farquhar

For more than two decades Scott Farquhar and his Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes have been the most important duo in Australia’s burgeoning technology sector. Now Farquhar is going it alone, announcing that he will step down as co-chief executive of Atlassian.

It’s not a stretch to say that what the entrepreneur does next will help determine the future success of the local industry, which has billions of dollars and thousands of jobs riding on its back.

Farquhar is just 44, has a cashed-up venture capital vehicle and an interest in fostering new generations of talent. “After 23 years, it’s time to pursue some other passions I have,” he told investors on last month’s earnings call. 

“Specifically philanthropy, investing, and to help grow and build the global technology industry.”

He is a mentor to some of the leaders of other billion-dollar tech businesses: Canva’s Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht consider him a close friend, as does SafetyCulture chief executive Luke Anear.

Anear, whose business itself is now worth almost $3 billion, says what started out as a mentorship became a friendship over time. “Building a business is lonely ... there aren’t many people you can completely confide in, and Scott has been that person for me,” he says.

“Scott is many things to many people, but first and foremost, he is a family person. He cares deeply about his family, and even though they have had to make sacrifices to allow Scott to travel so much, he has set the example for balancing work and home life for the entire industry.”

As Anear puts it, of the Atlassian founders, Mike is the risk-taking visionary, and Scott is the more conservative realist.

“Scott is a nerd at heart, which means he goes deep on details. His knowledge of legislative frameworks and tax implications is as good as most specialised lawyers. He holds court with prime ministers and the highest dignitaries in the land, and his understanding of how technology can positively impact society is second to none.

“Without Scott, Mike, and their work at Atlassian, Australia’s technology industry would be a decade behind. It’s hard to quantify the tens of thousands of jobs, families, and lives that have benefited from Scott’s actions, but it’s fair to say that his impact on the world has been significant.”

Farquhar’s impending departure also ends one of corporate Australia’s great experiments: could two best friends successfully co-parent a company?

The answer, for two decades, was a resounding yes.

Read more in David’s  weekend feature for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.