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Edtech startup GO1 banks $4 million from major local VCs

Yolanda Redrup
Yolanda RedrupRich List co-editor

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Major venture capital firms and investors including Shark Tank's Steve Baxter, Blue Sky Ventures and Tank Stream Ventures have given Queensland education technology startup GO1 a $4 million boost to help it continue its offshore expansion.

The Brisbane company, which has built a marketplace for workplace training courses, is also one of a small group of local start-ups to have been through the lauded Silicon Valley accelerator program Y Combinator.

GO1 co-founder Andrew Barnes told The Australian Financial Review that despite undertaking the three-month program in Silicon Valley, it decided to keep its headquarters in Australia.

GO1 co-founders Chris Eigeland, Andrew Barnes and Vu Tran. Tertius Pickard

"Australia has a lot going for it in terms of being able to build up a development team and also establish a team in South East Asia," he said.

"We'll continue to hire more in the US too, as it is a bigger market obviously, but having Australia as the epicentre for what we're doing is actually a competitive advantage if we're trying to compete on the global stage."

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The start-up's marketplace is designed to make it easier for businesses to find and book appropriate training courses in a diverse range of fields, varying from first aid to anti-money laundering and management.

It has pulled together over 100,000 courses from training providers ranging from St John Ambulance to Richard Branson.

The latest capital raising, which also included a $1 million investment from the Queensland government's Business Development Fund and backing from Black Sheep Capital, Full Circle Venture Capital, Amasia and Wotif chief financial officer Sam Friend, values the business at $15 million and it will help the firm built up its offices in the US and Europe by taking on an additional 30 sales people.

Mr Barnes, who co-founded the business alongside a group of his high school friends, said the start-up had opted to take another round of VC funding, despite already generating growing revenue, because of its subscription model.

"Say if it's a $24,000 a year contract, we'll only be getting $2000 a month. So gearing up the team initially means running at a cashflow loss, but it results in a much greater return," he said.

"There is a global opportunity to be the training marketplace. Thinking of other industry verticals, Wotif and Expedia have dominated travel, or in retail there is Amazon and Ebay, and like us none of these companies produce the products themselves."

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The business was founded three years ago and accepted into Y Combinator, which has also backed businesses like Dropbox and Airbnb, in 2015.

It was one of about 100 companies accepted into the program, representing the top 1-2 per cent of applicants.

Other Australian start-ups to have gone through the accelerator include AirPair and failed business 99dresses.

GO1 joins a growing list of marketplace businesses to receive venture capital funding in Australia. In October carer's marketplace Better Caring raised $3 million from Ellerston Ventures, and earlier this year job outsourcing marketplace Airtasker banked $22 million from Seven West Media and online car parts marketplace SparesBox raised $3.5 million.

Mr Baxter, who has also participated in GO1's previous capital raisings, said investing further was a "no brainer".

"GO1 is the perfect example of a start-up who absolutely gets it and is poised to grow rapidly all over the world into a leading provider of learning and management platforms," he said.

Yolanda Redrup is the co-editor of the AFR Rich List. She previously reported on technology, healthcare and Street Talk. Connect with Yolanda on Twitter. Email Yolanda at yolanda.redrup@afr.com

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