GeoOP names NZAX listing date, share price

UPDATE / Oct 22: GeoOP has confirmed its NZAX listing date: October 31. Shares will list at $1.

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GeoOp private share offer raises $10m in three-times over-subscribed offer

UPDATE / Oct 16: Mobile workforce management company GeoOp has raised $10 million in a private share offering it says was more than three times oversubscribed.

After closing the capital raising round GeoOp now has 280 shareholders, which include four well-established New Zealand institutional investors; strategic investors from the trades and services market, as well as from key channel partners such as accounting networks; and a number of high net worth investors. 

GeoOp hasn't commented on investors' identities, but Companies Office records show they include former NZX CEO Mark Weldon, who has upped his stake to 6.61% .

Mr Weldon, who is also GeoOp chairman, holds the stake via his company Terra Sancta (also the name of his vineyard).

“We aimed to raise $8 million and are tremendously pleased to have been able to close the offer at the full amount sought of $10 million,” says GeoOp’s CEO Leanne Graham. “This funding provides GeoOp with the ability to further reach small and micro trades and services businesses, to make a material impact on how they operate. GeoOp is part of the disruptive mobility shift and the focus for our sales growth efforts will be on international markets, in particular Australia and the US.”

Mr Weldon says, “We are now in the fortunate position of having a strong share register, including a number of value-add investors from our target customer segments in the trades and services sectors, as well as some leading technology and capital market players. Other investors will have an opportunity to invest further in GeoOp after we list the company on the NZAX.”

Ms Graham told NBR ONLINE it would be a compliance listing on the NZAX, with the company not seeking to raise any more capital. 

She expects GeoOp to list before Christmas.

The CEO would not update on customer numbers or financials.

GeoOp confirms listing on NZAX

UPDATE / Aug 23: As tipped in last week’s NBR, job management software start-up GeoOP is planning to list.

The company says it has appointed investment bank Cameron Partners to explore a compliance listing on the NZAX. Cameron Partners led Xero’s IPO and recently advised, along with Rothschild its global alliance partner, on the IPO of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, raising $525 million.

Ahead of the NZAX listing, GeoOP plans to raise $8 million from private investors, CEO Leanne Graham says.

The company has so far raised $3 million, including $700,000 from Ms Graham, who owns a 20% stake.

GeoOP has also revealed customer numbers for the first time. It has 4000 paying customers for its mobile job management software, which is charged on a subscription basis at $20 a worker per month.

Xero woman’s startup scores Telstra deal

June 18: Auckland-based job management software startup GeoOP has landed a deal with Telstra that will see the Aussie telco add its product to its “T Suite” of online applications, and promote it through 1500 dealers.

Readers with long memories will recall it was just such a "dream break" that saw Xero added to T-Suite in 2009, helping to springboard it to 51,000 customers across the Tasman.

GeoOP was founded in 2009 by Nick Bartlett and Simon Fraser, and received $500,000 backing from Leanne Graham’s new Cloud Rainmakers investment fund in February.

Ms Graham tells NBR ONLINE she has now invested $800,000 to $900,000 of her own money in GeoOP (Companies Office records show she now has a 20% stake, making her the second largest individual shareholder after Mr Bartlett). All told, she has helped bring in around $2.5 million of new investment.

 “I built the go-to-market strategy for Xero in New Zealand, which is being replicated around the world,” Ms Graham tells NBR.

“My initial thinking was to choose two or three SaaS [software as a service] products over the next two years and help them with their go-to-market-strategy.”

But since her initial February investment, Ms Graham – former NZ country manager for Xero – decided GeoOp was a full-time commitment.

She is now CEO, while co-founder Nick Bartlett (formerly COO) is now MD of the company’s Australian operation.

Mr Bartlett says his goal is to make GeoOp the number one mobile workforce management app in Australia.

He sees Telstra trying to push smartphone and iPads to small mobile businesses – a pool cleaning operation is his example – but requiring more of rationale for why they need the new kit, and upgrades to 4G accounts. He sees apps like GeoOP becoming part of the Aussie telco’s sales spiel.

The cloud based tool can be used standalone to organise workers in the field (from job scheduling to messaging to GPS tracking to invoicing) or used as an add-on to Xero or rival cloud accounting programme Freshbooks (given it’s a two-way street, Ms Graham prefers to couch it as Xero and Freshbooks being add-ons to GeoOP).

Ms Graham won’t comment on revenue or profit, but says GeoOP has 21 staff now, and plans for 70 by year’s end. It plans to open offices in the US and UK.

GeoOP is distributed via Apple’s App Store and Google's Play for Android, but the Telstra deal means customers will be able to have its monthly subscription fee (from $25/month for two users) added to their phone bill. Ms Graham says GeoOp is pursuing similar arrangements with telcos in NZ and other countries.

ckeall@nbr.co.nz