About Us
We are Australia’s first dedicated media-for-equity fund, owned and backed by Australia’s most powerful media owners.
Collectively our network reaches every Australian household and owns a number of leading quality publications, websites and programs that are able to deliver every target demographic with brand and direct response advertising.
Why Scaleup?
- Strategic marketing capability to work out what media channels will best suit your business and its growth stage
- We invest upfront with a full communications strategy built for no cost
- Media planning and buying at no commission
- Media know-how
- A strategic relationship with the largest media companies in Australia
- Access to a network of investees and media professionals
- Introductions to US and UK media businesses
- Guaranteed advertising inventory
- Optimised campaign execution
About You
You are in the growth phase of your start-up and it is going well. You have a customer base and you are solving a real problem. You want to take the business from a niche market to a mass market of millions of Australian consumers. You are looking for investment (Series A and beyond) to rapidly accelerate growth.
Investments
We're working with some of Australia's most promising new digital businesses.
POINTSBET
Pointsbet is a corporate bookmaker with operations in Australia and the USA. The business is growing rapidly and successfully listed on the ASX in June 2019.
- Scaleup Mediafund provided PointsBet with access to high-impact direct response advertising which targets PointsBet’s key sports demographics across print, digital, and an affiliate deal with Punters.com.au.
- With a strong proposition and campaign execution, PointsBet experienced rapid growth to reach over 123,000 clients at listing, a substantial increase from only 8,000 clients at the time of Scaleup Mediafund's initial investment 18 months before.
MAD PAWS
Mad Paws is a Sydney-based start-up that was created to fill the ever-growing need in the pet boarding market for affordable, and local pet accommodation while maintaining the care, love, and attention pets received at high-end pet boarding services.
- A rapidly growing and highly seasonal business, Mad Paws produced a number of campaigns to accelerate its phenomenal annual growth.
- Scaleup Mediafund provided Mad Paws with its first ever TV campaign while Mad Paws managed its own digital and Facebook buy in concert. The business added another ~25% to its baseline growth and was able to demonstrate a ROI of ~100%.
HEY YOU
Hey You is an app that links to your credit card to help you find nearby cafes, to order coffee and food without having to wait in line or pull out your wallet. You simply order through the app, pick up and go.
- A complex set of needs that required the build of a brand platform that could support immediate café and user growth, as well as strengthen the business in Melbourne and Brisbane.
- A mix of 20% digital and 80% radio with a simple offer of a discounted coffee.
LOCAL AGENT FINDER
Started in 2007, LocalAgentFinder is now Australia’s leading real estate agent comparison service- and the only site that compares agent fees. Finding the right agent makes a big difference to the sale price or rental return of a property. This site lets you easily compare local agents to make sure you get the right person for the job.
- LocalAgentFinder sought to grow the number of homeowners looking for the right agent to sell their home. With an established brand in place and a strong customer conversion funnel, Scaleup Mediafund needed to deliver the campaigns that produced high quality leads.
- Scaleup Mediafund provided access to a TV campaign as well as trail campaigns in digital. With an ad spot by ad spot focus, the business has been able to dramatically improve the quality of its funnel with conversions doubling within a difficult real-estate market.
SPACER
The Spacer space sharing community connects people who have spare storage space, from a garage to a driveway to a car park or carport in their local neighbourhood. It’s half the cost of traditional self storage options and it now has over 100,000 members in Australia.
- Looking to introduce the Spacer brand to market and build its marketplace
- Trialing a mix of digital, radio and TV to find the channel that works best.
JUGGLE ST
A marketplace to solve parenting pain points such as baby sitting. The marketplace had good traction in Sydney and approached Scaleup Mediafund to quickly scale nationally.
- Built a targeted national campaign that synchronised with Juggle Street’s national market roll-out. This approach enabled Juggle Street to accelerate its roll-out and develop a national proposition within months.
- Campaign included sponsored content, targeted direct response mobile and print with a strong acquisition offer.
MABLE
A marketplace to find a care worker for aged or disabled clients. Rapidly growing at ~10-20% to 15% per month, this business is well positioned for the Federal Government funding changes to aged care funding and the NDIS.
- A number of tactical campaigns that were matched to Federal Government changes that were rolled out by geography.
- Tactical campaigns in radio and print.
MOGO
Mogo is a disruptive platform redefining Australia's car buying landscape allowing customers to remain anonymous whilst buying a car online in one request for free.
- Mogo is a new product with little awareness, SUMF's brief is to help grow the brand to a household name and position mogo as a simple and trustworthy new alternative to buy or sell a car.
- Launched with a high impact premium position in Print, Digital and TV.
HUMANITI
Australia's first personal finance app where you can earn money, connecting businesses to consumers like never before.
- Humaniti is launching across Australia with a focus on building brand awareness and acquiring users at scale.
- Launching with a coordinated multi-channel campaign across News Corp print and digital assets, Foxtel and Fox Sports TV and Network 10 TV channels.
Our Team
Richard Skimin
Scaleup Mediafund Chair | Managing Director, news.com.au & eCommerce at News Pty Ltd
Richard Skimin
Matt Newell
Scaleup Mediafund Strategy Consultant | Executive Strategy Director at The General Store
Matt Newell
Robert Ure
Director of Strategy and M&A - News Pty Ltd
Robert Ure
Tim Archer
Head of M&A and Investments - News Pty Ltd
Tim Archer
Abhaya Acharya
Senior Manager, Ventures - News Pty Ltd
Abhaya Acharya
Our team wants to work closely with investees to build the next generation of consumer brands. But we also understand where you sit. The unique scale and diversity of our network of media creators means we can tailor marketing solutions to your individual needs and deliver audiences straight to your start-up.
Contact
We love meeting founders and getting to know growth businesses. Get in contact to discuss how Scaleup Mediafund might work for you!
Find a time to meet with us here
Or, get in touch using the form below.