Singapore-based Pixibo provides personalised size and fit recommendations in real time for online retailers and their customers. The fashion-tech startup worked with Kindrik Partners on their recent series A raise.

We spoke to founder and CEO Rohit Kumar on Pixibo, the capital raising journey, and working with Kindrik Partners.

pixibo’s story

Rohit is an ex-Googler with experience across Europe and India, before heading to Singapore to head up operations for e-commerce advertising company Sociomantic. Between 2013 and early 2016 he launched and managed all of Sociomantic’s APAC operations and was part of the team that sold the business to dunnhumby, a Tesco company.

It was at Sociomantic that Rohit identified an issue plaguing fashion e-commerce sites. People were browsing clothes online, but very few of those visits converted into sales. “The average conversion rate is 1.5%”, says Rohit.

Pixibo’s technology was formally launched in 2018, after a few years in development.  The platform makes real-time size recommendations, personalised for every shopper and for every brand and SKU. For a retailer this boosts conversion rates, reduces return rate and improves customer satisfaction.  Its size recommendation engine is entirely white labelled and  can be natively integrated into online stores.

 “In online shopping, there’s a lot of pain points, from finding something you like, to working out which size is correct for you,” says Rohit.

“Decision fatigue can come in, reducing sales and resulting in increased return rates. The Pixibo platform works to reduce the friction felt by the consumer and the retailer.”

working with kindrik partners

“I was educating myself about series A rounds when I came across Kindrik Partners’s content online,” Rohit says.

“It was my first time doing an institutional round so I was spending more time online trying to get my head around the legal terminology and the types of things that show up. Drag alongs, tag alongs, liquidation preference clauses. There’s a lot to understand.”

(confused? see our startup glossary )

“It looked like Kindrik Partners were the best lawyers for startups,” says Rohit.

“It was clear from the content that was available online that it was their area of expertise. When I eventually needed to bring in a lawyer to help with my round, I reached out.”

on the series A round

Pixibo already had several angel investors prior to their series A round in 2018, but the startup did not have any VCs on board, so the experience was new.

 “We had VPs from Google who invested at an early stage, as well as strong private angel investors. But this was the first institutional round, and it felt very different.”

A big learning was how much longer the process took. “I thought you’d just go out to market, pitch, and then get them to sign. I eventually came to understand the level of process that institutional investors require, and how this stretches out the timeline.”

“There’s a great level of detail required. From investor interest to the term sheet to drafting the shareholder’s agreement, share subscription agreement and the whole nine yards, to signing, to getting money in the bank… it can take a long time!”

Fortunately, runway was less of a concern for Pixibo. “We weren’t in a rush. We had revenue, so there was no immediate need to get funding in”, says Rohit. “We already had a recurring revenue from our licence fees we were charging. That started conversations for us with investors, too.”

working with kindrik partners

Rohit found working with Kindrik Partners and partner Lee Bagshaw provided a lot of value during the capital raising process.

“Working with Lee was great. He was very responsive to my requests and concerns and was always happy to get on a call if need be to walk through things with me.”

Kindrik Partners’s experience in capital raising in Southeast Asia was also an asset to Pixibo.

“As a first time founder, sometimes you’re like wait, hang on, why is that in there? Lee was invaluable in these situations. He understood what terms were negotiable and what terms weren’t, and was instrumental during all of the back and forth with investors.”

tips for founders embarking on their A round

Rohit has a few tips for those entrepreneurs who are considering going out to do their series A round.

• start out 6 -8 months before you need the capital: especially if it’s your first institutional round (it gets easier with a follow-on round, because you’ll have existing investors to help you get your foot in the door).
  
• consider a rolling close: since you’re looking for investors who are the right fit in a long-term partnership, having a rolling close allowed Pixibo to get the money in the bank from the investors who were committed, while continuing to find the perfect fit to close out our round.
  
• beware the temptation to think that any money will do: in the beginning, the temptation is to look for anyone with a cheque book, but then you get smarter. Find the VC’s thesis and their sweet spot, and get smarter at looking at their portfolio to see if you fit in. Who will be interested in your story?

• don’t raise too soon: Traction is important. Wait until you’re in a strong position to raise, if you can. In our case, as we’re B2B, we had clear proof points that our product works, solves a real problem for online retailers and that they are willing to pay us for it. Investors will want to see that you have put in the hard work and that capital will accelerate growth.

• have a plan for the money. You have to articulate why you need capital now, and how it will help your business.

what’s to come for pixibo

The future is bright for Pixibo, and Rohit is looking ahead to expand into new markets. “The most exciting thing about us is that we’re location agnostic. The problems retailers have in Singapore are the same ones that they have in Sydney. The opportunity is massive.”

[Note: The firm’s name was changed to Kindrik Partners in July 2020 and references to the firm’s previous name have been updated.]

Auckland based startup 90 Seconds is the world’s leading cloud video production platform, allowing brands to purchase, plan, shoot, edit and review video anywhere in the world, online and on mobile.

Tim Norton, Founder and CEO, and Richard Chew, CFO, recently talked to us about 90 Second’s Series A capital raise and how they have found working with Kindrik Partners.

the 90 seconds story

Tim has been building tech companies for the last 14 years from SaaS to video platforms. It was after founding a media company that profiled the startup community through print and video, that Tim realised how hard it was to create videos. He says that the process was varied, it was difficult to shoot between countries and despite the fact that online video content was growing in popularity, professional videos were not easy to make.

This led to Tim’s idea to connect people around the world in order to create professional videos. 90 Seconds was launched in 2010, with Tim and one other developer creating online video production tools, off the back of seed and angel investment.

The concept and tools grew, and Tim managed to solve his previous issues through the creation of a cloud-based platform, which lets users handle almost every part of the video production process in one place. Brands can purchase, plan, shoot, edit and review video from the platform anywhere in the world, online and on mobile.

It was always part of Tim’s vision to build a truly global company, so two years in Tim began to establish a presence in Japan, Singapore, Australia, on top of NZ and the UK. The company became profitable in 2014 and Richard also joined as CFO. In 2015, Tim decided to hire a Head of Talent and they grew from 20 to 78 people in under a year. They then secured NZD$11m through their Series A capital raise led by Sequoia in 2016.

90 Seconds have now worked with more than 1000 brands including Google, Barclays, PayPal, Visa and Sony to produce over 10,000 high quality, fast, easy and affordable videos, in 70 countries.

The company has a global team working across Singapore, London, Tokyo, Manila, Sydney and Auckland, and they hope to open new offices in San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Berlin going forward.

Tim thinks that 90 Seconds has just scratched the surface of the global opportunity for cloud-based video production. They will continue to focus on their global growth and make video production even faster, as fast as Uber, publishing professional videos within anywhere between 24 hours to two to 3 weeks, no matter in the world the video creators are. They also plan to continue to develop the mobile version of their software so clients can manage every part of the production process on their tablets or smartphones.

challenges

Tim and Richard both agree that talent acquisition and management is the key to ensuring the success of 90 Seconds, as well as scaling growth at the right time. Tim says that we always need to hire as the business continues to grow, finding the right people to do the job within budget, is definitely an art.

There is definitely competition in the industry which comes in two types. The first being companies who have been around for the same time or longer than 90 whose established business practice. The second is startups, who have the speed and agility to move quickly and innovate. However, Tim says 90 Seconds has a unique position given their stage of growth. They not only understand the industry and are experienced enough to compete with established business but they are also nimble enough to compete with new ones, having the capacity to completely revamp their current product.

working with kindrik partners

Tim and Richard have both worked with lawyers throughout their careers and had varied experiences, prior to their first capital raise, 90 Seconds brought lawyers in get the job done and keep legal costs at a minimum.

They were recommended Kindrik Partners by Sequoia, the key investor leading the capital raising process, who have invested in a number of the world’s leading tech companies including Apple, Google, YouTube and Airbnb. Lee Bagshaw’s was the lead partner for the deal given his background in fund raising for global startups and extensive experience negotiating deals with Sequoia.

The 90 Seconds team worked closely with Lee and Chris Wilson on the intricate transaction which involved a re-domicile, re-structure and Series A all rolled into one, as well as a broad range of investors, from publicly listed companies, venture capital firms and private investors such as SKY TV New Zealand, Airtree Ventures, Beenext and Oleg Tscheltzoff founder of Fotolia.

Tim describes the process as being much longer than he expected, taking 6 months. He says it was like a giant Jenga of risk, investors and issues to manage and at times he was keen to concede on points to move the deal on. However, he says Lee kept them focused on the key issues and eventually they nailed it, and got a deal far better than I expected with Tim feeling more powerful as a founder and entrepreneur through Lee’s advice. Richard also notes that Lee’s knowledge and experience with Sequoia was completely invaluable.

Tim and Richard both agree that this process showed how important it is to partner with lawyers who have hands on experience in dealing with the legal and commercial complexity of capital raising for a global company. Tim notes that when you work with a range of investors on a global deal, you need a legal partner to get the deal done and Kindrik Partners provided the best advice which got them a big outcome.

summing up

90 Seconds are an inspiring example of a company with humble NZ beginnings, demonstrating a fast-growing and rapidly scaling business model, as well as attracting major technology investment players.

Sequoia’s backing shows that big US VCs now view New Zealand startups as global opportunities. Kindrik Partners will be closely watching 90 Seconds continue its rapid growth to become a significant global player.

Explore 90 Seconds.

[Note: The firm’s name was changed to Kindrik Partners in July 2020 and references to the firm’s previous name have been updated.]