Aussie content platform gets CEO and funding


Vamp, an Australian influencer and content platform, has appointed Gill Findlay as chief executive and has received $8.5 million in funding led by Investec.
Vamp would use the capital raised by Investec, through its Investec Emerging Companies (IEC) fund to scale its self-serve platform and accelerate its transition into a technology marketing company.
Established in 2015, when influencer marketing was in its infancy, it had worked with clients including Facebook, Estée Lauder, Huawei, Adobe and Williams Sonoma.
Gill Findlay joined as chief executive after spending the previous four years scaling up commercial safety auditor app SafetyCulture as chief operating officer.
“High-performing social advertising is more important than ever, brands need to respond to the impact of COVID-19 on their customers, who are spending more time engaging with social content and buying online,” Findlay said.
“Currently, brands have access to more creators and can achieve up to 60% more reach for the same spend.
“Vamp’s recent campaigns have greatly exceeded expectations, achieving up to 30x return on ad spend.”
Investec’s investment would see Ben Sebel, co-manager of the IEC fund to join the vamp board; Andrew Wheater would also join as finance director.
The cash raise exceeded Vamp’s target of $5 million to $8 million which included funding from existing investor Perennial, and new investments The Thorney Investment Group and SpringCapital.
This would help Vamp create a solid recurring revenue stream and strengthen its capitalisation table to help repay short-term debt.
Recommended for you
The alternative investment manager has signalled its intentions to repackage an existing fund into a second private equity vehicle, targeting both listed and unlisted opportunities.
The acquisition of Mason Stevens by Adamantem Capital has reached completion, as the wealth platform looks to increase investment into its services for Australian wealth practices.
Platinum Asset Management and VanEck have both announced name changes to multiple of their ETFs to clarify their complexity.
Active ETFs are gaining traction in Asia-Pacific as wealth managers seek to blend the low-cost fees of passive with active management.