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.
AUTHOR
Chris Dastoor
Recommended for you
Some 42 per cent of CEOs say they are actively reinventing their business to stay relevant in the next decade, with consumer services the most common choice for asset and wealth managers.
Former Ophir Asset Management chief executive, George Chirakis, has joined private equity manager Scarcity Partners, while the asset manager has appointed a replacement from Macquarie.
Australian Unity has appointed a fund manager for its Healthcare Property Trust, joining from Centuria Healthcare, as it restructures the product with a series of senior appointments.
Financial advisers nervous about the liquidity of private markets funds for their retail clients are the target of fund managers launching semi-liquid products which offer greater flexibility and redemptions.
