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Bruce Buchanan’s Rokt sets VC record with $458m
raising
YolandaYolandaYolandaRedrup
Redrup,Anthony
Anthony
Redrup Anthony
Macdonald
Macdonald
Macdonald and Kanika
KanikaKanikaSood
Sood
Sood

company Rokt has smashed the record for the largest venture capital raisingin Australian history, banking $458 million at a $2.75 billion valuation.

Dec 17, 2021 – 2.00am
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Ex-Jetstar boss Bruce Buchanan’s e-commerce marketing technology

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The capital raising gives Rokt the third-highest valuation for a private techcompany in the country, and the cash injection supersedes the $350 million
raised by Queensland-based job and project management software
company simPRO last month.

Yolanda Redrup Anthony
Macdonald
Kanika Sood

USUS
USinvestment
investment
investmentmanagement
management
managementgiant
giant
giantTiger
Tiger
Tiger
GlobalGlobalGlobal led the raise, adding to its growing listof Australian portfolio companies, which
includes unicorns SafetyCulture and Go1, as
well as Mr
Mr
MrYumYum,Yum Scalapay, Assignar, andShippit.
The round also had participation from US
growth funds Wellington Management, Whale

ROKT CEO Bruce Buchanan is planningto take the company public in 2023.

Rock Capital Management, Singapore
government-owned Pavilion Capital, and existing local shareholders SquareUSmanagement
giant Tiger
Peg,investment
AustralianSuperand Hostplus.
GlobalHaving only hit the $1$1$1billion
billionbillionvaluation
valuation
valuationmilestone
milestone
milestoneearlier
earlierearlierthis
thisthisyear
year,
year Rokt’s$2.75 billion price tag represents a 175 per cent increase in about sixmonths.Mr Yum$1 billion valuation milestone earlier this year

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Mr Buchanan said the capital raising would be the last private share issue
before a US public listing in 2023.

LATEST STORIES
Monetary policy“We decided because of COVID-19 to put off listing until 2023 and in thisround we wanted to bring on investors for a successful US listing,” he told
The Australian Financial Review.

BankBank
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Live Need to Know“We didn’t have deep connections to the US market [in our investor base] ...
and these funds will help us cross over, hold us for ﬁve to 10 years andactively buy into the IPO.”

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anyoneanyoneanyoneJetstar successBank electionof England springs interest
FederalBuchanan, who was renowned for growing Jetstar throughout Asia, started
the company after leaving the airline in 2012. He bought a signiﬁcant stakein digital advertising business Rocklive – founded by former Google
executive Justin Viles and ex-Adconion director Ben Voltz – and rebranded it
as Rokt in 2013.
Rokt’s software helps businesses monetise underused portions of theirwebsites.

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Letters: A little maths didn’t hurtanyoneIts transaction marketing software uses artiﬁcial intelligence to presentcustomers with compelling offers for complementary products and offers
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While the business is now headquartered in New York, Sydney remains its
research and development centre.
Having amassed a customer base of more than 3000 brands, including
Disney, GoDaddy, Ticketmaster and Domino’s, it is on track for $US230million in revenue this ﬁnancial year. It is also proﬁtable and invests 50 per
cent of its revenue into R&D.

65 per cent growth rate
Over the last ﬁve years, the business has grown at a compound annual
growth rate 65 per cent.

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Mr Buchanan said in the long term, the company will be able to maintain 50
per cent annual revenue growth, despite its increasing scale.
“Customers are demanding a more relevant e-commerce experience andbusinesses need to ensure they have the right economics to be able to grow,”
he said.

Promoted byAdvertisement“Our technology solves these two problems by optimising every element of
the transaction moment, both for relevancy and value for each individual
customer, enabling digital businesses to remove irrelevant clutter anddouble their proﬁtability.”
While less well known than some of the country’s other tech darlings, its
valuation places it behind just Canva and Airwallex in the local tech scene.
In September Canva
Canva
Canvahit
hithitaaa$55$55$55billion
billionbillionvaluation,
valuation,valuation, while Airwallex
Airwallex
Airwallexwas
waswasvalued
valuedvaluedat
at
at$5.5$5.5$5.5billion
billionbillionin
in
inthe
thethesame
samesamemonth.
month.
month.
Having ﬁrst backed the business in 2013, Paul Bassat’s Square Peg Capital
was one of Rokt’s earliest investors, and has followed on in its subsequent
capital raisings.
Mr Bassat said he had known Mr Buchanan for a few years and texted theformer Jetstar boss when he left the airline to ﬁnd out what he was doing
next.
Canva hit a $55 billion valuation,
Airwallex was valued“When we invested, it was its Series A, the business was in Australia only,
at $5.5 billion in the same month.
and it had ambition to expand into the US, but the ﬁrst couple of years werehard.
“Our investment thesis in 2013 was backing Bruce ... it wasn’t just him, butthe fact we had a founder who we knew so well, it did have a huge amount to
do with it.
“For us, the best investments are those that compound over a long period oftime... This is an eight-year relationship, and I’d be surprised if it’s less thananother ﬁve or six [years].“RELATED

Sydney’s
Sydney’s
Sydney’s$120b$120b$120btechtechtechcluster
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Tom Cowan’s TDM Growth Partners is one Rokt’s largest investors, having
ledledledits
itsits2019
2019
2019($US48($US48($US48million)
million)million) and 2020 ($US80 million) capital raises.
Mr Cowan, who sits Sydney’son the Roktboard,said
he ﬁrstgotshades
to know$120b
techclusterhasof Mr
SiliconBuchanan when theValley
fund invested in Mexican food chain Guzman Y Gomez
in 2018. Mr Buchanan sits on the chain’s board.
“We’ve been investingin consumer
businesses
the last15 years.
We
SquarePeg amasses$1.4bforventurecapitaltreasure
chest of delivering a personalised and relevant
understand the challenges
experience. When we went through and understood the technology, we
appreciated from the e-commerce partner side the value that could becreated.
led its 2019 ($US48 million)“The business could IPO today in theory, looking at its size and scale...
There’s nothing restricting it, except ﬁnding the right time and all therelevant stakeholders.”

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YolandaYolandaYolandaRedrup
RedrupRedrup is an award-winning journalist who writes on technology and healthcare from
our Melbourne newsroom. Connect with Yolanda on TwitterTwitter.
Twitter Email Yolanda at
yolanda.redrup@afr.com.au
yolanda.redrup@afr.com.au
yolanda.redrup@afr.com.au
Anthony
Anthony
AnthonyMacdonald
Macdonald
Macdonald co-edits Street Talk, specialising in private equity, investment banking,M&A and equity capital markets. He has 10 years' experience as a business journalist and workedat PwC, auditing and advising ﬁnancial services companies. Connect with Anthony on TwitterTwitter.
Twitter
Email Anthony at a.macdonald@afr.com
a.macdonald@afr.com
a.macdonald@afr.com
KanikaKanikaKanikaSood
Sood
Sood is a Street Talk reporter. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au
kanika.sood@afr.com.au
kanika.sood@afr.com.au
Yolanda Redrup
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Kanika SoodLATESTLATESTLATESTSTREETSTREETSTREETTALKTALKTALKTwitter

Software

IPO

Rokt’sRokt’s $458m$458m raise
raise gets
gets itit ready
ready forfor USUS IPO
IPO
If there’s one person investment bankers are going to want to get to know in 2022, it’s
ex-Jetstar boss Bruce Buchanan.
2.00am — Dec 17, 2021

Funding

Bruce
Bruce Buchanan’s
Buchanan’s Rokt
Rokt sets
sets VC
VC record
record withwith $458m$458m
raisingraising

LATEST STREET TALKRokt is now the third most valuable Australian private tech company thanks to therecord-breaking $458 million raising at a $2.75 billion valuation.
2.00am — Dec 17, 2021

Mergers & acquisitions

GoldmanGoldman Sachs
Sachs takes
takes league
league table
table gold,gold, but
but deals
deals
Rokt’s$458m raisegets it ready for US IPO
boom
most
boom beneﬁtted
beneﬁtted
most
It seems pretty safe to say Goldman Sachs’ Australian investment banking team willﬁnish at the top of the M&A and ECM league tables.
9.34pm — Dec 16, 2021

Mergers & acquisitions

Bruce
Buchanan’s
Roktsets VC
recordwith $458m
PEupplayerFertilityAssociatesPE snapssnapsup Kiwi
Kiwi IVF
IVF
playerFertility
Associatesraising
Here’sanother member for the growing family of private equity-owned IVF providers.
9.33pm — Dec 16, 2021

Pinnacle Investment Management

Ex
Ex Macquarie
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GoldmanSachs takes league table gold, but deals
Firetrail Investments is branching out of its usual turf of longPNI $15.720
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2.01%

9.32pm — Dec 16, 2021

See all Street Talk

PE snaps up Kiwi IVF player Fertility Associates

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