Published on 08/02/2016 by Punchmedia

Technology Bug Continues to Bite

The momentum of technology company listings on the ASX is continuing this year, with two new tech-based businesses announcing their intentions to go public in the coming months. Business management technology company WORK[etc] was ranked by Deloitte as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Asia Pacific in 2013, and is now planning to list on the ASX in order to raise $4 million to $5 million. Founded by Daniel Barnett, son of current WA Premier Colin Barnett, WORK[etc] is based in Sydney and has not yet raised any capital to date, Mr Barnett adding that the plan to go public would give the company extra funds and exposure to scale. Just three-years young, the company provides all-in-one solutions for small business customer relationship management, project management, billing and helpdesk and also integrates with accounting software Xero and Quickbooks, Google apps and Microsoft online. WORK[etc] is currently in 29 countries is in the process of accelerating into other regions. According to Mr Barnett, they're also one of the first software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies to list on the new Amazon SaaS app marketplace which he said had produced huge growth for the company. The CRM is currently being used by approximately 840 customers, 65 per cent of which are in the United States, with the rest largely spread across Australia and Britain. Mr Barnett said the company was yet to decide whether they would go with an initial public offering or pursue a backdoor listing. Last year 50 companies opted to take the backdoor lising route, up from just 31 in 2014. They've produced a range of results, with strong initial performances from companies such as 1-Page, MigMe, and Tech Mpire, but most have remained relatively flat. One of those businesses doing a backdoor listing is Property Connect, founded by Tim Manson in 2014. Property Connect – which has developed a platform called Live Offer that notifies renters when better properties managed by the same firm come up for grabs, and provides transparency around how their bid compares with others vying for the property – will debut on the ASX in early March. Since launching in the US in April 2014, it has done 11,000 transactions, in a market of 30 million apartments. Mr Manson said the rental market was getting stronger and stronger in the US. In 2008 the percentage of owner-occupied dwellings was 68 per cent, now it's around 61 per cent. Property Connect has recently done a deal with cloud-based property management tech business Apmasphere to integrate its technology and launch in the Australian market. The listing could be the first of many in the property tech space in 2016, with technology experts at the Property Portal Watch Conference in New York two weeks ago predicting an onslaught of fixed-price, no commission and automated peer-to-peer websites. * With AFR

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Curtis is a leading expert in the business-for-sale industry, serving as a senior content creator at anybusiness.com.au.

With a career spanning over fifteen years, Curtis has accumulated extensive knowledge in the domain of business sales, acquisitions, and valuations. His deep understanding of market dynamics and his ability to translate complex industry jargon into accessible insights make him a trusted resource for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to buy or sell businesses.

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