Investors get sticky with TradeGecko

• Singapore-based startup closes US$650,000 in its seed round of funding led by incubator and seed investment firm WaveMaker Labs
• Funding to enable company to integrate its cloud based inventory and order management system with other SaaS applications

TRADEGECKO has closed US$650,000 in its seed round of funding, led by incubator and seed investment firm WaveMaker Labs with other Singapore-based investors including Golden Gate Ventures participating.
 
TradeGecko is a Singapore-based startup offering a cloud-based inventory and sales management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
 
It was founded by three entrepreneurs from New Zealand (pic, from left to right), brothers Bradley and Cameron Priest and Carl Thompson in January of this year, and completed the JFDI-Innov8 2012 bootcamp program in May.
 
Thompson’s presentation at the program’s demo day attracted a lot of interest, in part because the team had been thorough in mapping out the problem they were trying to solve, based on direct experience.
 
Co-founder Thompson shared that the pain experienced running a fashion label is what got the team started.
 
“We talked to around 200 potential customers before we started coding to make sure we really understood what the market wanted. We used 'Lean Startup' and 'Agile' methods to evolve TradeGecko iteratively. We have come a long way since we started the JFDI.Asia program and we could not have done it without the mentors, partners and friends who helped us along the way,” he said.
 
TradeGecko was launched to the public on Oct 10 and since then, the team reported that there has been around 200 trial accounts opened from 26 different countries.
 
The funding will allow the company to integrate its cloud-based inventory and order management system with other SaaS applications such as Xero, Shopify and Vend, which are already used by TradeGecko’s SME clients.
 
“This is a huge milestone for us as a company. Not only does it give us the resources we need to offer an end-to-end solution but it also gives us access to the insight, experience and connections of a great group of investors as we roll out worldwide,” said Cameron Priest, TradeGecko’s chief executive officer.
 
This seed round was 60% over-subscribed, giving the TradeGecko team the ability to structure  its share register with investors who could add the most strategic value -- but it also presented a challenge to offer each the role they desired.
 
Ultimately, WaveMaker Labs led the round.
 
Commenting on the funding round, Paul Santos, managing partner at WaveMaker Labs, said: “We are excited to include TradeGecko as part of our portfolio. We see tremendous potential here in Asia Pacific for business-to-business applications like TradeGecko. The team has the talent and the drive to really make TradeGecko a global success.”
 
WaveMaker Labs is an Approved Technology Incubator under the Singaporean government’s National Research Foundation (NRF).

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