23-year-old’s startup Get raises US$2.5mil in funding

• Get facilitates payments for university clubs and societies across Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong
• Funds will be used for international and local expansion, product development

CAMPUS Social Ticketing startup “Get” (www.useget.com) has completed its latest funding round, raising US$2.5 million (RM10.38 million).

The round was led by Vertex Ventures (earliest backers of Grab, Mobike & Waze), venture capital arm of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, as well as following investment from existing angel investor Click Ventures (early backers of Spotify and Meetup).

Since Get’s initial launch in 2016, the home-grown startup has gone from strength to strength. Previously known as Qnect, the online platform facilitates payments for university clubs and societies. It is being used by more than 400 organisations and institutions, with over 220,000 members across Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The man behind Get, 23-year-old Daniel Liang, says the funds will be used for international and local expansion, product development, and building out the teams in each country.

“This is a very exciting time for us. Get is targeting an untapped market of students whose spending behaviours and expectations are vastly different to the generations before them.  

“This cohort is inherently social, and Get is really one of the only services that leverages on this insight as the basis for a payments platform. This generation wants to buy what their friends are buying, and being able to provide that level of transparency on a scalable digital platform is incredibly powerful,” he said.

Get formally launched in Hong Kong in September 2017, and most recently set up its global headquarters in Singapore in 2018. It has three global offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney, and is already seeing significant uptake from various Singapore universities and polytechnic unions, clubs and organisations.

Get currently enables students to purchase event tickets, merchandise and club memberships, but Liang envisions greater potential down the line.  

“One of the main reasons we changed our name to ‘Get’ was that it brought us closer to our mission of helping students get their hands on the things they want. Often, the things they want are heavily inspired and dictated by the actions of their peers, which is why the social aspect underpinning this platform is so important,” added Liang.

Vertex Ventures managing partner Joo Hock Chua said, “Get, previously Qnect, provides a convenient and valuable tool for organisations in tertiary institutions to collect funds for tickets, merchandise and memberships from a community both in person and online. The social element of Get's model is the missing gap in the market for community selling online or in-person.

“The younger cohort is inherently social, and Get is really one of the only services that leverages this insight as the basis for a payments platform. This generation wants to buy what their friends are buying, and being able to provide that level of transparency on a scalable digital platform is incredibly powerful.

“Daniel and the team at Get are able to execute but also be nimble enough to pivot when the opportunity arises. We look forward to working together,” added Chua.

Carman Chan, managing partner at Click Ventures, said they were impressed with Get’s execution ability, attention to detail, and learning speed.

“More and more selling will be automated and moved to mobile. The social element of Get’s model is the missing piece of the current offline to online selling model. We believe startups need to be able to execute but also be nimble enough to pivot when the opportunity arises, and the Get team definitely demonstrates these qualities, which will see it grow quickly.”

Get is now looking for team members who are passionate to achieve the mission and grow further. Roles are available in design, software engineering, marketing and partnerships.