$105 million capital raise for construction-tech | Sequioa buys its own stock | Budget mobile wins against telco giants

This is Locker Flucks.

I'm Brett and I'm Justin and it's Wednesday, the seventeenth of July.

Jazie Boy. A private Australian company you've probably never heard of, Easygo Solutions, has made more than five hundred million dollars in profits in just three years. Well the name might not sound familiar. It's the company behind online gaming casino steak dot com and Kick streaming service. And while we not a bad result for the two owners aged under thirty, not bad at all, pluck them.

We have a very exciting new feature that we're rolling out in the app this Thursday. Is still very much in Beat app, but it's very close to my heart. Now for any of you flucks apbsolutes out there, here's a little challenge. Let me know if you see the new feature in the app and flick us a message and we will send you some flucks merch.

Three marvelous stories today, Josie Boy, let's do it for our first a construction tech company in Australia, has raised one hundred and five million dollars as it looks to expand into the US and also Europe. If you don't mind, and here I was thinking.

These hundred baggers were only done in twenty twenty.

One, so don't we wore well, Juzzy boy. The name of the company is hammet Tech and was founded in Melbourne in twenty thirteen, and be man.

While it does a host of things for the construction industry, it's digital platform mainly focuses on the fun stuff you'd be talking about safety compliance site operation processes like onboarding and safety inspections and incident reporting. Gee, you're getting me revved up and excited, juzzy boy, But be man, this is critical in the construction industry.

In fact, Hamtech is now used by over five hundred construction companies around the world on over twenty thousand projects.

And back in twenty nineteen, Hamitech raised ten million bucks. But they put their hand back in the cookie jar once again.

And this time the hand has gone deep in that cookie jar.

Yeah, we're talking one hundred and five million dollars raised from a US based private equity firm called Riverwood Capital.

Interesting, So what is the key learning here?

While flashy tech startups often grab headlines, it's the less glamorous sector that often create the most lucrative opportunities. Industries focused on compliance and safety and regulations.

They might not spark immediate excitement, but they are essential for highly regulated industries.

Think construction, think manufacturing.

And digitizing These platforms saves time but also, juzzy boy, also it reduces errors.

All the dreaded risk of legal issues and penalties too.

And Josey Boy. Hamitech isn't the first Australian tech company to do well from a traditionally un sexy industry.

Ohner remember safety Culture worth a called two point seven billion dollars at its latest valuation in August twenty twenty.

Three, And juzzy boy. With this wopp ar raise, Hamertech is hoping they can bring their sexy technology to the US and Europe as well. For our second story, one of the major investors in Stripe, Sequoya Capital, is offering to buy shares from its earliest investors at a seventy billion US dollar valuation. Sequoya buying shares from Sequoya. Interesting move, Sequoya, so tell me more, juzzy boy.

So Stripe is the fintech company started back in twenty ten as a payments processing platform.

Also doesn't sound so sexy, but their goal was to take on the likes of Visa and MasterCard for all digital.

Payments, and since then, Stripe's partnered with major e commerce channels like Shopify as well as Amazon, and it hurts as well.

Give this little one. Stripe is believed to have processed more than one trillion US dollars through its platform in twenty twenty three, or a lazy one percent of global GDP. But does boy, It's taken time and a lot of money from investors. In fact, Strippers raised more than eight point seven billion US dollars and its.

Valuation hitter whopping ninety five bill US in twenty twenty one.

Then, though it did drop to fifty bill very humble in twenty twenty three.

And now Socoe Capital, one of Stripe's earliest investors, is looking to buy up to eight hundred and sixty one million US dollars worth of Stripe shares.

At a valuation of seventy billion usd But.

Here's the interesting part, Baman, because it's looking to buy the shares from its investors who invested in its own fun between two thousand and nine and twenty twelve.

And this is a way for Stripe's earlier investors to get some liquidity on their investments from more than twelve years ago. So what is the key learning here? Venture capital firms are creating new ways for older investors to liquidate their shares. You see a man.

When investors or limited partners invest in a venture capital fund, they expect to see returns on their investment.

Generally in a five to seven year timespan.

The idea is that a VC raises money, invest that money into startups, and the company sells out via an IPO or a strategic sale.

Be does. The challenge for Stripe is that there aren't many other competitors that can afford to actually acquire them for seventy billion US dollars, and Stripes founders have said they prefer to keep Stripe as a private company indefinitely. So as companies like Stripe extend their time in the private markets, it makes it harder for these earlier investors to realize their investment returns.

Get this, thirty seven percent of unicorns are being held for at least nine years by VC funds.

That's according to Pitchbook, so be Man. It kind of blows up the whole venture capital model. So Josie Waite Sequoia is creating new ways for these old investors to liquidate their shares in older investments. For our third and final story, budget mobile brands I seen double digit growth in subscribers after the latest price increases from telco giants, Telstra and Optists. Not what the big dogs want to hear right now, be man, so what is happening? Well, Josey. Wait.

And voterphone Optics have also increased their prices this year for new customers as well. But now, be man, Well, these telco giants have been upping their prices. The budget mobile providers are seizing on this opportunity to undercut them.

And low and behold, it is working. Get this. Budget mobile brands Felix, Labarra and Cogan operated by TPG have recorded a twelve point six percent increase in subscriber group.

And b Man, these budget brands now count for over half of TPG's new customers thanks to their lower prices and.

Jogieboit it sure helps that digital first mobile phone plan providers like Felix don't have to build their own infrastructure. So what is the key learning here to beat business giants at their own game, borrow their infrastructure and undercut their prices.

You see mobile phone providers like Felix, Labara Hogan they've been able to entice new customers with much lower prices.

And it's because upstart telco providers do not build their own infrastructure. They just leverage existing infrastructure so they can offer lower prices and pull market share from the incumbents. And Jessie Boy, we've seen a digital first approach give incumbents a run for their money. In the fintech industry for example as well.

Yep, we've seen some nearbanks fail, but others like Upbank and Wise and Revolute are exclusively online.

And they partner with traditional banks for bank infrastructure like funding and compliance.

FLUXAMM there is a very exciting new feature big released in the Flux app this Thursday, and it is very close to my heart and will be close to yours, I'm.

Sure of it.

The challenge for you is have a scan through the Flux app see if you can find the new feature and look us a message and if you can, we'll send you some Flux merched.

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Friday.