• Tour booking software company opens San Francisco office
  • Booking transactions on platform jump from $300,000 to $5m per month
  • Start-up supporting 400 businesses from 20 countries

Sydney, 19 February 2014 – Australian tour and leisure bookings software start-up Rezdy today announced that it has raised $1 million in funding from Australian-based investors. It brings the total capital raised by the Sydney company to $1.5 million.

The new investment is being used to continue to fund Rezdy’s international expansion over the next 12-18 months, including opening a San Francisco sales and marketing office.

A number of new and existing investors participated in the latest funding round including HotelClub and Menulog backer Leon Kamenev, and former HotelClub Managing Director and founder of AOOM Consultancy, Chloe Lim. Investors in previous rounds include Sydney Angels’ member Les Szekely, who is now a director of Rezdy.

Rezdy is an innovative bookings and operations management platform for tourism operators, serving leisure and hospitality firms around the world. 2013 was a year of breakthrough growth for the company, which launched in late 2011. Starting in 2012 with 50 Australian clients, Rezdy’s customer base grew to 400 clients from over 20 countries by the end of December 2013. During the same period, the monthly value of transactions taking place over the platform jumped from $300,000 per month to over $5 million.

Rezdy founder and CEO Simon Lenoir said the funding injection will enable the company to continue its growth trajectory into 2014, with a view to breaking into the lucrative US market.

“Last year we concentrated on perfecting Rezdy software as well as developing our sales and marketing approach. This new round of investment will allow Rezdy to deploy our highly successful platform in the US market, as well as expand further in Australia,” he said.

“The global tour and leisure market is worth $30 billion and the US is the biggest market. To date, we’ve concentrated our sales and marketing efforts here in the Australian market but we’ve grown organically in other markets. Approximately 40 percent of our client base is overseas, and have come to us via word of mouth or online search. We have grown the team from three to the staff here in Australia, and are currently recruiting sales staff in the US.”

Sydney Angels member and CEO of Grand Prix Capital Les Szekely said that Rezdy was proof that Australia’s start-up eco-system was gaining the scale it needed to launch more global businesses.

“When I first saw the team at a Sydney Angels’ screening meeting back in 2011, I straight away saw the potential and decided to personally back Rezdy. From the outset, we made a decision to only work with active investors who could add something to the business, and the fact that we’ve been able to fund Rezdy in the Australian market shows that there are options available for start-ups here.

“Rezdy proves that Sydney can be a great place for a start-up to be born global – founded in Australia by a French migrant, and now opening in the United States. Hopefully it is just one of many more success stories coming out of our burgeoning start-up eco-system,” said Szekely.

Rezdy opened the door to its San Francisco office on 17 February 2014.

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Enquiries
Ashford Pritchard, Launch Group
E: ashford@launchgroup.com.au | M: +612 411 020 680 | T: +612 9492 1040

 

About Rezdy

Rezdy helps tour and leisure activity businesses to manage their bookings, improve their operations and increase their income.

Rezdy develops booking and distribution technology and services clients in 20 countries across the world.

For more information:rezdy.com

About Sydney Angels

Sydney Angels is an angel group whose members invest in innovative early-stage companies with high growth potential. Sydney Angels provides its members with quality deal flow, a collaborative investment process, and an opportunity to support entrepreneurs and the early-stage ecosystem. Sydney Angels offers entrepreneurs an efficient path to capital, expertise and experience from its members, who are backed by the $10 million Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund.

For more information: www.sydneyangels.net.au