Airtree leads $25m round for New Zealand's Hnry
Australia’s Airtree Ventures has led a NZD 35m (USD 25mm) Series B round for New Zealand small business financial technology provider Hnry.
New Zealand’s Icehouse Ventures, US-based Left Lane Capital, and Athletic Ventures, a Sydney-based VC firm set up by former and active professional athletes, joined the round. Akshay Kothari, a serial entrepreneur in the US who previously served as head of LinkedIn India, also participated.
It brings total funding since the company’s inception in 2016 to more than USD 40m, according to AVCJ Research, with previous investors including Angel HQ and Equity Venture Partners. Icehouse CEO Robbie Paul said the round lifts Hnry into the top decile of New Zealand start-ups.
“We’ve increased our investment tenfold over the last four years, which speaks to the unique and incredible trajectory Hnry is on,” Paul said in a statement. “In just a few short years, they’ve created a product adored by self-employed people everywhere, and their growth in the Australian market is just the beginning.”
Hnry’s core offering is a platform for simplifying financial administration for sole traders, who are estimated to spend seven hours a week and AUD 400 (USD 282) a month on budgeting and tax work. AirTree described the company as the largest accountancy firm in New Zealand. Operations extended into Australia in 2020.
“One of the reasons we like to meet founders long before we invest is to see them say what they're going to do, and then do it,” Jackie Vullinghs, a partner at Airtree, said in a separate statement.
“Where most founders drastically underperform the 2-year revenue forecasts they present at each funding round, every time we caught up with [CEO James Fuller], Hnry was bang on target, building trust that they could hit future forecasts.”
Last year, AirTree completed the largest-ever venture capital fundraise in Australia and New Zealand, gathering AUD 700m across three vehicles. This included AUD 450m for the fourth core VC fund – up from AUD 275m in the previous vintage –a seed vehicle of AUD 200m and AUD 50m for a Web3 strategy.
More on Australasia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.