Practifi raises $3M in Series A funding to establish North American HQ
Practifi, a revolutionary business growth management platform for forward-thinking financial advice firms announced today a $3 million AUD investment led by Microequities Venture Capital Fund.
The financing will be used to rapidly accelerate Practifi’s global strategy, establishing a North American headquarters in Chicago, expanding the US customer success team and building a range of new product integrations with other financial apps and tools. Since winning its first US client earlier this year, the Sydney-based company has gone from strength to strength and this international investment marks a significant milestone in its exponential growth.
Following the investment, Howard Leibman of Microequities and Equity Venture Partners will join the Practifi board.
Howard Leibman
Practifi was founded in 2013 by Adrian Johnstone and Glenn Elliott. Prior to founding the platform, Adrian, Chief Commercial Officer, was a consultant and trusted adviser to Australia’s top financial institutions and superannuation funds. Glenn, CEO, spent nearly 20 years designing and delivering integrated customer applications for innovative enterprises in the UK and Australia.
Together, the pair saw an opportunity for an integrated platform that would allow financial planners, investment managers and retirement funds to leverage and strengthen relationships with their customers, scale their business and grow their revenue. A shared passion for customer service and best-of-breed solutions led to ‘customer success’ being key to their product and growth.
“The wealth industry’s biggest problem is that it’s disconnected from its customers,” said Glenn.
“With Practifi we’ve turned that on its head and put the customer at the heart of the platform – by providing a 360 degree view of every relationship and providing smart automation tools, we’re helping our clients better service their customers and in turn maximise revenue from each account.”
Gareth Hall, CEO and Founder of Lifestyle Financial Services, says,
Gareth Hall
Practifi is currently boosting the growth, profitability and efficiency of clients in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. Its wide array of features include pipeline management, productivity tracking, interactive analytics dashboards, asset and liability insights, recordkeeping, compliance and automation tools, as well as being able to integrate with an increasing number of financial programs and apps.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved for Australian financial advice firms, Superannuation funds and US RIAs among other clients, but we’re only just getting started,” said Glenn.
“Our partnership with Equity Venture Partners is allowing us to accelerate our US growth, extend our ecosystem of connected apps and rapidly expand our crucial customer success team.”
About Practifi
Driven by a passion for customer experience and best-in-breed solutions, Practifi is a cloud-based business management platform that boosts the growth, profitability and efficiency of wealth management companies with a focus on customer service. From pipeline and productivity management to rich analytics, its innovative suite of features allows financial advice and management firms to integrate and automate their processes while maximising revenue and strengthening customer relationships.
The funds raised are being used to accelerate the company’s global marketing strategy, including expanding its US team and establishing a headquarters in Chicago.
About the Microequities Venture Capital Fund
The Microequities Venture Capital Fund is a leading Australian venture capital fund supporting growing technology businesses. The Fund is a joint venture between Microequities Ltd and Equity Venture Partners.
With $25million under management, the fund looks to partner with exceptional founders via investments of between $500,000 and $5million. The fund typically invests at the early growth stage, once early commercial revenues have been demonstrated and has a preference for B2B SaaS companies with global potential. Portfolio companies include SiteMinder, Biteable, Rezdy, Outfit, Deputy, Practice Ignition, Uptick and Shippit.
For more information about Equity Venture Partners visit: www.evp.com.au
