Inside a $111 million deal: How HR startup Deputy secured the biggest Aussie Series B raise of all time

Last week, Sydney-based startup Deputy bagged a whopping $111 million in a deal touted as Australia’s biggest Series B ever.

But what was it about this startup that attracted so much interest? And how did this founder win his investors’ hearts, minds and money?

The investment was led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm IVP, and also included repeat investment from OpenView, which led the startup’s $33 million Series A round last year.

New Aussie investment also came from Equity Venture Partners and Square Peg Capital.

Founded in 2008 and bootstrapped for its first eight years, Deputy is an employee management tool designed to simplify scheduling, rostering and workplace communication.

Deputy co-founder and chief executive Ashik Ahmed tells StartupSmart that, since the Series A raise, the HR solutions startup has grown from about 80 people to more than 200, tripled the size of its executive team and more than doubled its customer base.

“We’ve been really able to scale the business in terms of what value we’re delivering,” Ahmed says.

Part of this growth has been down to Deputy’s ability to respond to new legislation and awareness around workers’ rights, Ahmed says. Read more

Stephanie Palmer-Derrien - Startup Smart - 3 Dec 2018