In the wake of social distancing, it was a real treat to bring together 50 local members of our international community for our Scalare Community Kick-Off event in Sydney, Australia.
On 26 November we brought together for the first time live, both Scalare and our investee companies' inspirational founders, several of our community of skilled advisors, along with our visionary investors - setting the scene for an evening of spirited knowledge-sharing and networking.
Bringing the game-change to change makers
The evening kicked-off with an introduction by Scalare non-executive director, and MC of the evening, Rachel Hooke, sharing the foundational vision of Scalare Partners to create a greater impact by building a powerful, synergistic network that connects exceptional founders, advisors and investors in a unique partnership. Rachel also discussed the momentum and highlights achieved so far in 2020.
Rachel Hooke, Scalare Non-executive Director
“Alone we could help a few, together we can pool both resources and importantly expertise at the right time and do exponentially more good,” said Scalare Non-executive director and co-founder Giles Bourne.
“We see many opportunities come through, some too early, some too late and after a rigorous due diligence process, some we believe to be just the right fit”, said James Walker Co-Founder and executive director of Scalare.
“Just last week, we announced a new investment in UK-based audio fitness App, WithU, and this evening we would also like to introduce you to Freeguides who we are happy to announce as our seventh investment."
James also revealed plans for Scalare to make several additional investments before March 2021.
“What sets us apart at Scalare is that we are committed to selecting well, retaining well, and growing well”, said COO Jenny Li. “Practically, this means our investment committee works closely with founders before making the investment decision and this level of engagement and support remain unchanged throughout the entire journey,” Jenny noted.
Nick Roberts, Co-founder and Executive Director, reiterated that it is the close working relationship between Founders and Scalare, as well as the learnings, shared between founders that strengthen the authentic and transparent culture at Scalare and vice versa.
From left to right: Stephanie Coleman, Mich Roche, Martin Money, Guy Underwood, Matt Smith.
Founder introductions The evening featured profiles of all seven of our investee companies and one prospective company via short videos coming from Atlanta, Georgia, the UK, Sydney and Melbourne. Founders gave us a sense of their vision and passion as they shared the innovative milestones they are reaching for in the year to come.
Creating opportunities in the face of COVID Our panel comprised Nick Roberts from Scalare, Daniel Wasilewsky from FreeGuides, Joel Robbie from Nod and Matt Smith from MyPass. Each of these founders had pivoted their businesses leading up to or during COVID, and while it no doubt has created significant challenges, COVID has provided even more purpose and opportunity for MyPass, Nod and FreeGuides.
Panelists (from left to right), Scalare co-founders: Giles Bourne and Nick Roberts; Scalare Investee founders: Joel Robbie (Nod), Daniel Wasilewski (Freeguides) and Matt Smith (MyPass).
For Nod, the economic situation has meant that more than ever, people want to feel in control of their finances, and financial planners need to find ways to work smarter, not harder. Nod helps financial planners automate document management and has seen an increased interest in their product during the pandemic.
MyPass is also experiencing a clear need for their product as there’s been an increased focus on workplace safety and human resource management in industries such as health and aged care. MyPass has also launched a volunteer portal which can find and place essential workers where needed.
For FreeGuides, who had not yet launched, they were able to pivot and put social-distancing at the core of its product by offering self-guided tours instead of the typical group tours. With international tourism on hold for a while, FreeGuides provides an opportunity to experience your city in a new way.
While the panel shared they have adjusted their plans for international expansion to some degree, growth was still happening as they found new ways to build relationships and make sales. COVID has put everyone in the same boat, and so it is not unusual to connect over Zoom, and you learn how to progress with sales virtually instead of face-to-face.
That said, Team Scalare, our community of Founders, Advisors and Investors thoroughly enjoyed getting together in real life, and we look forward to welcoming our community again soon in 2021.
Head of Community, Pernille Aggerholm set the course for future communications, content and events. “We are planning events and activities for next year, ramping up communications and will start tapping into the advisory network to build up a knowledge library around key themes to strengthen our portfolio competitiveness”, Pernille said.
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About Scalare
At Scalare, we’re on a mission to create a greater impact by building a collaborative network that connects exceptional founders, advisors and investors in a unique and powerful partnership, because real transformation, and growth takes more than money.
Our unique collaboration and partnership model provides clear pathways to global investors, experts and markets. We plug existing skills gaps in our portfolio companies from our best-of-breed advisor network - to bring, expert resources exactly when needed to facilitate growth and deliver exceptional returns to investors and founders alike. Find out more here