Brisbane startup GO1 attracts $30m in funding from investors, including Microsoft

A young Brisbane tech firm, with a 30-year-old CEO, has raised $30 million from a group of heavy-hitting investors, including industry giant Microsoft.

Brisbane-based GO1 chief executive Andrew Barnes. Picture: AAP/David Clark

A YOUNG Queensland firm has attracted $30 million from high-profile investors as it eyes international expansion.

Microsoft’s venture capital fund M12 and employment search company SEEK were among those to invest in the latest round of funding for GO1.com, a corporate training online marketplace. It is the first time M12 has invested in an Australian firm.

GO1.com, which employs over 100, has previously raised $14 million through two prior rounds of funding since being founded in 2015.

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It hosts over 500,000 courses and learning resources for companies such as ANZ, Suzuki and St John Ambulance.

GO1’s founder and chief executive Andrew Barnes, 30, said the $30 million would bolster the company’s international expansion.

Mr Barnes said M12, which will now have a seat on GO1.com’s board, would hopefully provide the Brisbane-based company with strategies to better expand into overseas markets. GO1.com already has offices in the western United States, London, Malaysia and Vietnam.

“In the US and the UK, Microsoft has large presences in those markets and we can learn from them.”

“It’s not everyday that we get a venture capitalist from Silicon Valley agreeing to jump on a plane all the way to Australia.”

Mr Barnes said GO1.com would push heavily into developing data analysis to gauge the effectiveness of professional development courses, which could then be used to demonstrate to companies how to improve their training.

“The core mission is pretty much unchanged, but for us there are a lot of exciting new technologies coming in the months and years ahead.”

He cited virtual reality as an important new frontier for his company, with the technology already being used to train staff at the St Johns Ambulance Service.

SEEK chief executive Andrew Bassat said their partnership with GO1.com was mutually beneficial.

“GO1 have a very strong team and do a great job of offering access to content and courses to allow people to up-skill and re-skill themselves for work,” Mr Bassat said.

“We look forward to leveraging our experience, technology and relationships with millions of people and organisations across the globe to help GO1 achieve its potential.”