Airtasker looks to Shanghai for $6.5m raising

Airtasker looks to Shanghai for $6.5m raising

Australian local services marketplace Airtasker has announced a $6.5 million capital raising, understood to be one of the first major investments by China-based investors in an Australian technology start-up.

The Sydney-based firm, which boasts more than 250,000 users across Australia and over $15m in tasks processed every year, said it would use the capital on product development, engineering and customer support.

The $6m round was led by Shanghai-based Morning Crest Capital, the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) and Australian VC funds Exto Partners, Carthona Capital and Black Sheep Capital. 

The raising brings its total funding to $10m to date.

Airtasker said it would use the capital to ramp up its product development, engineering, customer support and services in anticipation of a number of large scale projects that will be revealed later this year. 

“The new services we are planning will be revolutionary for the local services economy,” Airtasker chief executive and co-founder Tim Fung said. 

Mr Fung said the funding will allow Airtasker to investigate the potential of other international markets.

“Morning Crest Capital’s expertise and advice will allow us to investigate a broader Asia strategy with Airtasker’s growth,” he said.

“This deal also opens the door for further Chinese VC investment into Australian start-ups, which presents huge opportunity for the sector.”

NRMA Group chief executive Tony Stuart said the organisation has been researching a number of local start-ups for a strategic investment.

“NRMA chose to support Airtasker, as it offers our 2.4 million members a resource to easily find assistance with home and office tasks as well as offering an opportunity for casual employment,” Mr Stuart said.

The deal also serves as Morning Crest Capital’s first investment into the Australian start-up technology market.  

“Labour market online-to-offline platforms are achieving great success in China and we believe Airtasker will be able to do the same in Australia,” Fred Bai, chief executive of Morning Crest Capital said.

“We would also like to support Airtasker's expansion into the Greater China Region when the time is right."

This is the second time ExtoPartners has invested in Airtasker. The firm led Airtasker’s $2m raising in 2013. 

“Exto Partners is thrilled to be re-investing in Airtasker, a business ideally poised to answer both service providers’ and consumers’ rapidly changing needs and practices,” Peter Hammond, Managing Director of Exto Partners said. 

“Exceptional growth dynamics and a talented team able to build upon that growth are among the factors that led us to deepen our commitment to this business,” Mr Hammond said.

The company has also been busy making acquisitions in recent years, picking up Occasional Butler in 2014 and TaskBox in 2013.