Investors Back Kiwi Entrepreneur

Investors Back Kiwi Entrepreneur
Posse raises $1.5M to further accelerate growth

• Posse is the fastest growing network of shop owners and shoppers
• Used by more than 50,000 shops with growth of 20% per month
• Closed new round of $1.5M in funding this week
• Backed by high profile new and existing investors

With more than 50,000 engaged merchants and a growth rate of 20% per month, Posse is the fastest-growing network of shop owners and shoppers online. This week Kiwi entrepreneur, Rebekah Campbell, closed a new round of $1.5M in funding, winning support from both new and existing investors, including several high-profile names. A number of investors who successfully backed 'Freelancer' ahead of its listing have joined Posse's register, which already boasts a stellar line-up of international technology entrepreneurs.

Posse launched in late 2012 as a customer recommendation app. Users create virtual streets of their favourite places to eat, drink and shop, and share these collections with their friends. The platform encourages participants to curate and show-off great places that they've discovered, and a high proportion of the member base does just this. Posse uses their information to help people find place recommendations (hairdressers, gyms, cafés...) from their social network on the go and to sign-up and engage shop owners en masse.

"Our vision is to create a product that merchants and shoppers both love, and to help them connect with each other," says Posse founder and CEO Rebekah Campbell.

"At the moment, store owners can interact with people who recommend them, perhaps by sending gifts. They have access to detailed customer analytics, can make special offers, and connect with other store owners with a similar customer profile to their own. The community is thriving; it's growing organically, and both sides of the network are engaged."

The company plans to use recent funding to accelerate growth and add new services to its offering.

Ms Campbell says, "A range of interesting products are providing a cluster of new solutions to merchants, as mobile and now beacon technology changes the way we shop. We built our network first; soon both merchants and shoppers will have access to a much wider range of services than they do today."

Posse has now raised a total of $4.5 million. Investors include Google Maps Founder Lars Rasmussen, high profile Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Bill Tai and Artesian Capital's Jeremy Colless—all of whom serve on the company's board.

Lars Rasmussen says, "I've been a supporter of Posse since its original incarnation in the music industry as a community of bands and fans. It's been awesome to see that the principles underpinning what we built in music are now being used to help shop owners build relationships with their loyal customers. I'm thrilled to see the network taking off and can't wait for the next phase."

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About Posse:
Posse is based in Sydney, Australia. Founded by Rebekah Campbell in March 2013, Posse is a service that connects consumers and shops through a social platform. It is the world’s first social search service, which enables consumers to search for restaurants, cafes, bars and shops that have been recommended by their friends. The two-sided network also enables merchants to engage existing customers and promote to new customers. Backed by prominent Silicon Valley Investors, including Lars Rasmusen (Founder of Google Maps), Bill Tai (Partner Charles River Ventures, seed investor in Twitter) and Alex Harvey (CEO Asia, Macquarie Bank), Posse is set to take on rivals like Foursquare, Yelp and Google Maps.

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