As local market, tech specialists we see possibility where others don’t and back great teams to realise that opportunity. We look to invest in businesses that have a clear vision of the future of their industry and have built products that play a critical role in that future state, and thereby offer compelling value to their end-users.
Serving over 1.3 million customer employees and over 1,400 global brands and listed companies across a range of different industries, Ascender provides integrated HR and payroll software and outsourced services with platforms developed and maintained in house. Headquartered in Australia, Ascender have 900+ staff across 12 offices throughout APAC who have local payroll and HR knowledge and expertise across 7 languages, providing solutions to 31 country legislations.
Potentia was attracted to Ascender’s strong proprietary software offering, pan-Asian service delivery footprint and the fact it has successfully provided mission-critical services to its blue-chip client base over the last 30 years.
Potentia’s investment thesis is centred around backing Ascender to grow organically (given the large total addressable market it addresses) by investing in its technology and service footprint and adding to Ascender’s client offering through strategic acquisitions.
Founded:
1976
Year Invested:
2015
Year Exited:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Asia Pacific
Sector:
Payroll Software and Services
Website:
Founded in Perth, Western Australia, Micromine is a leading global provider of mining software solutions across the entire mining value chain. From capturing, managing, visualising and understanding data to controlling and reporting on mine production, Micromine’s solutions are utilised around the world.
Micromine know that the mine of the future will be safer, more productive and more profitable than today, believing that data will drive this transformation. Micromine’s vision is that the company’s suite of products will turn that data into insights – insights that drive decisions that enable their clients to be world leaders.
Through its offices in 18 of the world’s mining capitals, Micromine has a true global reach and is a great example of an Australian business taking on the world.
Potentia was attracted to Micromine’s strong global market position and highly loyal customer base, with long term relationships across a diversified set of customers spanning the full mining lifecycle. Micromine has a strong in-house software development team and has invested significantly in its proprietary software platforms and IP.
Potentia is excited about the opportunity to work with management to leverage the existing platform and continue to expand Micromine’s customer, geographic and product footprint.
Founded:
1986
Year Invested:
2018
Geographic Footprint:
Global
Sector:
General Mine Planning Software
Website:
Linkly’s vision is to deliver a world leading omnichannel payment capability to its banking and merchant customers, which ultimately improve the checkout experience for their customers (that’s you, the consumer).
In pursuit of this vision Linkly has set the industry standard for secure and flexible payment integrations. Their middleware solutions, which allow payment terminals to securely communicate with over 500 different types of Point of Sale software, power more than 200,000 terminals and over two billion transactions annually. We think this is pretty impressive for a local Australian business operating in a global category.
Potentia was attracted to the bold vision set by Linkly’s management and believe the partnership between our firms uniquely positions Linkly to capture more of the payments value chain moving forward. Our capital and investment team actively support Linkly’s rich M&A pipeline while our operating partners are supporting several key business initiatives previously identified by Linkly.
Potentia’s investment thesis was built upon Linkly’s compelling product roadmap and business plan which includes expansion of their App Hub, that offers merchants seamless, direct access to new payment options such as Alipay and WeChat Pay without any additional integration work. The company’s products and services are used by all the major Australian banks and the majority of Australian retailers such as Woolworths, David Jones, Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Bunnings.
Founded:
1998
Year Invested:
2019
Geographic Footprint:
Australia and New Zealand
Sector:
Payments Software
Website:
Education Horizons is a global K-12 school management, teaching and learning software provider, servicing 1900 schools and 1m+ users across 60 countries.
Formed in 2006 through the merger of market leading brands SEQTA and Synergetic, and the 2020 acquisition of Double First Ltd, Education Horizons brings together some of the world’s best school support products across all areas of administration, finance, accounting, parent engagement, plant property and equipment management, teaching, student learning and distance education.
Potentia were attracted to Education Horizon’s broad market footprint, high customer retention, international growth ambitions and bold product platform strategy. Additionally, Potentia continues to believe in the strong education sector tailwinds driven by growing demand for quality education services coupled with increasing adoption of technology across the education ecosystem.
Founded:
1978
Year Invested:
2019
Geographic Footprint:
Global
Sector:
Education Technology
Website:
CompliSpace provides solutions to enable organisations to meet their compliance obligations and create a culture of compliance by providing software enabled distribution of relevant compliance related content.
CompliSpace’s core product, CompliSpace One, empowers clients to navigate the complex web of laws, regulations and guidance notes relevant to their industry, in a practical manner.
Compliance is a necessity in all industries and is expected to become even more of a focus area for multiple stakeholders that require greater transparency and real-time access to data. CompliSpace has a strong presence in the independent K-12 education sector and is commencing its entry into the aged care industry.
CompliSpace’s scalability, historical success in providing solutions for education providers, as well as the sizeable opportunity in the aged care sector, represent an exciting opportunity for Potentia.
Founded:
2007
Year Invested:
2020
Year Exited:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Australia
Sector:
Compliance Technology
Website:
Commerce Vision is Australia’s leading provider of B2B and B2C eCommerce platforms for mid-market companies, with a specialisation in wholesale, manufacturing and distribution. Counting clients such as Kincrome, OfficeMax and House, Commerce Vision’s platform enables over $1.5bn of eCommerce transactions every year.
Commerce Vision was founded in Brisbane in 2001 and over the past 20 years has developed a deep understanding of the requirements of B2B eCommerce, and now features market-leading ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality. The Commerce Vision platform enables customers to rapidly and simply establish online channels to transact with their existing customer base, as well as supporting digital marketing channels to expand their reach both in Australia and overseas.
Potentia was attracted to Commerce Vision’s high-quality team and product which has helped the company to establish and maintain long duration customer relationships, some of which stretch up to twenty years. Potentia believes there is an exciting opportunity to assist the business to ramp-up its sales and marketing effort, along with supporting the ongoing development of the core technology platforms.
Founded:
2001
Year Invested:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Australia and New Zealand
Sector:
eCommerce Software
Website:
NewBook is a leading booking and property management system provider to the accommodation industry, serving over 1,600 businesses in 52 countries.
Founded in 2010, NewBook has scaled over the past 11 years into a global market leader supporting major clients in Australia such as Ingenia Communities, NRMA Parks and Resorts and Tasman Tourism. In 2019 NewBook opened offices in California and in late 2020 began providing booking engine services to Equity Lifestyle Properties, one of the world’s largest owner/operators of RV parks and campgrounds. NewBook’s award-winning cloud platform has been designed from the ground-up to help accommodation operators grow revenues, increase direct reservations, streamline operations and enhance guest experiences.
Potentia was attracted to NewBook’s high quality team, industry leading and innovative software, market leading brand, and strong growth profile. Potentia plans to back the NewBook team in accelerating NewBook’s growth trajectory in its local and international markets by investing in the business’ continued software development, customer support and go-to-market capabilities.
Founded:
2010
Year Invested:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Global
Sector:
Booking and Property Management Software
Website:
Superchoice is a provider of software solutions that connect employers, superannuation funds, and payroll providers and enable compliance with increasingly complex regulations in the superannuation sector.
Since its founding in 1996, Superchoice has focussed on providing market-leading transaction solutions for the superannuation industry by consistently investing in and developing new solutions that meet and exceed customer and Government requirements. The business is now a leading provider of clearinghouse and gateway services with a strong track record of partnering with some of Australia’s leading superannuation, payroll and software companies, including Aware Super, QSuper, IOOF, MYOB, Xero and Sage.
Potentia was attracted to the mission-critical nature of Superchoice’s solution, leading market position, and strong customer relationships in a changing industry landscape.
Founded:
1996
Year Invested:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Australia & UK
Sector:
Superannuation Software
Website:
EstimateOne is a tendering and procurement platform for the commercial construction industry. It provides tendering software and a public electronic tender noticeboard connecting head contractors (“builders”), subcontractors and suppliers with a leading market position in Australia. The business currently also has a small but growing footprint in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland. EstimateOne’s primary market focus is within the commercial and high-end residential construction markets.
Potentia was attracted to EstimateOne’s strong market position with favourable network effects, significant growth opportunities in adjacent markets and a high-quality management team.
Potentia’s investment thesis is centered around further investment in sales & marketing, monetisation of the engaged customer base, investment in adjacent products and international expansion.
Founded:
2008
Year Invested:
2021
Geographic Footprint:
Primarily Australia
Sector:
Construction Software
Website:
Rex’s suite of products power real estate agencies to deliver the best customer experience for buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants. Rex has grown to become one of the leading real estate software players in Australia and the UK. Its products are designed by people with a deep familiarity with the industry and are intuitive, cloud-based and mobile-enabled.
Rex’s core product suite includes Rex CRM which is a whole of business solution used by thousands of real estate agencies across Australia and the UK. The business also provides other real estate focussed solutions including a website platform and a hyper-local digital ad platform for campaigns. Rex is also in the late stages of building out property management functionality (used for managing tenants and rent-rolls) which will enable agency clients to operate both the sales and rental side of their business on a single, unified platform.
Potentia believes that Rex represents an attractive opportunity to invest in a leader in the residential real estate software market with a best-in-class product, an impressive management team and exciting growth opportunities in both Australia and the UK.
Founded:
2011
Year Invested:
2022
Geographic Footprint:
Australia, New Zealand and the UK
Sector:
Real Estate Software
Website: