| | APRIL 2021 8OPINIONIN MYBy Steve Torso, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Wholesale InvestorEvery year Billions of dollars are invested into technologies that have transformed the way watch content, order transport, listen to music, and book accommodation. Netflix, UBER, Spotify, and Airbnb.The goal of this investment is for software and data to remove friction from connecting consumers and their desired outcomes/experience.In a B2B environment, this is also the case. SaaS Platforms have transformed the way companies engage with software. In a survey conducted by BetterCloud, 73% of organizations who responded said that at least 80% of their apps would be SaaS by 2020. The survey highlights that when companies are looking at purchasing SaaS solutions, their criteria centers around cost, security, ease of use, integrations, scalability, reporting, and analytics.The question which drives our thinking is, how can we utilise software to remove friction from the private capital raising process, to save time and money while also improving access to investors, efficiency, and analytics?Current Private Capital Raising ExperienceCurrently, you have the process focused around personal networks, legacy systems, isolated solutions, manual processes, virtually no deal analytics, lack of investor connectivity, and a fragmented ecosystem with minimal co-operation and online platforms charging 6 to 8% and competing with the professional service firms.· Investor attraction and discovery is endlessly frustrating for companies and advisors.· Money and time wasted due to isolated solutions, fragmented ecosystems, no integration of software, and little guidance of best practices.· No analytics and defined processes, companies are made to feel like capital raising is a mysterious art in which they have no power.· Online platforms are charging 6­8% for capital raising. The challenge with platforms charging this fee is that they 1) compete with existing providers and 2) become corporate advisors with a website.Learning From a Frustrated EcosystemNo one over the last ten years has ever said that they enjoy the capital-raising process. Companies, Investors, and Professional Services are all frustrated and wasting a significant amount of time and money on redundant processes. For everyone, this means considerable opportunity cost.THE POWERFUL SOFTWARE DRIVEN FUTURE OF CAPITAL RAISING
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