Fast-growing Smart50 winners set their sights on bigger impact and overseas expansion

Winning the Smart50 was a step on the way to July’s big mission of becoming an iconic Australian brand. The luggage supplier aims to hit $200 million in revenue by 2025 and will do that by launching in the UK next July. It will also increase its retail presence at home and in the USA.

“Our growth strategy is underpinned by having great products and a great brand,” said July’s Smart50 application. “From here, we use organic and earned marketing channels, including PR and partnerships, to grow the brand.”

Taking the trophy as Australia’s fastest-growing SME, July is also expanding its physical retail presence, and last week opened its third Melbourne store — its fourth overall.

Not surprisingly, July wasn’t the only brand with its eye on US and global expansion in this year’s Smart50 Awards. Retail Champion winner Hero Packaging hopes to be the first go-to sustainable packaging brand in the $800 billion US retail market, and will be able to take a shot at doing so thanks to a $1.5 million crowdfunding campaign via Equitise.

“Our key growth strategies are simple: generate as many new customers as possible in both Australia and the US, and launch dozens of exciting new products to cross-sell to both our existing and new customers,” said its award-winning Smart50 entry.

Causeis, a digital consultancy servicing associations and not-for-profits, has assessed markets in New Zealand and the US and found significant potential.

“The USA has associations that are ten to twenty times the size of the Australian associations and we are confident that Causeis has the experience and skills to impact these organisations’ growth positively,” said founders Michelle Lelempsis and John Lelempsis. New Zealand, on the other hand, is smaller, but Causeis’ research has found no similar consultancy in that market.

“We are excited about the opportunity to start offering associations globally,” said the pair.

Other Smart50 winners looking to make the leap include swimwear and fashion retailer Infamous Swim, which is focusing on the US market with a “cookie cutter” approach to its Australian model, which will expand as more resources and research are made into agencies and PR in the US. On top of this is an investment in the Infamous Swim website “to make sure it’s really speaking to our US audience — because there’s so much potential there”.

Vivi, which develops screen sharing and communications technology for the education sector, is enjoying a tailwind from increased demand for classroom tech. US expansion is underway and the brand wants to go harder. Vivi raised US$25 million in a series B raise, which is all marked for expansion plans. In the 2021-22 financial year, growth in the US for Vivi was 136% year-on-year in annual recurring revenue, and a further 100% is expected this year. It has also appointed a sales VP in the Europe, Middle East and Asia region, hoping to continue scaling the team and seeding that market too.

Impact

For Rising Star Award winner Zero Co, which aims to “untrash the planet” from single-use plastic through its range of eco-friendly body and cleaning products, the growth mission is all about being able to drive more positive impact. It wants to educate and inspire more Australians to ditch single-use plastic and fund more ocean and beach cleanups the world over.

“To have a truly scalable impact on the plastic problem, we need to inspire as many people as possible to join our mission,” said Zero Co’s application.

How it gets there is to “evolve” from an e-commerce, direct-to-consumer brand into a fully integrated omnichannel business, via a full-scale national retail rollout at supermarkets, pharmacies, health food stores and homeware stores the nation over.

The Smart50 Community Hero Award winner Code Like a Girl also hopes to increase its reach and impact so it can deliver more training and placements to address the gender imbalance in tech roles. It has currently placed 130 women into entry-level software engineering jobs, and by 2030, it aims to be training 5500 women each year. Founder Ally Watson, her team, and an advisory board are currently exploring options of crowd equity funding, partnerships and more.