BlueChilli-backed start-up Moneysoft raises $600,000

Financial services start-up Moneysoft, which has been backed by Sydney incubator BlueChilli, plans to ramp up its presence in the Australian market after closing its third round of funding, bringing the total capital raised to $660,000.

Founded by Peter Malekas, Moneysoft is an online personal money tool that brings together financial information from multiple banks to enable goal-setting and planning.

Moneysoft is one of the start-up investments of venture technology firm BlueChilli, led by Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin. It was founded in October 2010 and incorporated in July 2011.

Moneysoft has now closed its third round of funding, bringing the total capital raised to $660,000. It closed the offer after 12 months, setting a final valuation of $3.3 million.

The capital raising success was a joint effort of the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board, Alchemy Equities and Moneysoft’s board.

The capital was raised in three rounds, with each round opening and closing within six to eight weeks. Malekas says while it’s an “absolute achievement” to be at the completion of the raising, the real work begins now.

“We’ve got a two-phase process. We’re currently in beta… Phase two will be a public release in 2013,” he says.

Malekas says while there are no plans to raise further rounds of capital, things could change.

“At this point in time, it’s not on the radar but with start-ups it always depends on the position and the period in which you’re in, and opportunities may open up to further investment,” he says.

The main priority now, he says, is “ensuring Australians will get to benefit from using Moneysoft”.

“[The fact we closed each round within six to eight weeks] is a testament to the demand of the technology and the unique benefits it delivers, in particular to advisers and accountants,” he says.

“At this point, Australia is the market we know and know quite well. The next logical move would be east of Australia, which would be into New Zealand.”

“Internationally, the sky’s the limit I guess.”

Malekas praised the work of BlueChilli, which has a “wealth of resources”, before issuing some advice on raising capital. He encouraged start-ups to “think of every dollar raised like a bullet”.

“The more ammunition you have, the easier it is to become trigger-happy and get carried away, so ensure that every dollar is spent like it was the company’s last,” he says.

“On the flipside, if you have not met your milestones with the dollars raised, you’ll be staring down the barrel of your investor’s gun.”