Sydney-based Pendula raises $14.5 million to expand into Asia and Europe

Sydney-based scale-up Pendula revealed on Monday it has completed a $14.5 million funding round as the SaaS software business prepares to expand its operations overseas.

The customer engagement startup, which featured in the 2022 Smart50 Awards, is set to open new international offices in London and Singapore as it aims to unlock significant year-on-year growth in the southeast Asian and European markets by the end of the 2024 financial year. 

Pendula’s customer retention software utilises advanced analytics and generative AI to help companies reduce churn and maximise customer lifetime value, which it says will help clients navigate a projected downturn in the global economy.

The funding round also saw UK-based primary investor Octopus Ventures join long-time Pendula investor MA Growth Ventures. 

Pendula was founded by CEO Alex Colvin in 2017. The startup previously raised $3.5 million in 2019 and $6.75 million in 2021, and recorded revenue of approximately $3 million in the 2021-22 financial year. 

Colvin says the past year has exceeded his expectations for the business.

“It has been a phenomenal growth journey for Pendula,” he told SmartCompany.  

“We’ve demonstrated strong sales repeatability and growth within our Australia business and internationally over the past 12 months, improving on our previous year-on-year growth rates. 

“We have also brought on board experienced leaders like our chief revenue officer Greg Cullen to get us into the shape we are in now, ready and willing to compete on the global stage.”

Colvin says the company is prioritising targeting the UK and southeast Asian markets first. 

“The raise is about taking our success and replicating it overseas in new markets that have their own unique qualities and quirks,” he says. 

“The global nature of business in today’s modern world means a lot of businesses are looking at the same thing: seeking to retain their customers in response to a more uncertain economic outlook. That’s something we excel at, so it’s the perfect time.” 

Colvin says Pendula is continuously expanding its platform, adding six new generative AI ‘intelligence’ nodes that can be used within its Pendule Experience and Workflow Studio. These fall into the three categories of generating content, determining intent and universal request, he adds.

“The use case most consumers are familiar with is the content-generation capabilities,” says Colvin. 

“We now offer our customers the ability to write prompts to perform any task via our universal requests. It could be segmentation, NBO, calculating yields or a unique A/B test.”

Ultimately, the co-founder says the startup’s “flexible experience and workflow capabilities are empowering our customers to drive faster intention and true hyper-personalisation at each ‘moment of truth’ with their customers”.