BeingIconic, has closed a $1 million pre-seed capital raise with investments from Australian and Asian media, marketing and creative investors to expand operations to Asia and the UK.
BeingIconic is an Australian growth consultancy that transitions businesses through their scale-up journey through strategic marketing, network expansion, commercial and operational expertise.
It was founded by partners Peter Brocklebank, chairman of UK creative services agency bbp; Ian Bell, former Red Bull head of brand and Samsung head of marketing; Steven Arnold, founder and creative director at Iconika Venture Brands; and Kay Trippner, CFO and CCO at biotech company Headsafe.
The first round of shareholders also includes BeingIconic non-executive director and strategic advisor, Mike Wilson, who launched and was chairman and CEO of Havas Media Australia and co-founder of Naked Communications; James Neale, former Clemenger Group board director and national CEO of Traffik Marketing; Jack Byrne, founder and managing director of independent media agency Hatched; Simon Porter, head of retail at Hatched; and Jason P Ross, investor and former head of creative at JWT.
Singapore-based Avyan Holdings, part of Avyan Global, a creative human experience design-led collective, is a major investor in BeingIconic. Avyan is led by Vishnu Mohan, the former group chair and CEO of Havas in South East Asia, India, Japan and Korea.
Brocklebank said: “Since launching two years ago, we have taken a deliberate and staged approach to validate the proposition to ensure it delivers for companies ready for their scale-up journey.
“Scale-ups typically don’t fail because they don’t have a great product, they fail because they only have a great product. BeingIconic brings deep insights, expertise and networks to fuel the next phase of growth by becoming an integral part of their teams through expert guidance across marketing, operations and finance functions.
“Our new investors not only enable us to expand the BeingIconic offer to Asia, UK and beyond, they are a collective of partners who intrinsically understand the ecosystem and can support us with their own insights, experience and connections.”
Arnold said: “The ability to bring true design, creative and brand thinking to shape a business during its scale-up cycle drives value and is the foundation of future success. Having already helped build out brands across categories, we are excited to bring the deep experience of the BeingIconic team and that of our partner networks to even more Australian scale-ups.”
Industry and category agnostic, BeingIconic has worked or is currently partnering with scale-ups including espresso Displays, creators of the world’s thinnest portable monitor; UK-based CrowdProperty, on the Australian launch of the UK-based fintech business; and technology innovation company Olinqua.
BeingIconic also works with established capital raising partners and their clients, including OnMarket, Australia’s largest equity raising platform and Microsoft For Startups, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Microsoft, amongst others.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.