Ann: 9 Spokes to enter the US market, page-2

Great news also some good coverage this morning in the Oz.

Cloud app integrator 9 Spokes eyes expansion into US


9 Spokes chief executive Mark Estall.

Listed cloud app integrator 9 Spokes is entering the US market, prompted by the strong response to its platform in Britain.

The New Zealand-based company, which listed on the ASX in June last year, is confident it can get a slice of the immense US market without too many tweaks to its core technology proposition and by going direct to the customer.

With 29 million small to medium businesses, the US represents a major opportunity for 9 Spokes. Co-founder and chief executive Mark Estall said: “The UK platform in its entirety is very similar to that required to enter the US market; this gives us a relatively unique position of being able to deploy into the US market efficiently and at low incremental cost.
“The decision is buoyed by several factors from the channels going live: the stability of the 9 Spokes platform during market entry; the manageable levels of customer support; and the UK co-marketing success with app partners that have significant bases in the US.”

According to 9 Spokes, getting the US Direct platform off the ground should be relatively simple given the flexibility of the underlying technology. The platform curates a short list of appropriate local and global apps for each geography and industry, and localises them to each market.
The company added that it would have very limited resources on the ground in the US, with marketing activity to be predominantly executed from New Zealand.

9 Spokes already has partnerships in Britain with some of the leading apps required for a US entry, including Intuit QuickBooks, Expensify and Sage. According to the company, the extensive app roster coupled with their global nature will help enhance the entry into the US. “9 Spokes will continue to grow and accelerate its range of propositions,” the company said.