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Cloud app firm 9 Spokes raises $12m to expand in North America

• Supratim Adhikari•12:00AM July 27, 2017

The latest raising, at 13c a share, has also seen the company welcome new investors, both local and international, with chief executive Mark Estall hailing their entry as a vote of confidence in 9 Spokes’s trajectory.

With a market cap in excess of $60m prior to the raise, 9 Spokes has seen its share price stuck at 15c since making its ASX debut in June last year after raising $25m at 20c a share.

However, Mr Estall said that the company’s aggregation platform had made steady progress over the course of the past 12 months.

“We are starting to see a lot of stickiness with our customers on the platform so the technology is sound,” he said.

The company clicked over the 10,000-user milestone earlier this month, with the pace of adoption starting to increase as the company continues to add to its list of top tier customers.

The company recently scored its first big win in the North American market with the Royal Bank of Canada and last week signed a letter of intent with a leading New Zealand bank to provide a white-label version of its platform to local small businesses in early 2018.

“We didn’t originally want to be just another fintech and cater solely to banks but we are seeing a real alignment there,” Mr Estall said.

Another positive for 9 Spokes has been its budding relationship with IBM as part of the technology giant’s global business services alliance initiative.

Mr Estall said that the multi-year relationship was crucial in securing the deal with RBC and IBM was helping open more doors at the highest level for 9 Spokes.

“They introduced us to eight or nine new institutions, all tier-1,” he said.

With new capital at its disposal 9 Spokes is aiming to expand its marketing capabilities and effectively leveraging the assistance provided by IBM.

“The focus is on growth and we have a road map in the works, the aim is to further develop our go to market strategy,” Mr Estall said.

Bell Potter was the lead manager and bookrunner for the raise, with Foster Stockbroking acting as co-manager.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...a/news-story/236a2d525fb4b99c73aa828a19a61538