Australian Marketing Start-Up Raises $1m Ahead Of US Expansion
Brandcrush today announces it has raised over $1 million from prominent Australian venture capital firm Rampersand, Luxury Escapes founder Adam Schwab, Blackbird Ventures’ Startmate accelerator program, joining existing Advisory Board members and startup pioneers, Nicky Jackson, Jane Martino and agency guru Sean Taylor.
Founded in late 2018 by international marketing executive Teresa Aprile and Matthew Hurle, former sales
director for TRIBE, Brandcrush connects brands with a network of everyday businesses and events to
enable real-world customer engagement.
Through the platform, brands can get their products or messages into the hands of customers as they go about their day, visiting cafes, gyms, salons and co-working spaces.
Brandcrush has facilitated hundreds of activations in the 11 months since launch, working with multinational brands including Ferrero, Uncle Tobys, Bondi Sands and Mondelēz.
Brandcrush co-founder of Teresa Aprile said, “Throughout my marketing career in Australia and the US I
have experienced the power of experiential marketing when it is done right. There is nothing in the
market that can provide experiential marketing across a network of physical spaces at scale. This is the
challenge we set out to address. Brandcrush essentially breathes life into a 100-year-old, proven
marketing tactic, digitises it and makes it scalable.”
She added, “Gaining the attention of consumers has never been more difficult. They have more control
than ever over what they consume and many are choosing not to engage with traditional forms of
advertising. But they still get out there to work, live and play – and that’s where we are engaging them.
We are equally excited about the other side of our marketplace; through Brandcrush, we’ve created new
revenue streams for small businesses who can offer themselves as activation hosts, in some cases
generating meaningful extra revenue at a time where many small business owners are doing it tough.”
“It’s evident that this area of experiential marketing is growing, and it works. Until now, it just hasn’t been
digitised end to end and effectively scaled. With Matt’s background in helping to grow the TRIBE
platform, and Teresa’s extensive US marketing experience, they are the right team to take this on and we
look forward to being part of their growth,” said Rampersand co-founder Paul Naphtali.
“Securing this funding is a testament to the core premise of Brandcrush and the traction we’ve achieved
during our beta phase. This funding will contribute to accelerating our network of brands and activation
hosts, locally and in the US where we’re currently conducting a soft launch,” concludes Teresa.
Currently, there are more than 1200 spaces listed in Australia by Activation Hosts including WeWork, KX
Pilates, Culture Kings, Xtend Barre and Darling Group. At present, these spaces are accessed daily by
leading multinational brands including Ferrero, Uncle Tobys, Bondi Sands and Mondelēz.
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