Customer insights innovation platform, Ideally, has taken on $2.15m in seed investment led by Icehouse Ventures alongside Brand Fund 1, as the company expands services within Australasia, and hires key staff.
Lead image: L-R – Joshua Nu’u-Steele, Brendan Cervin, James Donald
Incubated by TRA Labs and Previously Unavailable – the partnership behind the brand tracking phenomenon Tracksuit – Ideally enables users to rapidly test concepts, ideas and messages with their target audience and receive robust answers overnight. The platform is self-service, using built-in generative AI to discover patterns and reveal opportunities.
CEO and co-founder James Donald said Icehouse Venture’s investment speaks to the company’s impressive growth trajectory. “Six months ago, Ideally, was just a concept; today, we’re helping grow the ideas of some of Australasia’s most innovative businesses. Icehouse Ventures investment will help us significantly dial up that growth even further and lay strong foundations for big global ambitions,” said Donald.
Since its recent launch, Ideally has worked quickly to accrue an enviable customer list numbering many of Australasia’s most recognisable brands. Tegel, Asahi Beverages, Danone Nutricia and Goodman Fielder are regular Ideally customers, with an average of 10+ users per customer, and usership increasing at a 40% clip per quarter.
Clara Lee, head of strategy, Planning and Insights ANZ, at global food manufacturer Danone Nutricia, said Ideally has liberated the ideation process for the brand’s creative team. “Ideally encourages teams to be bold and put ideas out there and see what comes back, then having a few goes at it. It allows our team the freedom to play a little bit more,” said Lee.
“Every marketer wants that get-out-of-jail clause to test their ideas, and Ideally provides that with its low cost of entry. The fact we can easily upload the testing material ourselves and get results back all within 24 hours is a game changer in the demanding business world in which we operate”.
Additionally, Ideally recently pitched to more than 1,000 investors at Spark Arena for Icehouse Ventures’ annual showcase, which hosts a range of New Zealand’s most exciting startups. This was followed by Ideally earning a coveted spot at the inaugural SXSW Sydney Pitch competition.
Icehouse Ventures’ Barnaby Marshall says that the investment speaks to the enormous global opportunity of Ideally’s product. “There’s an old saying that it’s not the big that eat the small but the fast that eat the slow. Many large organisations struggle with being confident in new products and decisions. Many small organisations struggle to get enough data to make high quality decisions. Ideally serves both customer groups and gives an element of objectivity to new marketing and product ideas. We believe the potential here is huge,” said Marshall.
In a further show of confidence in Ideally, Donald has recruited two of New Zealand’s most experienced start up talents as Ideally co-founders; Joshua Nu’u-Steele will move into the Chief Revenue Officer role after leading Parkable’s international efforts as its Global Sales Manager. Brendan Cervin has taken the mantle as Chief Technical Officer, bringing a wealth of experience as CTO of several SaaS companies with specialist expertise in AI and Large Language Learning models to Ideally.
Donald says the influx of talent will allow Ideally to build on its rapid deployment of services across New Zealand, Australia, and further afield. “With Josh and Brendan joining the fold we have two technology leaders with significant experience building important, global, Kiwi-headquartered businesses, with the ambition to go global. By bringing their expertise across innovation, marketing, and AI together, Ideally is in an incredibly strong position for capturing this market and scaling globally,”
CRO Nu’u-Steele, whose career has seen him lead growth for one of NZ’s fastest growing companies, says that Ideally has all of the hallmarks of another meteoric start-up.
“Firstly, could you imagine a world without ideas?! I love that Ideally helps to transform abstract thoughts into tangible insights, refining and elevating concepts with real-world feedback, and not to mention, the team behind the scenes – absolute rockstars!” said Nu’u-Steele.
