Previous Logistcompare
Ezcloud (Fundraising)
We helped raise 6-figure seed rounds from business angels and a 7-figure Series A funding round from prominent VC funds in Singapore
Company & Background
ezCloud is a Singapore-based B2B SaaS scaleup which offers property management and channel management systems for the hospitality and entertainment industry in South East Asia.
Started in 2013, raised 3 rounds of funding (the last being a high 7-figure Series A round) from top investors in the region, and 2016 was one of the seedstars world competition winners.
Challenges & Needs
Since the startup started growing the CEO/CFO team had the need to fuel that growth with fresh capital, but didn’t have the deep fundraising experience or the contacts especially with formal VC in Singapore. Also they wanted to extend the reach of investors not just locally but also internationally to fit also the international growth roadmap.
Solutions & Impact
FFA supported ezCloud to raise both rounds, during the seed round supporting on cultural fit and terms negotiations and during the formal VC Series A round from investor research and filtering, through getting warm intros and direct intros to venture capital firms, to finally supporting the closing and negotiations, including legal and post-investment timeline.
These messages keep our motivation high and our team going strong
“ FFA was crucial in all our fundraising efforts at ezCloud. They have been a real partner, helping us not to fall into pitfalls during the whole VC fundraising process, maximizing our potential in the market. ”
Duong Nguyen
“ FFA was crucial in all our fundraising efforts at ezCloud. They have been a real partner, helping us not to fall into pitfalls during the whole VC fundraising process, maximizing our potential in the market. ”
Duong Nguyen
CEO | ezCloud
Company & Background
ezCloud is a SaaS startup a suite of management products for the hospitality industry: ezFolio (4-5* Hotel management software), ezCloudhotel (Cloud-based hotel management software), ezCMS (Cloud-based channel management system).
We met the CEO of the startup Duong Nguyen at an event in which FFA was invited as a an expert advisor. We created a strong relationship during the initial activities and became a trusted advisor for the startup company in the early development stages.
ezCloud has been steadily growing and has been self-funded for the first years, until the first challenges related to growth and fundraising appeared.
Challenges & Needs
Once ezCloud started growing they started having a strong need for external funding to fuel their growth (given their B2B SaaS business model, there was a clear initial “valley of death” that needed to be survived), in 2 separated phases of their startup growth.
1. Seed funding needs during early / pre-PMF stages
In the early stages of ezClouds development there was a need to raise a Seed Round, in order to finish developing their product suite and reach PMF (product market fit) in their domestic market Vietnam.
Especially in the early stages the founders were busy in product and market development and didn’t have a lot of resources to build out their investor network and wanted to find a partner that would be able to support both the strategic, operational, and legal processes.
It is important to note that in early stages the founding and management team of ezCloud would still have to lead the fundraising efforts.
2. Growth funding needs during regional expansion phase
Roughly 18 months after the first seed funding ezCloud needed expansion capital to grow on a regional level in 3 new countries, requiring not only funding, but also strategic support on how and where to structure their company holding and the subsidiaries.
During the growth stages the needs of the company shifted to building a “venture-worthy” business and investment case that would be attractive for venture capital investors and reaching those formal and structured investors in advanced venture capital ecosystems (in the case of ezCloud specifically in Singapore).
Solutions & Impact
FFA supported ezCloud in both the fundraising efforts with the following services and reaching the following results:
1. Seed Round: IR & Fundraising Consulting Service, raised 6-figure investment from local business angels
2. Series A Venture Round: FundRaising Booster (FRB), raised 7-figure investment from Singaporean top-tier venture capital fund
1. Seed Round
In the early stages we deployed our IR & Fundraising Consulting Service and supported ezCloud on finding culturally and thesis-fit seed investors (mainly business angels that have affinity with the industry and business models ezCloud was operating in).
We also supported in the ongoing term sheets’ negotiations, including how the terms were impacting the upcoming Series A round that already was envisioned in the funding roadmap.
Finally a 6-figure round was raised, with a lead time from first contact to closing in the 4-month range.
2. Series A Venture Round
In the later stages we deployed a full FundRaising Booster (FRB) which included an end-to-end support from defining the fundraising strategy (amount to be raised, growth and investment case, venture-worthiness), preparing the full data-room (including all materials, pitch deck, financial model, pre-DD materials), doing investor research and filtering in the region, preparing outreach materials, pitching support, syndication and negotiation, and finally closing support.
ezCloud could raise a 7-figure investment round from the prominent venture-arm of the sea group, which was one of the first and most successful tech IPOs in Southeast Asia.
