AusLeisure

Attractions and social entertainment centre software company Roller has completed a $28.2 million funding round that will see early investors receive an $18.2 million dividend.

Founded by brothers Luke and Mark Finn in 2011, Melbourne-based Roller serves more than 1200 businesses globally and, as reported today by the Australian Financial Review, has “a nine-figure valuation”.

As part of its latest funding round, growth capital firm Partners For Growth (PFG) provided a $10 million line of credit to the business, and existing USA-based investor Acadian Software increased its shareholding in the company, buying out a number of early backers.

Roller Chief Financial Officer Mark Finn told the Australian Financial Review that Roller’s lead investor, Acadian Software, wanted a larger stake in the business, so the founders brokered a secondary transaction providing liquidity to investors from the “scrappy days” of launching the start-up.

Finn advised “it was a win-win for everybody. It was a validating moment, frankly, to be able to provide our early investors with a really good return.”

Of the early investors, 15 sold some of their stakes and eight sold out entirely, netting between a seven- and 10-times return on the capital they invested.

Existing investors including Telstra Chairman John Mullen and Star Chief Executive Robbie Cooke, held on to their shares in the business.

Former Tourism Australia Chief Executive, Andrew McEvoy, who sold part of his stake, commented “the team skilfully navigated the challenging pandemic-affected market, and they are ideally placed to capitalise on the current rebound of the leisure and attractions industry.”

Advising that the business didn’t lay off any of its 120 staff team during the pandemic, instead focussing on making parts of the business more efficient, Luke Finn went on to say "coming out of the pandemic, different regions were coming back online at different times, it took a while for things to get back to what they were like in 2019.

“But we came out of it in a very strong position and thankfully the market itself is now seeing higher throughput and visitation numbers than they were seeing back in 2019. Which is great news for our customers and for us as well.”

The business will use the new capital to invest in its product, bolstering its sales and marketing efforts, particularly in the USA which is Roller’s largest market.

Image: Roller's Luke and Mark Finn.

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