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Australian startups Zegami, Verso and PoweredLocal have all closed funding rounds to finance further expansion of their respective business operations.</article>

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Australian startups Zegami, Verso and PoweredLocal have all closed funding rounds to finance further expansion of their respective business operations.
<h3>Zegami raises A$3.9m</h3>
Data and image search analysis software startup <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://zegami.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zegami</a> has closed an A$3.9 million ($2.96 million) funding round from backers including Oxford University, with which it plans to take its product into the cloud. The round was led by backers from an earlier seed round, including Oxford University, UK-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://parkwalkadvisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Parkwalk Advisors</a> and some high net worth individuals.
Started in the UK by Australian expatriates Samuel Conway and Roger Noble, it lets users search through a large volume of documents or images. It is based on intellectual property (IP) developed in conjunction with Oxford University to improve the university&#8217;s own search functions.
Preparing the software product for the cloud is likely to require three to six months. The firm had <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.afr.com/technology/oxford-unibacked-aussie-startup-zegami-looks-to-raise-10-million-20160511-gosbz5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">originally intended to raise A$10 million</a> but reconsidered this move and shifted to a position of adopting staged growth and growing to a break-even stage.
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Its current customer base includes HR company and payroll services company SD Worx and five universities that include the University of South Australia. It is also in discussions with US baseball teams.
The next 12 to 24 months will see the company build up awareness of the product, including in new markets like sports analytics. They also intend to launch a consumer-facing offering for individuals.
<h3>Verso raises A$2m Series A</h3>
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Melbourne-based educational technology startup <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://versoapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Verso</a> has raised $2 million in a Series A round led by Ken Lowe, co-founder of Canberra Data Centres.
The proceeds from this round will be used to expand into the US market. Originating from a company called Learnology, founder Colin Wood explains that this round will capitalise on Verso’s current foothold in California, Texas, South Carolina and New Jersey.
The app has 40,000 teachers across 12,000 schools in more than 100 countries using the platform. Wood credits its growth to the network effects and the social networking among professional educators.
<h3>PoweredLocal raises A$500k</h3>
Melbourne-based social media intelligence startup <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.poweredlocal.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PoweredLocal</a> has closed an A$500,000 ($380,050) capital raise led by <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.rimon.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rimon Investments</a> that will accelerate its expansion. New investors in the round include angel investor Adrian Stone of AngelCube, Salta Group’s David Tarasio, and Netspace founder Stuart Marburg.
PoweredLocal enables businesses to provide free Wi-Fi services with a social media check-in and data analysis. The latest round values the venture between A$5-A$6 million. Investment proceeds will accelerate business growth and see it enhance its marketing efforts to grow its user base.
The latest cash injection comes less than 12 months after closing an A$125,000 investment that valued it at more than A$4.5 million. This follows the startup maintaining advisory relationships with several of the investors.
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Australia: Zegami, Verso and PoweredLocal raise funding

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