AmazingCo, the Melbourne-founded experiences platform that has expanded across 23 American cities in the past six months, recently announced it has closed a $5.1m Series A funding round, with participation from Aconex founders, Rampersand VC, Artesian and Macdoch Ventures.
The platform, which will reach 50 cities globally by early 2020, uses technology to help bring moments of connectivity back into the real world. At a time when loneliness is turning into a global epidemic, AmazingCo uses Netflix-like data insights to create and deliver real world activities that help people connect.
AmazingCo Co-founder Silvia Hope felt that the time was right to go global. “Everyone wants things on demand – food, entertainment, taxis. But this online, high speed world is leaving a hole for so many people in their human relationships,” Ms Hope said. “Digital addiction leading to lack of human connection is a global problem – people everywhere are looking for creative and more meaningful ways to spend their precious time.”
The company, which has been growing at a rate of one new city per week for the past six months, offers unique experiences and activities for couples, friends, families and work teams. Since launching in 2016, more than 1 million people have engaged in AmazingCo’s experiences, from mystery picnics to wine tours, to social impact activities to team building events.
What is behind AmazingCo’s growth?
AmazingCo’s other Co-founder Jeremy Cox added: “The reason the Experience Economy is taking off isn’t just that the Millennial generation is growing up. Globally, people across all generations are turning to experiences instead of things as they seek real world connection. We’re excited to be the first to take on the challenge of creating new, unique experiences and then scaling these to cities all over the globe with the help of our technology platform and partners.”
Much like Netflix uses its data insights and platform to produce and distribute original digital content, AmazingCo uses its proprietary technology and data to source the best ideas, turn them into new experiences, and then scale the new formats across their existing distribution network.
“AmazingCo has the opportunity to build the world’s largest experiences company,” Co-founder of Aconex and lead investor in the round, Leigh Jasper, says.
“The kind of growth AmazingCo is experiencing is up there with some of the worlds most dominant tech companies, indicating they are solving a real problem. And they have cracked the US much faster than any of us could have expected. We love companies that bring digital efficiency and scale to an industry that previously has been paper and phone calls, so the opportunity for AmazingCo is very clear to us. We also really admire and believe in the mission of this great founding team.”
The Series A funding round brings AmazingCo’s total funding amount to $7.4m, following a $2.3m seed funding round, announced last year, with the seed investors continuing to support the Series A.
In the past year alone AmazingCo has more than tripled its geographic spread and headcount. With the recent funding, the company is now focused on continuing the rapid expansion of both the experience catalogue and geographic reach.
“We are live and growing in LA, NYC, Chicago and 20 more cities across the United States and are on track to hit 50 cities by early 2020, including London, Paris, and Montreal,” said Cox. “We constantly read about how people are losing their ability to connect and the issues that’s creating for society. We’re trying to help people all across the globe spend their time in a more meaningful way and help them create moments of connectivity with people who matter to them, and it’s been incredibly rewarding so far.”
