It's an idea - But I think it might work

Extracted from the Farm Tender weekly Newsletter - Sign up and get the email every Wednesday morning before 6 am. www.farmtender.com.au

By Dwain Duxson.

This week lead story is a little bit different.

Over the 10 year Farm Tender journey, there have been many ups and downs, but all situations, both good and bad, have been learning experiences.

In the last 12 months, I have been thinking about how Agriculture might play out in the future.

After assessing what we use to do business here each day I am convinced that software as a service (SAAS) will play an increasingly big part in the Ag space. So much so that I have identified a couple of potential start-ups that I think could be winners. We have also been quietly developing an invoicing/payment technology product that we think might have legs as well.

So, I am asking if anyone out there would be interested in forming a fund to buy a portfolio of businesses to hopefully grow using the Farm Tender network of 56,000 plus members.

It's very preliminary, and I am just checking the interest level.

What you can do to get the ball rolling is to indicate your interest by emailing to dwaind@farmtender.com.au and just type "interested", or ring/text me on 0427 011 900.

Once we have established that there is enough interest, we can start an anonymous email group (nobody will be identified) and work through the possibilities.

The start-ups mentioned above have been founded and created by somebody else. They own these start-ups. So for the proposed fund, it would need to buy part or all of each business. This is only if they wanted in and would be subject to due diligence.

Also, we have built an invoicing/payment technology play that is ready to go to market in the next month or so. We could add this to the fund. 

We would also spend some dollars on getting the structure right, and we would need to spend money on other things as well.

We will work out the size of the investment required as we move through.

Although Farm Tender would be a shareholder, the fund would be a separate outfit.

Some of the advantages I see in starting a fund like this include:

• Using the Farm Tender network of 56,000 plus members to give these products exposure and attract customers.
• Use what we have learnt in the past by what has worked (Farm Tender, PAC, Auctions, DelayPay), and what hasn't worked (group buying, Ute Broking etc.)
• We have had some experience in raising both debt and equity funding through our DelayPay business.
• The understanding that you need to market these specialised products to the right audience.
• The opportunity around the growth within Agriculture and the generational change that is currently happening
• The understanding that some of these products can operate in a global Ag market
• It's a technology play within Agriculture, we understand Agriculture
• It will be fun

To indicate your interest email dwaind@farmtender.com.au and just type "interested", or ring/text me on 0427 011 900.

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