Event rental e-commerce platform Gecko has raised $350,000 in a pre-seed round led by the New South Wales government-backed Techstars program in Sydney.
Gecko is one of 12 startups selected for the inaugural Techstars Tech Central accelerator program, which launched earlier this month.
US investors Goodwater Capital and Launch House also backed the pre-seed startup.
the inspiration of gecko The project was born when co-founder Ben Kennedy worked at his mother’s wedding venue and was dealing with the frustrations and challenges of renting event equipment. He set out to not only simplify the process, but also increase the profitability of the rental companies involved, developing Rentals his software his platform that delivers reservations in a fraction of the time compared to the traditional paper-based industry.
This e-commerce site also has additional features such as cross-selling, referrals and rebooking, allowing rental companies to increase their revenue potential by up to 50%.
Kennedy said time is an important factor in planning event planning, but not a priority for rentals.
“The event was stressful and made the whole rental process even more painful,” he said.
“If you call the rental company, they will ask you to send an email asking them to call you back in 2-5 days when they finally get in touch.”
Co-founders Lal Birch and Cody Fisher-Peel launched the product as a peer-to-peer marketplace before recognizing the huge potential of working with rental businesses to improve the customer experience.
Gecko now has a network of over 120 rental businesses and operators on its platform, including Vibes AV & DJ Hire. Oscar Jamison says ‘it just happened’ It streamlined administrative tasks and increased revenue by 50% in the first 6 months.
“The best thing about working with Gecko was the unparalleled customer service we received. The team listened to our feedback and worked with us to tailor the platform to our business needs,” he said.
The Gecko team trio say they are playing to use the funds to expand into other categories in the near future.
