Past Investments

Tantalus Media

In May 2007, netus made an investment in Tantalus Media. Tantalus is one of the world’s leading independent development studios with a portfolio of over thirty titles on most major platforms. Renowned for handheld work on franchises such as SpongeBob, MX vs ATV, Cars and the million-unit-selling Pony Friends, Tantalus also develops for the current generation of consoles. Tantalus employs over 60 developers at its Melbourne studio. In the 3 years following netus’s investment Tantalus expanded the development team and grew revenue and profits by over 100%.

Tom Crago, founder & CEO of Tantalus Media said 'netus were my partners in Tantalus for three years, during which time we enjoyed significant growth. From the outset, their approach was extremely hands-on. As the business grew, they were an invaluable resource as we came to refine our systems and processes and manage our expansion. They are a small team, but they are all individuals with massive amounts of experience in working with founders in high growth businesses. Their knowledge of the Australian technology space is second to none.'

ReachLocal Australia

In December 2006, netus formed a 50:50 joint venture with ReachLocal Inc to build ReachLocal Australia. Applying the technology and business IP of ReachLocal Inc, netus established the local team and guided the business through initial start-up and rapid growth to become the leading provider of online marketing solutions for small and medium businesses in Australia. By August 2009, ReachLocal Australia had the operational and organisational foundations for success: It was the largest Google and Yahoo reseller in Australia, growing at approximately 150% year on year, and profitable. At that time, ReachLocal Inc purchased netus' share of the business at an attractive multiple of netus' original investment and integrated the Australian business into their global operations.

Zorik Gordon, founder and CEO of ReachLocal Inc said 'ReachLocal Australia has been a very successful first international step for ReachLocal Inc. netus provided us with the experience in internationalisation, local knowledge, management bandwidth and funding to confidently manage this rollout without distracting resources from our US business. The Australian business is in great shape and we are delighted to be integrating it into our global business.'

Daniel Petre, Founder and Chairman of netus said, 'ReachLocal has a unique and strong business model, with extraordinary potential in one of the fastest growing markets in the world - Digital Advertising for small and medium businesses. The success of ReachLocal in Australia confirms the strength of the ReachLocal model and demonstrates it's applicability to many markets outside the US. We are very proud of what the team in Australia has achieved and believe that they are on track to build a very significant business here in Australia.'

travel.com.au

Online travel agency. Netus invested in a 19.9% share of TVL in April 2006, and worked on a number of business improvement initiatives with the management team. Divesting its shares in October 2007, netus achieved an IRR of 90%.