'Award Winning Christchurch Startup Goes Global. BIMStop closes funding round with MOVAC , establishes global HQ in Silicon Valley'
Christchurch start-up BIMStop announced it has raised new capital from New Zealand Venture Capital firm MOVAC to fund its rapid growth in the US market and to establish its global headquarters in San Francisco USA.
Founded by CEO Scott Barrington, the company converts building products manufacturers traditional sales and marketing materials to 3D Building Information Models (BIM) allowing architects and specifiers to produce CAD designs containing actual products.
"We solve a growing problem in a massive market helping architects and building specifiers stay up to date and manufacturers target the right people in this market and keep them informed" says Barrington from his new global headquarters for BIMStop at Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco.
"Our customers lead us here based on growing demand for our solutions and the need to be closer to them in terms of market trends and physical location." says Barrington. "We made the call to dip our toes in the US market and the response has been resoundingly positive".
The company has moved from strength to strength in the past year acquiring major global brands and building out increasing the functionality and usability of its offerings. Customers include global manufacturers such as Miele , Thermador, Bosch, Delta, GAF, Bradley and Polyflor.
David Beard, Partner at leading venture capital firm MOVAC took an interest in the progress of the company about 18 months ago. "We were impressed with BIMStop's execution and market proof points achieved on tight budgets - our investment is a result of a high level of confidence in the team and what we believe to be a significant market opportunity based on our own due diligence."
The multi million dollar investment will be used to support the establishment of the US based executive team and market expansion initiatives including accelerating product development and increasing the salesforce. "We need experienced eyes and ears on the ground in market to understand and respond to our customer's needs" says Barrington "but we are still committed to having development and operations teams based in Christchurch for the foreseeable future."
BIMStop's revenues are forecasted to triple in the current financial year and staff numbers will double in the next twelve months. BIMStop's achievements were recently recognised publicly by winning the Start Up of the Year award at New Zealand's prestigious annual Hi Tech Awards.
