SME management startup Magnetic partners with global distributor after R15m valuation

Cape Town, South African-based online business management platform Magnetic is partnering up with Australian digital marketing company Titan Digital. The distribution deal would enable the startup to expand its reach to agencies and SME’s across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK and comes, after Magnetic just raised a second round of funding in January worth R15-million.

Magnetic started up in 2012 on a bold mission to corner South Africa’s B2B space with its all-in-one online management platform. The product on offer aims to take care of everything ranging from sales, CRM, project and task management to accounts and HR, taking on the likes of Salesforce, SAP, Basecamp and Asana.

In 2014, the tech company raised its first round valued at R7.5-million through the grace of Angel investor, Tim Bishop. The investors behind the second round earlier this year seek to remain anonymous.

CEO Daniel Marcus (pictured above) tells Ventureburn that the funds were mainly used to ramp up developers and begin international expansion.

The distribution partnership with Titan is significant for Magnetic, as Titan have an estimated monthly client base of more than 2 000 SMEs around the globe.

“This is signifiant[sic] as we believe having strong on the ground partners in our expansion regions will aid in a much faster and smoother rollout,” Marcus tells us in an email. “Our goal is to have in excess of 10 000 users by end 2017 and Titan will play a large part in adding to these numbers.”

MD of Titan Digital Australia Wayne Hughes added the following a statement that:

We are very excited to be a customer implementing Magnetic as a valuable tool to streamline our growing organisation as we transition from a medium size 150 staff agency into a larger multinational high growth digital agency. This level of faith in Magnetic has enabled Titan Digital to confidently be a strategic partner and to offer the product out to assist our 2 000 plus growing clients to better utilise their resources with the help of Magnetic.

Read more: Magnetic launches business management app for those on the go

In August last year, Magnetic launched its mobile app to help expand its reach in South Africa’s business space and beyond. It’s also more recently revamped the product user interface with a smoother, cleaner look.

The founder adds that Magnetic’s traction in the last six months has been “fantastic” as it’s grown from around 600 paying users to over 2 000. These include renowned companies in the South African industry such as Hero, Artifact, Stretch Experiential, Positive Dialogue, Primedia, ROI Media, New Media Labs.