SA trio behind US-based startup Sortd net funding from HAVAÍC [Updated]

Sortd, a US-based software startup founded by three SA founders, has secured investment from Cape Town based venture capital (VC) firm HAVAÍC.

Sortd has developed a subscription-based productivity suite for users of Gmail and GSuite (Google’s business offering).

The Delaware-registered startup — founded by Rodney Kuhn (pictured above, left), Wayne Silbermann (pictured above, right) and Bradley Greathead — helps small and medium-sized enterprises manage sales and customer projects from inside email with no need for multiple third-party applications.

About 15 years ago, both Silbermann and Kuhn were involved in a startup they founded in 2001 with Jarrod Hermer called Mybeat, which received funding from SA entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.

Sortd’s founders are Rodney Kuhn, Wayne Silbermann and Bradley Greathead

Kuhn — who is Sortd’s chief of product — speaking with Ventureburn today said the founders have been iterating the productivity suite for at least two years. US tech publication Techcrunch, reported in a 2017 article that the startup has been developing products since 2014.

When Ventureburn asked Sortd’s Rodney Kuhn in a subsequent email to clarify when the startup was founded he responded by saying that while the company was founded in 2017, it had been a “side-project” of the three founders before that.

“Before that (2017 — Ed) we had always been experimenting with side projects but only in 2017 did Sortd become more of a more real focus (sic),” he explained.

Kuhn said the deal had been concluded earlier this month. He would not disclose just how much the firm raised in the round, which he said was the startup’s first investment from external investors.

The funding, he explained, will be invested in the startup’s product and team.

‘Trello, Gmail love child’

Sortd, he explained, is what you’d get if Trello (project and task management tool) and Gmail together “had a love child”.

The productivity suite, the startup said in an earlier statement, helps heavy emailers to get on top of their unwieldy inboxes — making it particularly appealing to businesses who have had challenges getting their people to adopt new systems in the past.

Kuhn pointed out that Sortd has been featured on Product Hunt — a US website that lets users share and discover new products — where he said it has been ranked number one “for a while”.

The startup also claimed that the software consistently ranks among the top three glonbal productivity apps for Gmail.

Kuhn said Sortd has been experiencing revenue and user growth in excess of five percent per month.

‘SA no place to get follow-on funding’

Kuhn (whose profile on LinkedIn, like Silbermann’s lists him as being based in Johannesburg) explained that the startup’s management team and board are based outside of South Africa.

He added that it was the founders’ intention to set up the company as an international business so that it would be “American friendly”.

This he said was because it is difficult to raise funding from South Africa. “South Africa just isn’t poised to tackle multiple rounds of funding,” said Kuhn.

US and other investors, he pointed out, just won’t entertain in investing in South African businesses.

‘Challenging and very rewarding’

Silbermann, in an earlier statement, said the relationship with HAVAIC has been both challenging and very rewarding.

“They have added some really important perspectives to our thinking from an investment standpoint, and we are very happy with where we’ve gotten to date,” he added.

HAVAÍC, in an earlier statement, said SA tech entrepreneur Jonathan Smith, who is now based in Silicon Valley, will support the startup as a non-executive board member.

While the company is registered in the US, Sortd’s development work will be carried out in the South Africa.

This, HAVAÍC said, will give opportunities to local developers to be a part of a ” truly international venture capital backed business”.

Sortd board member and HAVAÍC advisor Amir Padovitz, who is also a senior manager with Google said Sortd provides a “unique tool” for businesses and professionals to accomplish involved tasks without context-switching across applications, increasing productivity and simplifying task management.

“This is the direction that enterprise productivity as a whole is gradually moving to and where Sortd is well positioned to succeed,” said Padovitz.

HAVAÍC partner and Sortd board member Rob Heath said the VC has been “watching and working”with the startup for “quite a while” to get them in the best position for their international success.

Said Heath: “Like many successful entrepreneurs that have gone before them, we believe the Sortd team will once again show that South Africans can succeed in the global technology market place”.

*Correction: We incorrectly stated that Mybeat was founded in 2002. Sortd’s Rodney Kuhn alerted us by email that his previous company was in fact started in 2001. We have corrected this.

Editor’s note (30 July 2019): When Ventureburn asked Sortd’s Rodney Kuhn in a subsequent email to clarify when the startup was founded he responded by saying that while the company was founded in 2017, it had been a “side-project” of the three founders before that.

“Before that (2017 — Ed) we had always been experimenting with side projects but only in 2017 did Sortd become more of a more real focus (sic),” he explained.

The story has also been updated to reflect this response.

Featured image: Sortd co-founders Rodney Kuhn and Wayne Silbermann (Supplied)