It was less than 2 years ago when kiwi global entrepreneur Rod Drury lead the first IPO of the 2007 year on New Zealand’s stock exchange - NZX by listing online accounting software Xero.

Now just 22 months on and Xero has over 6000 customers and has just completed a strategic capital raise totalling $23.2 million.

Building a successful Public company

When Rod first listed Xero on the NZX just 9 months after starting the business and very early into it’s revenue, many people questioned whether Xero deserved the public valuation it was going for. The round closed successfully with $15 million raised from some 1600 investors and Rod and the crew got down to the business of making Xero a success.

Then came global recession, public money and equity markets everywhere have taken a beating, including New Zealand’s stock exchange, but again, Rod and the crew at Xero have stayed calm, focused on building partnerships and getting customers and results. This laser focus on succeeding has helped them pull together a $23.2 million strategic round which sees the addition of the founder and ex-director of major competitor MYOB - Craig Winkler to the shareholder register with Craig taking an $18 million stake.

Xero now has a firm and fast growing presence in New Zealand, the UK and Australia, and has just strated their moves into the US, and with no debt on the balance sheet, a major competitor bleeding talent, Xero is poised to use this growth capital very wisely for the next major stage of expansion.