Studiospace has officially launched into the Australian and UK markets, connecting big brands to the independent agencies around the world.
The tech platform, an online marketplace for creative, digital and marketing services, secured $2.5million in a VC funding round led by Fuel Ventures for the major expansion.
Australia’s biggest brands can now directly access top indie specialists from around the world to deliver their digital and marketing projects. In return, independent creative, digital, and marketing agencies can now access brands that were previously beyond reach.
The move follows nine months of successful beta testing across the UK and Australia. Brands including Jaguar Land Rover, TAL, Aviva and Gala Games are already on board and working with the 100-strong roster of specialist agencies that span 16 service categories across 12 countries.
The business is helmed locally by co-founder and Australia managing director, Robin Scarborough, and Kate Walker, general manager of client services.
Scarborough was a founding team member at Market Gravity, the global innovation agency acquired by Deloitte Digital in 2017. Robin moved from the UK to Australia following the acquisition, spending three years as a partner at Deloitte Digital.
Scarborough explains: “Big businesses have a talent access problem, even if they don’t realise it yet. The marketing landscape has evolved immensely in the last 50 years, but the way we buy and sell services for it hasn’t.
“As needs have become more complex, bundled arrangements with holding companies and big consultancies have become the default because of simple, single supplier relationships.
“However, the problem is that a lot of the deep specialism, innovation and big thinking now sits within independent agencies all around the world. It’s hard for big businesses to easily find the best agencies for their projects, and often even harder to quickly contract them as a new supplier,” he said.
“Studiospace was born to solve this conundrum and the success we’ve achieved in such a short period is proof it’s working. Over 70 projects in just nine months with budgets up to $2million and now further venture capital backing. We’re re-imagining the holding company model for the digital era,” he added.
Robin Scarborough with Kate Walker
Shiv Patel, investment director at Fuel Ventures added: “Having seen Studiospace’s growth since they began trading at the start of this year, we were delighted to have the opportunity to invest in such an exciting business.
“The management team have exceptional experience both within the industry and also through having successfully scaled and exited a previous business.
“This coupled with the major brands which have been using the platform already made a compelling investment case for us. We look forward to working closely with Studiospace in the coming years to ensure the company’s continued success.”
The process is simple and flexible by design. For brands, Studiospace provides access to a global community of agencies through a single umbrella contract. The smart platform matches briefs to the best candidate agencies and Studiospace underwrites the quality of every agency’s work.
For agencies, joining Studiospace opens up access to a huge breadth of new clients, while also massively reducing their cost of sales through its streamlined matching and selection process. Additionally, the platform alleviates cash flow uncertainty by paying agencies on the day they invoice.
Walker brings a wealth of agency insight and experience to the business. She previously founded boutique brand agency Human, and also led the delivery of bespoke agency team models for WPP’s largest clients across Australia and New Zealand.
Walker said: “We really understand the pressure points for agencies and are hugely inspired to create a genuine alternative that works. One that helps them play a bigger game and build scale without the drag.
“We’re not pitch doctors, we don’t influence the selection process, but we are obsessive about discovering and bringing the very best indie talent to our platform and clients. It’s a win-win,” she added.
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Top image: Kate Walker and Robin Scarborough