Australian entrepreneur Ned Dwyer has motive to have fun, after Nice Query, the San Francisco-based startup he co-founded in 2020, raised $20 million (US$13 million) in enterprise capital funding.
And the Collection A spherical has additionally prompted Dwyer to mirror on his experiences as an expat in Silicon Valley, and what has modified since for fellow Aussies making the leap to the US.
The funding represents the most important funding spherical to this point for Nice Query, a platform that helps firms run, analyse, and share buyer analysis.
The spherical was led by Canada’s Inovia Capital, with Y Combinator, January Capital and Character Capital additionally contributing.
Talking to SmartCompany, Dwyer says the funding will assist Nice Query construct its go-to-market efforts and attain a broader buyer base.
“We have a lot of Fortune 100 customers, like ServiceNow and Intuit, amongst others fast-growth companies like Canva and Brex and Gusto,” he says.
“But outside of those folks, and those teams that have got a lot of UX researchers, the innovators, the people at the forefront of technology, no-one knows, so finally we can get the word out.”
The funding can even assist Nice Query develop its synthetic intelligence technique: the startup says AI instruments may also help clients analyse quantitative consumer knowledge, and even deal with analysis duties as soon as undertaken by human moderators.
“With that AI moderator, you’re able to recruit [research participants] in about 20 minutes to go, anyone from your current customer database, and then in another 20 minutes, you can run up to 1,000 concurrent AI moderated sessions and analyse the results,” says Dwyer.
“And so it means something that’s taken traditionally, eight weeks prior to AI, late last year we got it down to five days. Now we’re talking about a matter of hours.”
These instruments cite the unique interviews, provides Dwyer, which means human researchers can make sure the AI just isn’t hallucinating or producing AI slop.
Supply: Nice Query
Classes for Aussies looking for US tech careers
The funding spherical is a milestone for Dwyer, who departed Melbourne for San Francisco in 2012 whereas constructing Elto, a platform connecting non-technical founders to Shopify and WordPress builders.
Elto was acquired by area registration firm GoDaddy for an undisclosed quantity in 2015.
Dwyer says the Silicon Valley startup atmosphere is completely different for Australian founders right this moment, and these variations could not directly profit these looking for a tech profession within the US.
“When I first came over to the States over a decade ago, there was a significant Australian population, and there were regular events that were just focused on Australians,” he says.
“And and I believe that it’s nice, as a result of it makes it just a little bit simpler to go and meet folks you’ve received a bunch in frequent with, and already speaks the identical cultural language.
“I’m seeing less of that kind of activity now, less Australian-specific events.”
Whereas fewer overtly Australian occasions may seem to be a draw back for Antipodeans overseas, Dwyer says it’d really push these expats deeper into the startup scene.
Newly-landed Aussies are “surrounded, not so much by Australians, but by all these other people from all around the world and the country, who are doing some of their best work on the biggest stage for technology companies,” he says.
Those that do strive making their mark in Silicon Valley should battle with credentialism — the place recruiters and traders favour candidates with identified portions on their CV, whether or not that be a Stanford enrolment or a stint at Meta.
Ned Dwyer, centre in blue shirt, with members of the Nice Query workforce. Supply: Nice Query
Dwyer, who outlined these issues in 2018, says credentialism is “still a problem”, with proficient tech employees nonetheless required to show themselves with out counting on high-profile names on their resume.
“You might have a University of Melbourne degree, you know, a top 50 university in the world,” he says. “Nobody cares.”
“You may need labored for some huge startup in Australia that by no means escapes Australian shores.
“But by coming out and finding smaller companies who are looking for that talent that’s maybe a little bit unpolished, and then leveraging that to go and work in larger and larger opportunities, seems to be the playbook that most of people have success with.”
In fact, not each bold tech employee wants to depart the nation to make their mark.
Akin to its Collection A increase, Nice Query itself is hiring product and engineering employees throughout Melbourne and Brisbane, deepening its roots in Dwyer’s first residence.
This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You’ll be able to learn the unique right here.
