Genero officially named a Pinterest Creative Partner.
Genero news • 3min read
Australian marketing technology company Genero has secured a new capital investment of up to $5m from Acorn Capital.
Founded in 2009 by marketers Mick Entwisle and Andrew Lane, Genero’s platform connects marketers with a global network of over 130,000 independent creative businesses and professional freelance talent, to source creative ideas and generate advertising content.
As brands increasingly move work in-house and away from agencies, marketing teams use Genero to build in-house creative and production capability without needing to hire large teams or find and onboard new suppliers or freelancers. The company’s platform provides on-demand access to specialist creative suppliers and resources in every corner of the globe, delivering diverse creativity, flexible scale, speed and cost savings across the advertising creative and production process.
Genero’s client base includes L’Oreal, Hilton, Procter & Gamble, the BBC and Kellogg’s, alongside media giants Meta, Google, TikTok, Pinterest and Amazon. It’s also worked with all of the major record labels, who have used the platform for official music videos for some of the biggest names in music, including The Doors, James Brown, George Harrison, Robert Plant, Damon Albarn, Duran Duran, Alicia Keys and Muse.
The new investment brings Genero’s total capital raised to over $15m, including previous investments from Ellerston Capital in 2016 and 2019. Funding to date has supported rapid global expansion of the business, with the company now firmly established in North America, Latin America, EMEA, Asia and Australia, with its global headquarters in Melbourne. North America and EMEA are its two fastest growing regions, and now make up over 65% of company revenue.
The new investment will be used to accelerate global growth, while continuing to develop the company’s technology platform, further streamlining the creative process for marketing clients and the growing pool of independent creative businesses and freelancers looking for work.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with hundreds of clients across all of the major advertising regions, so we’ve seen first hand how the needs of marketing teams have evolved over the last 15 years. Even as technology like AI moves at an incredible pace, our view is that humans will always be central to the best creativity, and that creatives will be the AI super users of tomorrow. We’ll use this capital to continue investing in technology that allows marketers to harness the power of the incredible independent creative talent around the globe, to deliver human creativity at the speed of culture.
Andrew Burt from Acorn will join the Genero board, alongside Anthony Klok, Founding Partner at Ellerston Capital.
The Genero team have built a global, market leading platform to facilitate the cost-effective creation of high quality content for brands. The business is extremely well positioned to take advantage of the continuing evolution in this dynamic advertising market. Acorn looks forward to working with Mick, Andrew, Anthony and the team.
We were pretty early to the space when we launched and that's allowed us to build all of the foundational elements needed for growth and scale. This new capital will allow us to build the world's leading creative ecosystem, combining diverse human creative talent, advanced technology and the world’s best marketers. We're really excited to work with Acorn on this next phase and to welcome Andrew Burt to our board.
Acorn’s investment follows a number of recent hiring announcements, including Chris Dodson as Managing Director for Australia and NZ. Dodson spent six years leading YouTube’s consumer & business marketing in Australia and YouTube’s Subscription and Music business across EMEA as Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand. The company also recently added ex-Hogarth COO Chloe Lane as MD – Global Client Solutions.
Genero was advised by Ad Astra Corporate Advisory.
About Genero
Genero’s platform enables seamless collaboration between marketers and a diverse global network of professional creatives, transforming in-house creative capability. Their technology is empowering brands including L’Oreal, Hilton, the BBC, P&G and Nestlé to generate audience-first ideas and creative content at speed, without sacrificing quality.
Genero is also an official partner of major platforms including Meta, Google, TikTok, Pinterest and Amazon, partnering on scaled programs that provide their advertising clients with a creative solution delivering best-practice ads at scale.
The company is headquartered in Melbourne, with additional offices in London, New York, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore and Sydney.
About Acorn Capital
Acorn Capital believes emerging Australian companies provide investors with the ability to access attractive financial returns and portfolio diversification, whilst delivering a positive economic benefit to the broader Australian economy.
The investment approach utilised at Acorn Capital seeks to identify the best emerging companies within an industry. These companies are the next generation of Australian corporate successes, typically associated with high levels of productivity and innovation, as well as providing new employment opportunities for Australians.
Acorn Capital distinguishes itself through its large research and investment team, with expertise across the majority of industries and the provision of expansion capital to developing companies.
Recent press | Interview with Mick Entwisle in Valor Econômico.
Genero news • 4min read