Lateral raises $7.3m for Soar, Unocart

Tommy Shin-led Lateral Capital Ventures has secured funding for two Perth-based startups, led by a $6.8 million raising for blockchain platform Soar.

Lateral acted as lead manager to raise 15,000 Ethereum and $2 million for Soar, while also overseeing a ‘token generation event’ (TGE) for the tech company.

One Ethereum is worth about $120, meaning that component of the deal is valued at $1.8 million.

Under the TGE, Soar issued 20 million tokens priced at 15 cents each to raise $3 million.

A TGE is a mechanism for blockchain startups to raise funds, similar to an initial coin offering.

Soar is a decentralised platform for drone-captured maps and imagery.

Soar chief executive Amir Farhand said the raising gave the company confidence.

"Investor validation is crucial at any time in a capital raising process,” he said.

“From the right investor, it not only gives you a fulcrum to raise more money but also gives the entire team the confidence to keep going.

“LCV helped us with both."

Soar is currently undergoing a public crowd sale and expects to finish the final capital raising milestone in the next week.

Meanwhile, Lateral was also lead manager for a $500,000 raising for grocery delivery platform Unocart.

The seed funding round attracted interest from a range of Australian and Asian sophisticated investors.

Unocart founder Tyler Spooner praised Lateral’s involvement in the raising.

“Not only did LCV assist raise the required funds, whilst many other companies have struggled in the past, LCV managed to close a $520,000 oversubscribed seed round in a matter of weeks,” he said.

“Many who will also be follow through investors. LCV has brought so much intangible value to Unocart and introduced us to strategic partners and customer prospects.

“These have yielded great wins for Unocart and in addition, Tommy (Shin) has always available to discuss the business challenges facing the Unocart team.”

Mr Shin said raising capital in the second half of 2018 had been challenging.

“LCV had to expand our horizons and handpick certain projects to invest in which also had the opportunity for a global demand as well as outperforming their peers in this tough industry,” he said.

“We are very happy on the progress these two companies have made and look forward to the best investor returns.”

Lateral will continue to provide strategic advice to both companies.