Queenstown hospitality software business Loaded is launching its global campaign, following the raising of $3.25 million via a combination of equity and debt, with an initial entry into Australia planned for early this year.

Loaded is an SAAS-based (Software as a Service) hospitality management platform founded by hospitality entrepreneurs James Arnott and Richard McLeod. The pair started hospitality company Cook Brothers Bars in 2004, which now has 13 hospitality outlets across New Zealand.

Loaded CEO Richard McLeod says that crossing the Tasman is the first step in expanding globally and the expectation is that this will happen rapidly once market traction is achieved in Australia. “With 900 customers at home who have demonstrated significant profitability and efficiency improvements when adopting Loaded and very few competitors in the market globally – we’re pretty excited about the opportunity ahead,” says McLeod.

Invest South, a local investment fund, is the major participant in the capital raise and will also appoint a director to the board of Loaded.

Other local private investors have also invested directly and through the Mainland Angel Investors network.

Loaded has also attracted support in the form of a $1.25 million loan from MBIE through the Queenstown Economic Transformation and Resilience Fund (QET Fund) which is administered by Kānoa – Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit.

“The support from MBIE on top of the significant equity raise means that we are in a position to invest further in building our product and development team almost entirely in Queenstown, which is important to us as a company founded by born and bred Queenstowners,” says McLeod.

Loaded was originally developed as a central management system for Cook Brothers Bars, which famously purchased the Captain Cook Tavern in Dunedin when Loaded founders Richard McLeod and James Arnott, both of Queenstown, were in their fourth year as university students.