Simon Yencken, the former chairman of Aconex, Sydney VC Our Innovation Fund, and Singapore-based G&M Capital led the funding round for Matrak.
In 2018, Shane and Brett Hodgkins cofounded Matrak, a company that tracks connected materials for international building supply chains. It helps suppliers, contractors, and manufacturers de-risk and optimize their supply chains.
While Brett was finishing up his master’s degree in computer science and worked part-time for their father’s window installation business, the idea was born on a construction site.
Over 280 clients have utilized the software platform on 400 construction projects, including Queen’s Wharf, the Mater Hospital, Melbourne’s 65-story Aspire skyscraper, and commercial, aged care, and data center buildings. For clients like Multiplex, Lendlease, John Holland, Winning Appliances, Bluescope, and Buildcorp, it has tracked more than 1.2 million materials.
Supported by investors from the China-Singapore Suzhou Development Corporation, the organization that developed Suzhou Industrial Park, the business inaugurated the Matrak China office in Suzhou on Friday.
In addition to Australia, the UK, Canada, and the US, the organization has clients in China and Southeast Asia.
The CEO of Matrak, Shane Hodgkins, expressed gratitude to both new and current investors for supporting their global expansion.
“Construction is global, and building our team closer to our major manufacturing customers will de-risk critical supply chains, and unlock more sustainable procurement worldwide,” he stated.
“Receiving overseas funding was made easier through participating in the Austrade Landing Pads program, where we were connected with G&M Capital. Austrade continues to play a pivotal role in enabling Australian startups to be successful in China and they particularly support start-ups who promote sustainability, like Matrak.”
According to founder Lim Gu of G&M Capital, their primary concentration is on the smart building industry.
Thus, he declared, “We are therefore excited to strengthen our legacy of international collaboration by investing in Matrak’s China office,”
“In order to support local clients’ as they reach out to the global market. Furthermore, partnering with Matrak underscores our investment commitment to enhancing transparency and trust in global manufacturing supply chains and our support for global innovative startups.”
