Talking Raising Capital with Roscoe Price Moor, Roady

2 Feb 2024, midnight

By Linda

Our Business Specialist librarian interviews small Wellington businesses. Today we are happy to have Roady.

Photo of a person in an orange winter jacket trekking through a glacier.

Dragon’s Den.

Shark Tank.

Many readers will be familiar with these reality television shows in which fledgling entrepreneurs pitch their business start-up idea to experienced business people, seeking their investment.

In 2020 Roscoe Price-Moor stood in front of a group of potential investors and pitched his idea for an app, Roady. Roady began in 2017 as bespoke itinerary planning business for independent international travellers. Roscoe worked with clients to design a self-drive road trip taking in aspects of Aotearoa that appealed to independent travellers.

It was though, a labour-intensive process. Taking inspiration from Pokémon Go, Roscoe began thinking about a similar app style that could be used by tourists, whereby they could use the app to devise their own itinerary while adding a game element to a road trip.

Originally trained as a Physical Education teacher, Roscoe worked on his business and kept thinking about potential app development whilst continuing to work as a relief PE teacher.

Then in early 2020 along came Covid and no one was road-tripping anywhere. Two years on Roscoe says, with hindsight, that Covid was a good thing because it forced him to consider his options and “Put the old model to bed”.

With his travel app idea still very much a concept, Roscoe signed up for a Creative HQ incubator course. The Creative HQ programme allows participants time to concentrate exclusively on the development of their idea, whilst providing them with the information required to start a business alongside mentoring from experienced business people.

An invitation followed to participate in a development accelerator programme specifically for tourism at the end of which Roscoe's idea was refined, and he then pitched the concept to a group of Angel HQ investors.

"Raising capital was completely new to me. It was certainly something Creative HQ and the mentors in the programme helped with ... making me aware of the options out there ...

... you really need to be confident and have a clear plan. You really need to be able to articulate to these investors what their money is going to get them as a result of the funding..."

The resulting funding allowed Roscoe to get Roady off the ground, employ a staffer and formally launch the business in August this year. Free to download, Roady is now tracking at 18,000+ downloads with more expected as the summer holiday period approaches and inbound tourism numbers increase.

Following the successful uptake in New Zealand the company is now planning expanding into the Australian market.

Learn more about the Roady journey and development plans in Wellington City Libraries’ interview with Roscoe.

If you want to know more about how to successfully seek investor funding we’ve collated some resources for you below.

Our interview with Roscoe Price Moor, Roady

Online resources and articles

Callaghan Innovation has created and made available, "Capital education resources to help businesses understand the equity capital raising process in New Zealand. No matter what age or stage your company or innovation is at, these resources offer expert advice on how to raise the capital needed to build a thriving business - even in a COVID-19 impacted environment. You can find them here.

Dr Janine Swail’s research Raising Capital in Aotearoa New Zealand: Insights From Women Entrepreneurs provides insights from 26 female entrepreneurs.

Business.govt.nz outlines what lenders look for if you are Applying for a Loan.

"Lenders want to see good financial habits, a clear vision for the future, and a funding proposal supported by processes and a strong team. See what else they look for and how you can improve your chances of getting finance".

Samantha Novak’s article 7 Creative Financing Options for New Businesses and Startups looks at some of the alternative, less traditional routes to raising investment to help develop your fledgling business.

Jason Yeh, Adamant Ventures, shares some of the lessons learned from over 15 years in business in How to Avoid Your Biggest Fundraising Mistake and Successfully Raise Capital

8 Things to Know Before Raising Startup Capital offers advice from business owners and lending experts to those seeking startup capital for new ventures.