Punakaiki Fund Invests in Agtract

Punakaiki Fund Invests in Agtract

26th of July 2016

Taranaki rural job management software Agtract has closed a funding round with high-growth investor Punakaiki Fund.

The Agtract software drastically reduces the time it takes for rural contractors to do management tasks and create invoices, saving them up to a week’s work each month.

“Agtract does the administrative grunt work so rural contractors can do what they do best: helping farmers,” says CEO Chris West, who co-founded Agtract with his brother James after feeling the pain first hand of having to do admin work for a rural contractor.

“I was an employee of a contractor in Taranaki and had to fill in job sheet after job sheet. So much of what I did was repetitive, and even more of what the contractor did could’ve been automated. I created an early software solution, saw that it saved time and money, and realised I was onto a winner. Agtract is the result.”

The cloud-based software is integrated to Xero and can be used on any device. It makes it easy for rural contractors to do their invoicing on the go with a tablet or smartphone, even in the comfort of their own tractor.

“I never thought I'd be doing work for the agricultural industry, but this is a game-changing product,” says Chief Technical Officer James West.

“Time truly is money in the busy season, and Agtract will save contractors hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars a year.”

The software has been in a trial phase before it launches at the end of September. Feedback from early customers has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We absolutely need this software. Being able to easily invoice our customers once the job is done without having to chase down worksheets or risk not recording all of the time on the job is a real benefit. It saves us both time and money,” says Jared McBride from Taranaki firm JFM Contracting.

And it’s clear the startup has more than just the confidence of its customers, having secured investment from high-growth investor Punakaiki Fund.

“Punakaiki Fund’s investment is an incredible show of faith,” says Chris West.

“The fund is one of New Zealand’s highest performing so to have its weight behind us is worth far more than just the money. We also have Chris Humphreys from Punakaiki Fund joining our Board of Directors. He’ll bring his wealth of expertise – including as a former contractor employee - to the table.”

Chris West will be travelling throughout the country over coming months to meet with contractors who are eager to get rid of their mountain of paperwork on onto the smarter solution that is Agtract.

ENDS

© Scoop Media