, is back on the tools, forming a new start-up called Firmable, which has already attracted $9 million from well-known investors, keen to see if lightning can strike twice.
Firmable co-founders and co-CEOs Paul Perrett and Leigh Jasper, with Tara Salmon, its chief marketing officer, and chief product and technology officer Karthik Venkatasubramanian.Since his windfall from the Oracle buyout, Mr Jasper has remained a prominent figure in the Australian tech start-up scene as an investor. He is a founding partner atThe round was led by AirTree Ventures, but also included investment from the founders themselves and a raft of previous Aconex investors and entrepreneurs.
“But also, we were never really looking to sell Aconex, but we were a public company, and had an offer from Oracle that we couldn’t say no to.Oracle paid a 47 per cent premium on Aconex shares at the time of its acquisition. The company employs 25 people, half of them in Australia and the rest in India. It is just launching its beta product, and has passed the important start-up milestone of signing up its first paying customers.