Steve O'Brien managing director of Clear21, which produces iBodyshop ,says he is excited for the future now that Nash Capital has invested.
“I’m excited to speed up the pipeline of innovation that we plan to bring to market‚” O’Brien said.
“Now with Nash’s expertise and investment we can match required resources with our vision for the Australian and international markets.
“Some of our customers have been with us for over 35 years. By aiming to bring a continual stream of improvements to the market, our goal has been to ensure our customers never need to look for a ‘better’ solution. As such, we have constantly invested our profits in upgrades, new features and complete rewrites that improve productivity for our customers.
“A testament to our philosophy is that our flagship product, iBodyshop, has become the ‘industry standard’ in the Australian and New Zealand markets. We also anticipate the same success in the UK where we recently launched.”
Despite the constant re-investment O’Brien indicated the organisation’s resources have always struggled to keep up with its vision and, he claims that now with AI, that gap is expanding.
However, with Nash injecting much needed expertise and capital O’Brien says the organisation can now realise its vision to achieve historical industry gains in productivity and efficiency through new development and the implementation of AI.
“AI presents a once in a generation opportunity to vastly improve Bodyshop’s productivity and efficiency with respect to estimate writing and administration duties,” O’Brien said.
“Our prototypes will soon be ready for piloting. Improving the financial/work-life balance for our customers has always been a core objective. It’s a never-ending task – competition, new vehicle types, AI, labour shortages, green credentials, the list of challenges goes on and on.
“With all of them competing for iBodyshop’s attention, we needed a business and financial partner to help us deliver on these opportunities.
“As a result, we spent two years looking for the right investor who aligned with our culture; understood our market and shared our vision.
“When Nash Capital knocked on the door the connection was immediate. Jonathan (Hoe), Lucas (Couper) and Sean (O’Neill) from Nash Capital are an amazing team who thoroughly understand our business, SaaS and where AI can deliver.”
Nash Capital Investment Director, Jonathan Hoe has been impressed by the commitment from the Clear21 team.
“Steve O’Brien, MD of Clear21 and the senior management aren’t going anywhere,” Hoe said.
“They’ll still be as ‘hands-on’ as you’ve experienced them to be in the past. Only now, they have the backing to accelerate their plans faster.
“We are proud to partner with Steve and the Clear21 team.
“They have developed a world-class product that customers love, guided by a clear and ambitious vision. Our philosophy is to back exceptional founders and businesses using technology to improve the lives of their customers, and Clear21 exemplifies that mission.
“We look forward to supporting Clear21 to drive the next wave of innovation in this amazing industry, and to a very exciting future with our new partner.”