ROLLER raises investment funds to accelerate global growth

ROLLER, the all-in-one software platform for attractions, entertainment and recreation venues, has raised $7 million in Series B investment funding.

The round was led by US based growth capital firm, Acadian Software, with participation from a number of Australian based investors.

ROLLER is an enterprise platform that allows attractions, entertainment and recreation venues to perform business critical functions such as online bookings and in-venue payments, and manage day-to-day operations and customer relationships.

Founded in Melbourne in 2011 by brothers Luke and Mark Finn, the solution is being used by hundreds of clients around the world to deliver best-in-class customer experiences and maximise operating efficiency. ROLLER will use the new funding to expand its product development team and accelerate growth in North America and Europe.

Advising of the company’s planned growth, ROLLER Chief Executive Luke Finn stated “we have invested heavily in building flexible and scalable technology, which allows us to serve several industry verticals including; theme parks, trampoline parks, museums, zoos, bowling alleys, ski fields, water parks and more.

“As a cloud based solution that is approaching a billion dollars of total transaction value, ROLLER has reached a scale where we are able see industry wide trends, best practices and technology needs. This places us in a unique position to help our clients drive value through a combination of data driven insights, improved customer engagement capabilities and targeted operating recommendations.”

With a team of 50, and offices in Melbourne, London and Los Angeles, ROLLER is already a globally focused company.

It currently supports clients in 15 countries and has translated the platform into 12 languages including Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic and Korean.

ROLLER client Lillian McMillan, Manager of Gravity Zone trampoline park in the UK explains “simply put, the ROLLER platform has allowed us to grow revenue, improve our operating efficiency and helped us get to know our customers better.

“ROLLER is a software solution that can handle the complexity and volume our business needs, and after looking at the different vendors there’s really no comparison.”

The funding round brings the total amount raised by ROLLER since founding to $15 million.

Other investors include Fairfax Media, who is also a client of ROLLER, as well as notable private investors including; Tony Harrington, John Mullen, Andrew McEvoy, and Robbie Cooke.

As part of the transaction, Jon Karlen from Acadian will be joining ROLLER’s Board which is chaired by Dennis Finn - former Global Vice Chairman of PwC and Chief Executive of Advisian.

Jon Karlen, a founding partner at Acadian, added “ROLLER has created a market leading product that is hyper focused on the unique needs of leisure and entertainment venue operators.

“It facilitates superior end-customer experiences and delivers tangible bottom line results for clients.

“Luke and Mark have already built a successful company with an impressive, engineering focused team. They have figured out how to grow rapidly without over investing in customer acquisition and are very well placed to lead it through this next growth phase.”

According to industry body IAAPA, global theme and amusement park attendance is expected to reach 1.3 billion by 2020, and be worth US$58 billion in total spending.

The market has been growing faster than nominal GDP growth since 2012, and ROLLER expects this to continue as consumer appetite for leisure and entertainment experiences continues to increase in all key markets around the world.

Looking to the future, Luke Finn concludes “ROLLER will continue to invest heavily in technology and innovation in order to help our clients grow. This has been key to our success to date and we want to both maintain and build upon our reputation as a pioneer within the industry.

“We will remain extremely focused on delivering real outcomes for our clients, and are confident that in doing so, we will grow to become the leading technology provider in our target markets.”

Editor’s note:Series B investment is about taking businesses to the next level, past thier development stage.

Click here to contact Roller Software via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: Luke and Mark Finn (top) and the ROLLER team (below).