Startup that automates sales pitch decks raises $1.5m in funding

Photo credit: SalesPreso.

Melbourne-based SalesPreso, which bills itself as a “PowerPoint on steroids,” has raised US$1.5 million in its first funding round, led by Sapien Ventures. Unnamed strategic investors in the financial services and sales sectors also participated.

The company, founded by Joel Thomson and Aaron Cooper, wants to help sales teams become more productive by automating the creation of their pitch decks. The platform integrates with customer relationship management systems, allowing the teams to pull data straight on to their slides.

SalesPreso is cloud-based, which means sales teams can manage their slides and collaborate on them online. It also tracks how each slide has performed.

“We replace the traditional static presentation – the presentation labored over by the salesperson for hours at a time, one customer at a time,” says Joel. “Relevant data-driven selling is our point of difference. We deliver data through a beautiful story-telling experience. The story is managed, tracked, and measured.”

SalesPreso founders Joel Thomson and Aaron Cooper.

Specifically, SalesPreso tracks who presented what to whom, which slides were used, how much time was spent on each slide, which slide was shared, and if and how each slide was interacted with.

Joel claims the platform saves sales teams 21 hours spent on presentations each week.

SalesPreso’s customers include big names such as real estate portal REA Group, Australia Post, MYOB, and StarTrack in Australia. American clients include Move, the online property listing site of News Corp.

The company will use the funds it raised mainly for sales and marketing.

Converted from Australian dollars. Rate: US$1 = A$1.33.