12 July, 2022

E142 – Katie Heathcote (Investment NSW) & Ryan Edwards-Pritchard (Cape)

Joining us for E142 are Katie Heathcote, Associate Director Technology – Export Services for Investment NSW and Ryan Edwards-Pritchard, CEO and Founder of Fintech company Cape. 

Katie’s role at Investment NSW sees her meet hustle with NSW tech companies that are at the right stage to scale globally. Investment NSW provides advice and mentoring to companies into which markets they should select to scale into, with one of Katie’s role responsibilities to ramp up exports for NSW. Investment NSW also has a department specialising in export assistance grants, an MVP team that focuses on the local ecosystem and helps companies get to the point of scaling and a tech precincts team that offers rental and subsidies among so much more. 

Ryan is the CEO and Founder of Cape, an expense management platform that will work with businesses to spend smarter, reduce wasteful spending and grow their business. Cape are currently in the closed beta phase of their timeline, having onboarded their first 34 customers and are about to move into the open beta phase with a public launch to happen at the end of the year. Cape currently employ a team of 25 predominantly across Sydney and other parts of Australia and around in the UK. They recently raised $30mil with a focus on a warehouse facility in Sydney – where the physical cards will be created – and an equity component – essentially where credit is coming from. 

Ian dives into Katie and Ryan’s chance meeting, how Katie has assisted Ryan with the success of Cape and also covers: 

• Investment NSW’s areas of focus which include Fintech, Cyber, Blockchain, Smart Cities, GreenTech, EdTech, AdTech, HealthTech
• Differences between the tech ecosystems in Australia and the UK 
• Human and financial capital 
• The importance of Australian startups thinking global from the get go 
• Scottish ties 

Quickfire Round 

• Book: Katie – Sally Rooney, Normal People | Ryan – Homer’s Iliad 
• Podcast: Katie – Bankless, 11FS | Ryan – Lex Freeman 
• News Source: Katie – Reddit, Financial Times | Ryan – AFR, The Australian, The Economist, National Geographic 
• App: Katie – Spotify | Ryan – Headspace
• Tech CEO: Katie – Sarah Biller | Ryan – Mike Cannon-Brookes   
• Productivity Tool: Katie – Monday | Ryan – Trello 
• TV Show: Katie – Toast of Tinseltown, Obi-Wan Kenobi 
• Recent Movie: Ryan – Top Gun 
• Ted Talk Topic: Katie – Music on the brain and mental health | Ryan – Marine conservation