BenchOn completes 650k capital raising

GOLD Coast technology company BenchOn has raised $650,000 from angel investors as it looks to scale nationally to meet strong demand.

The business was founded in 2016 by ex-Australian Army major Tim Walmsley. It revolves around a technology platform that matches idle or “benched” staff to short-term contracts with other reputable companies.

In the past 18 months it has processed more than $50 million worth of contracts across a variety of industries including defence, IT, construction, mining, engineering, cyber security and logistics.

Mr Walmsley said the problem of employee underutilisation is costing the Australian economy $305 billion each year in lost productivity.

“Employees on the ‘bench’ is a critical issue for small-tomedium-size businesses as it cripples their cash flow and forces them to lose valuable employees. At the same time, large organisations are frustrated that they do not have a ‘bench’ of high-quality staff ready to respond at short notice to tasks from their clients.”

Mr Walmsley is an alumni of BlueChilli, Australia’s largest tech startup accelerator.

Mr Walmsley originally tried to launch the business on his own before signing up to the BlueChilli accelerator program. He credits the BlueChilli program with getting the startup launched as a viable product.