Tracksuit
Footwork co-leads the Series A in the brand tracking software company growing quickly amongst brand leaders.
In the fall of 2023, we heard about a company “down under” that is building a special team and culture as it increasingly finds product-market fit, a combination perhaps not seen in the ANZ region since the early days of Canva. Naturally, that piqued our interest, and we set about trying to learn more. We were introduced (by both Hannah Chelkowski and Niki Scevak on the same day) to Connor Archbold and Matt Herbert, co-founders and co-CEOs at Tracksuit, and, after a few Zoom conversations, we understood what the hype was about. We were hooked.
Tracksuit is building brand tracking software so that businesses can easily track their brand health. Whereas legacy services companies, such as Nielsen, Kantar, and IRi, charge hundreds of thousands per year to get an annual or semi-annual sense for a company’s brand awareness, Tracksuit is always-on, surveying thousands of consumers in a category many times per year, to get frequent new insights, at a fraction of the cost and delivered through software. In a world where performance marketing has become tougher to generate ROI on for most consumer brands, Tracksuit is helping brand marketing be more actionable and measurable. Brand marketers finally have a SaaS platform to be at the core of their toolkit, and it is spreading rapidly within their community as a result; to brands such as Athletic Brewing, Away Luggage, Momofuku, MyFitnessPal, Opendoor, Steve Madden and Supergoop!, all of which are Tracksuit customers.
Having been around businesses such as Stitch Fix, The Farmer’s Dog, and Ulta Beauty, we’ve seen the power of investing in brand first-hand, and how marketers are waking up to this reality more today than at any other time in the past decade. Tracksuit has ridden this trend to grow very quickly in the couple years since it launched. What impressed us as we dug into the business, however, was not just the product-market fit and the market opportunity, but the people behind it.
The company was founded in Auckland, New Zealand, a place that has not given rise to many large technology companies thus far. But when we flew down to Auckland in December to finalize our partnership, we found that Connor, Matt, Hamish, Mikayla, Harry, Stu, Talia, Caitlin, Dan, Elly, and others on the team have entered into uncharted territory. They’ve built a high-performing culture across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and the U.S., with values such as keep things simple, drive insane momentum, and leave things better than we found them. This is a team that isn’t getting lucky — it’s executing and finding its feet on the global playing field.
Today we’re delighted to announce Tracksuit’s $13.5 million Series A, led by Altos Ventures and Footwork, and joined by co-investors and friends such as Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Lenny Rachitsky, and Tim Brown. With this new funding, Tracksuit is doubling down on the U.S. market — please reach out if you’re a marketer/founder/CEO interested in trying the product — and hiring across New York, London, Sydney, and Auckland. Come join us!
