ITP Techblog

A who’s who of New Zealand veteran tech investors have backed Wellington start-up Atomic.io in a series A investment round that raised $5 million.

Atomic helps businesses include their customer experience with web-based and in-app engagement. Its existing customers include ANZ, Foodstuffs, Kiwibank and BNZ and its latest fundraising round is aimed at helping Atomic expand in Australia.

Investors joining the Series A round include well-established venture capital firms Movac and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1, Xero co-founders Rod Drury (who also serves as a director of Atomic) and Hamiah Walker, and former Trade Me executives and shareholders Sam Morgan and Rowan Simpson via their investment vehicles Jasmine Investments and Hoku, respectively.

Atomic handles health insurance claim updates in the app

Atomic is led by Ben Pujji, the former head of online sales at BNZ.

“Within the past year we have signed up five of the biggest Kiwi enterprise companies. Our customers tell us once they start working with Atomic they can increase customer engagement literally overnight,” Pujji told Startup Daily.

“The future of customer experience is proactive and personalised. Apps should work for you and let you know what you need to do next and give clear options,” added Drury.

“Atomic.io provides a platform for app developers to deliver those experiences. With a scarcity of mobile developers, I love that Atomic allows business analysts and product managers to deliver measurable mobile experiences quickly across iOS, Android and Web."

Atomic certainly has shades of Xero, which set out in 2007 to leverage software as a service to improve the experience of using accounting software. Loaded with experienced directors and investors, and with large New Zealand customers already using its platform, Atomic is well-placed for its Aussie expansion, which it will undertake from a base in Melbourne.

Customer service at many large businesses has suffered as a result of the pandemic with labour shortages leading to long wait times in call centre queues and poorly designed chatbots causing frustration for customers.

Atomic pitches its in-app engagement tools as a low-code platform. For instance, US health tech company SS&C is using Atomic as part of its platform to claims updates within customer apps.