Former CRN Fast50 winner Vonex completes $6 million IPO to list on ASX

Vonex, the 2014 CRN Fast50 winner based in Brisbane and Perth, has successfully listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, following more than two years of ups and down in a bid to list and fund the development of a key piece of intellectual property.

The company announced on Wednesday it had commenced trading on the ASX under the code VN8, and that the listing represented the culmination of “hard work and support from various stakeholders and management firmly believes will be transformational for the business”.

The listing was funded to the tune of $6 million, which it will invest in its business units as well as new products.

Vonex’s journey to a public listing can be traced back July 2015, when it aimed to perform a reverse listing with oil and gas company Aleator Energy, which then announced in September it would be happy to proceed after completing due diligence.

That process came undone in April 2016, following a disagreement between Vonex and the ASX over the company's prospectus concerning where the $5 million raised from investments be held and spent.

Vonex considered a second attempt at listing in July 2016.

In August 2017 news broke that Vonex would seek an $8 million listing on the National Securities Exchange via a prospectus. But the listing did not go live and has since been withdrawn according to the NSX website.

Following yesterday's float, Vonex said it would concentrate on three main areas.

Firstly, the telco will look to grow its Vonex Telecom division with investment in marketing and channel partners on the back of opportunities with the NBN.

Vonex is also pushing its in-house developed Oper8tor application into beta shortly. Oper8tor is a multi-platform communications app, slated to be the ‘one app to rule them all’.

The product was born out of Vonex's co-founder and chief technology officer Angus Parker and managing director Matt Fahey’s frustrations with the myriad communications apps in the market.  

Thirdly, Vonex will evaluate its wholesale business, with a view to expand the units offered products and services. “The company will continue to attract new white-label carrier businesses to the group, both here in Australia and overseas,” the company announced.

Its unified communications platform underpins Inabox's flagship UC platform, following a 2017 deal.

Following the successful listing on the ASX, Fahey recognised the “momentous” occasion.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over the last couple of years and extended special thank you to Alan Hill and State One Equities for their efforts in supporting the IPO. Today is a truly momentous day for Vonex and we look forward to providing further updates in due course,” he said.

Vonex was founded in 2009 and shot to the top of the CRN Fast50 in 2014 after revenues grew by 232 percent revenue to reach $3.7 million in 2014.

It was born on the back of its hosted PBX, supported by an automated PBX provisioning tool used by resellers.