Sydney's V2 Digital secures $30 million in funding from US VC firm

Sydney-based digital and data consultancy V2 Digital has secured $30 million from US venture capital company Columbia Capital.

V2 Digital is "poised for expansion," with the funding to "assist in accelerating V2’s current growth trajectory and enhance its capabilities", according to a company statement.

Founded in April 2023 by Craig Howe, V2 Digital offers services covering cloud, software, data, ML and AI, customer experience and product. 

Howe previously founded Nebulr, which was acquired by UK devops and cloud transformation consultancy Contino in 2018.

V2 Digital said it has "ambitions to be the leading digital and data consultancy in APAC (Asia Pacific)" and is on track to exceed revenue expectations this financial year.

“This investment will enable V2 to further bolster our strong market position by strengthening our offerings, attracting top talent to grow our consulting team to 90+ by the end of the year, and broadening our geographical reach beyond our existing footprint in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane,” said Craig Howe, CEO of V2 Digital.

Columbia Capital is a growth equity investor with more than 30 years of experience that has backed more than 175 communications and technology companies, V2 Digital said.

Jason Booma, partner at Columbia Capital, said the investors saw the potential in V2 Digital with Howe at the helm, the proven ability of the team and recognised the gap in the market for clients seeking specialised expertise.

“With an exceptional leadership team, spearheaded by Craig, along with an experienced team of talented data specialists, software and cloud engineers and designers, we saw the potential of V2’s service offerings and believe the business is on track to cement its position as a go-to brand for complex and transformative solutions,” Booma said.

V2 Digital said that this year it has has "delivered measurable value for several household brands" in the retail, energy, healthcare, media and construction sectors. 

“We have a deep appreciation and understanding of the challenges leaders face today, with many in our ranks having been key decision-makers on the customer side, contributed to growing tech organisations, built market-leading consultancies, and held senior positions inside all three hyperscalers - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and Microsoft,” Howe said.

The funding comes after V2 Digital announced the appointment of Matt Farmer as a board member and investor in November 2023.

It also follows senior leadership appointments at V2 Digital of ex-Microsoft chief architect Shane Baldacchino as director of cloud; ex-Servian director Steve Tzortzidis as director of data and AI; and former Microsoft CTO and AWS head of technology for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Pete Stanski as CTO.

In November 2023, V2 Digital attained Advanced Tier status within the AWS Partner Network. It was also selected as an ANZ finalist for the AWS Rising Star Partner of the Year 2024.

Columbia Capital's investment in V2 Digital follows overseas investments in or acquisitions of Australian IT channel companies by the likes of Exclusive Networks, Evergreen Services Group, UK sustainability consultancy ERM and Danish asset management and financier Formue Nord A/S.