London based startup Lystable has secured $1.5m in funding from investors led by Valar Ventures, the US-based venture fund backed by Peter Thiel.
This investment makes Lystable only Valar’s second ever investment in London, following their investments in TransferWise.
Lystable, which helps companies connect with freelancers, businesses and services, was founded by ex-Google designer Peter Johnston in February 2014, after graduating from the Techstars London accelerators programme
In its first week alone, the start-up turned heads after securing $500k investment from Mark Evans of Balderton Capital, Richard Fearn and Courtney Grant, recognising the business as an important newcomer to the market while in its infancy.
Peter Johnston, founder and CEO of Lystable, said: “The way we all do business has fundamentally changed.
“While at Google, I experienced on a global level the pain of handling hundreds of relationships and interactions with freelancers, agencies and services.
“The navigation of this workflow for both enterprises and external parties is currently a mess. Our solution aims to solve this by centralising the data companies need in order to find, manage and evaluate the right partners.”
James Fitzgerald, a founding partner of Valar Ventures, added: “We are delighted to be supporting Peter and his team.
“Their approach to solving this problem by capitalising on pre-existing intelligence inside enterprises makes them a much more efficient and scalable option than the traditional marketplaces that currently exist. We are super excited by what they are building.”
The funding will enable this fast moving company to quickly activate its ambitious growth plans and add even more depth to the already heavy hitting product team, currently comprised of ex-Google, Salesforce, Huddle and Onefinestay designers and engineers.
Other participants in this round included Backed, Playfair Capital, Mark Evans, Richard Fearn, Guy Podjarny, Courtney Grant and Leila Rastegar Zegna.