NZ cloud software company Datagate adds CTO of Dell EMC to board line up

New Zealand cloud software start-up Datagate Innovation Limited has appointed Arron Patterson – Dell EMC Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific and Japan, and start-up investor/mentor – as a Non-Executive Director.   For customers including a network of Spark resellers and one of New Zealand’s largest IT services companies, Datagate’s cloud billing solution provides online billing, reporting and customer self-service for usage-based services. Arron Patterson joins BankLink founder Malcolm McDonald on the Datagate board. Mr Patterson has also invested in Datagate through investment group Flying Kiwi Angels. In his role as investor, advisor and mentor for Flying Kiwi Angels Patterson routinely sees presentations from six different start-ups and start-up ideas each week. He says Datagate ‘stood out from the pack.’ “I was impressed by CEO Mark Loveys’ track record of creating shareholder value and with the quality of the team around him,” Arron Patterson says. “Datagate’s product is also pretty mature and it has happy customers. The foundations are in place for the company to grow in scale. Part of my regional CTO role is to evaluate the cloud IT service provider market. One of the persistent challenges for these organisations is the need to carve up a service stream and give it to multiple metered customers. Datagate’s value is that it can bill, rate and present virtually any service that is subscription or usage-based. Metered billing continues to be an issue for managed service providers the world over, which is why Datagate has global growth potential. This is a start-up that has successfully solved a difficult issue for many utility and telco customers. Cloud IT service providers are the next logical target.” CEO Mark Loveys says Arron Patterson’s expertise in managed service provisioning, and his global business connections, are valuable for both customer acquisition and strategic planning. “Arron lives and breathes the large IT service provider market, which is one of Datagate’s biggest market opportunities,” he says. "These are highly strategic customers because they generate new ‘white label’ opportunities for Datagate within their own reseller and customer communities. This grows annualised revenue. It’s a dynamic that has seen Datagate almost triple customer numbers and contracted annualised revenue in the last twelve months,” Mark Loveys says.   Formerly a wholly-owned division of NZAX-listed Enprise Group (ENS), in 2015 Datagate was established as a joint venture between Enprise Group and new investors, including the Ice Angels, VIF, Flying Kiwi Angels and Datagate management. First round seed funding of $1.46 million was raised and a separate board established, BankLink founder Malcolm McDonald joined the board as a director and Enprise CEO and co-founder Mark Loveys was appointed CEO.