Author: BLAKE STELZER, Managing Director and CEO, XCEND
As XCEND, the new kid on the registry services block, prepares to welcome its 100th register we talk to Founder, Blake Stelzer, about what sets XCEND apart.
Can you give me a little background on XCEND and the journey to founding the company?
Certainly, my co-founder (Ann Nguyen) and I are both registry experts who have been in the industry for the vast majority of our professional careers. Between the two of us we have worked with and been involved in the growth of most registry businesses in Australia and, in my case, also in London dealing with European markets. Prior to XCEND both Ann and I were involved with the emergence of a startup registry business where, during our time, there the business developed a new inhouse registry platform, delivered a great service model and expanded across Australia, servicing approximately 800 clients around the time of our departures.
After we left, I was considering a complete change of tack professionally. However we were approached by an investor who said to us that surely, with all our experience in the industry, wasn’t it time for us to found a registry, but this time for ourselves. So we could use our experience to challenge the market with our own vision of what was needed, knowing what clients really wanted and could not get.
Over the course of several more conversations and with some very strong excitement shown by Ann, we evolved this concept and I realised the opportunity of what could be done was too great to ignore – it was time for our legacy. There was also the feeling that we owed it to all the great relationships that we had developed throughout industry over all these years. This point marked the birth of XCEND, a business Ann and I designed to transcend the existing registry services offers.
Why do you believe there is a need for a new entrant in the registry services field?
That is a very easy question and one that I have had a lot of interesting conversations over. It is actually a question that is best answered by speaking to product issuers (clients) and their advisers across the industry, particularly across the small cap space. The answer that we validated simply comes down to service and the overall value that it comes with. The small caps and boutique fund manager industry is starved right now for a registry partner that can deliver this for them and are effectively rolling out the red carpet for Ann and me.
What makes Xcend stand apart from your peer group?
Foremost, we are the only remaining registry in Australia that is founded and operated by two registry industry experts. This is the industry we know intimately and this makes us highly committed to delivering a completely new level of professional relationship with our clients and their investors.
We are also fortunate enough to be scaling our business with the most highly capable and committed team that I have ever worked with. It was an ambition in at least one other business that I was involved with that all employees would be equity holders. I liked that ambition and with XCEND we are making sure that this is true for 100% of our employees. We are here to do things differently and in the right way.
How comprehensive are Xcend’s service offerings?
If we are talking registry professional services, then 100% comprehensive and the best available in the industry. If we are talking more broadly regarding other non-registry professional services, then absolutely none. We pride ourselves in what we know about registry services. Our business delivers full-service share and unit registry to a very high standard. Whether it be supporting our clients with a multifaceted capital raising transaction, scheme implementation, dividend/distribution or complex unitisation cycle for a managed fund we deliver in all areas registry and have more much satisfied clients because of what we know, what we do and how we go about doing it.
Are you focusing on specific types of companies, or sectors of the market, to drive Xcend’s growth?
Yes absolutely, our focus is micro to mid-cap companies, boutique fund managers and alternative investments. These are all areas where the quality in service delivery of a registry is critical and where we can make a real difference. Larger, more transactionally focused opportunities are of no interest to us, and I doubt will ever be.
How many clients do you have and what has made them shift from your competitors?
We are getting close to soon being able to celebrate onboarding our 100th client register, which is very exciting for us! On this note, we are very proud to now be Australia’s fastest growing registry.
The shift of clients choosing to move from other registry providers across to XCEND is in all cases due to the reasons that I have described.
I must say however that we are having to overcome hurdles such as existing registry services providers charging overinflated fees for the release of a company’s data back to them when they wish to move. Our view is such tactics serve to damage the other provider’s reputation and they would do better to focus on improving their service delivery!
What does the current Xcend leadership team look like, and do they have the capacity to drive growth?
Absolutely, our focus is to build a long-term sustainable business, and our leadership and advisory team is setup to achieve exactly that. Along with Ann and I as directors we are accompanied by Peter Hiom and Vaughn Taylor. Peter, our Chair, has a great deal of experience in critical financial market infrastructure and was the deputy CEO at the ASX for over 10 years. Vaughn brings a great deal of corporate growth and structuring experience, sitting on the board of a number of successful growth companies and was previously the Chief Investment Officer of AMB Capital Partners.
We also have the benefit of a very strong XCEND advisory committee which consists of Andy Stewart over in the US, Geoff Lloyd and Nick Mckee, and just very recently the appointment of Nick Menere.
How are you funding the business’ growth?
Revenue and equity funding. Shortly after incorporating the company, we immediately proceeded to complete a modest strategic raise to assemble a core pool of investors who are close to us and have the resources to provide the long term equity funding for the business as needed.
You’ve been CEO for a little over 18 months, where do you see the business in 18 months’ time?
Continued strong growth within our Total Addressable Market (TAM). Most importantly, what you will see from us is delivering innovation of service to market to provide a very different alternative to what registry currently looks like. Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific as it is a business secret but what I will say is that I am very confident that it is going to bring a whole lot more freedom of choice and flexibility to our industry.