Fundraising gets School Bytes to the head of the class
After two rounds of funding, the software that saves valuable time for hundreds of Australian schools achieved explosive growth.
2
Rounds:
$1.1 million AUD
Non-dilutive financing:
Use of funds:
Make strategic hires including Product and R&D Managers
Invest in product development
Scale operations
Lighter Capital Funding
Grew customer base to over 480 schools
Zero equity dilution
Reducing the administrative burden on Australian schools
Growth & Achievements
More on
School Bytes
About
School Bytes
School Bytes is an education technology company providing schools with the software tools they need to operate smoothly and efficiently. Headquartered in Lane Cove West, NSW, School Bytes offers a range of solutions designed for the Australian school system.
“Lighter Capital helped us get the funding we needed at a critical time in our growth, allowing us to continue to aid schools around Australia with their everyday administrative tasks.”
Blake Garrett
CEO at School Bytes
Quick Stats
Stage:
Growth
Industry:
Education Management
Headquarters:
Lane Cove West, NSW
Founded:
2016
Getting started
In May 2021 Lighter Capital provided School Bytes with $650K AUD of non-dilutive funding, followed by another $522K AUD at the end of the year. With this capital, School Bytes will continue to grow its school management platform, saving valuable time for hundreds of Australian schools. The School Bytes software creates a seamless process for requesting payments from parents, as well as keeping a history of all outbound communication with the school’s families.
Early success
School Bytes CEO Blake Garrett has done more than your average 23-year-old. Blake’s success started at an early age when he won his school tech competition. In his last year of high school, he founded School Bytes, a cloud-based company that streamlines administrative tasks for schools in Australia.
“Lighter Capital helped us get the funding we needed at a critical time in our growth, allowing us to continue to aid schools around Australia with their everyday administrative tasks,” said Garrett.
School Bytes features
After winning the YICTE (Young ICT Explorers) competition, two school districts immediately showed interest in Blake’s solution to the everyday hiccups that affect educational institutions. School Bytes aids schools by providing a variety of features that help schools with managing a variety of tasks including tuition payments, parent communication, events, and selection of sports.
School Bytes features include:
Payments module to help schools easily generate and email statements of accounts and payment reminders to parents
Parent communication module to send personalized emails to parents and students, such as newsletters, general notifications, and direct messages.
Event management feature allows school staff to create and manage excursions and events with staff and student groups including online permission notes all in one place for ease of use.
Sport selection system enables students to select their activity choices online, which helps athletic directors manage preferences in an easy-to-use format.
Current impact
School Bytes education management platform is quickly spreading throughout Australia. It's come a long way in a short amount of time — once serving just two schools, School Bytes is now used by more than 480 across NSW.
Today, School Bytes is also an active sponsor of the virtual YICTE competition, providing financial and judging support for similar students in the same position as Blake was several years ago.
