Telstra, NAB create services marketplace for startups

NAB and Telstra are preparing to launch an online platform that will allow small business owners and startups to swap and trade services with each other.

Due to go live in July 2016, Proquo - an abbreviation of the phrase ‘quid pro quo’ - will allow startups and small businesses to exchange marketing, accounting, legal, design and technology services.

Entrepreneurs will be able to source a range of services, put contracts to tender, exchange quotes, manage payments, and publish reviews.

Where a trade involves a payment, the platform will hold half the funds in escrow until work has been completed.

While there will not be any charge for using the service initially, a commission of 7.5 to 10 percent will be applied to payments as of next year. However, there will not be any cost for non-financial trades between businesses.

The cloud-based marketplace will be available on the web and for mobile devices.

The platform was jointly developed by NAB’s innovation hub NAB Labs and Telstra’s Gurrowa innovation lab. It will be operated as an independent joint venture between the two companies.

The venture’s initial joint chief executives will be Carl Spurling, previously NAB Labs’ general manager of innovation management, and Ricky Lam, who was the general manager of e-commerce solutions at Telstra Business.

The dual CEOs will answer to a board made up of NAB Labs executive general manager Jonathan Davey, NAB executive general manager of micro and small businesses Leigh O’Neill, Telstra business group MD Andy Ellis, and Telstra's head of key accounts Christine Russo.

“Strategic partnerships like this one with Telstra, to combine the capabilities of two of Australia’s biggest companies, creates a really innovative business option for the small business community,” O’Neill said.

The investment comes after NAB announced in July last year it was sinking $50 million over three years into its new ventures fund as part of its innovation push. The fund is being overseen by angel investor and entrepreneur Todd Forest.