Sean Senvirtne

Sean Senvirtne is an Australian businessman. He is the founder and CEO of MyDeal, which is now a subsidiary of Woolworths. In 2022, he sold the majority share of the MyDeal group to Woolworths in a deal worth $280 million.[1] He retained shares in the business, and remained as the Chief Executive of MyDeal.

As a businessman, he has been recognised by Australian media for his entrepreneurship.[2][3]

Career

In his twenties, Senvirtne founded two startups. The second of which was NiteGuide, which ran as a Whitepages specifically for nightclubs in Australia. To make the website profitable, Senvirtne between 2007 and 2011 pitched advertising packages for the website, which gave him the idea for MyDeal.[4]

In 2011, Sean Senvirtne founded MyDeal, an online marketplace in Australia. The marketplace is for independent sellers to sell goods, often furniture and homeware.[5] By 2015, Deloitte listed E-com, the parent of MyDeal, as the ninth fastest growing tech company in Australia.[6] Senvirtne was recognised for the growth of MyDeal by CEO Magazine, when he was put forward for its CEO of the Year award, along with StarTrack's Bob Black and Special Broadcasting Service's Michael Ebeid.[7]

By 2019, Australian Financial Review reported that MyDeal had reached $60 million AUD Gross Turnover Value (GTV) run rate, and would consider an initial public offering.[8] Around the same time, Senvirtne announced that MyDeal would begin to offer a range of products via its own private label.[5]

In October 2020, it was announced that MyDeal would be floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). It valued MyDeal at $259 million AUD.[9] After it listed on the ASX, MyDeal initially increased its share value by around 80%.[10][11]

In May 2022, Woolworths made an offer to acquire up to 80% of MyDeal.com.au from Senvirtne.[12] The deal was touted my Australian media to create an online platform for Woolworths that could rival Amazon in the country,[13] in a deal worth $243 million.[1] As part of the deal, Senvirtne would retain a 20% stake. As the Woolworths acquisition of MyDeal was finalised, it was announced that Big W would expand its online reach by listing its products on MyDeal.[14]

Following the deal, Senvirtne remained as Chief Executive of MyDeal. In August 2022, he frequently appeared in the media following a data breach.[15][16][17]

References

  1. ^ a b LaFrenz, Carrie (May 20, 2022). "Woolworths defends $243m offer for MyDeal". Australian Financial Review.
  2. ^ Ogg, Matt (December 23, 2021). "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs". Business News Australia.
  3. ^ White, Kye. "How MyDeal grew its sales 10x in only five years". SmartCompany.
  4. ^ Powell, Dominic (August 17, 2016). "How MyDeal founder Sean Senvirtne bootstrapped his way to build a $30 million online retail business". SmartCompany.
  5. ^ a b "MyDeal.com.au seeks $40m IPO as Aussie tech boom rolls on". The Sentiment.
  6. ^ "Technology Fast 50 - 2015 Australia" (PDF). Deloitte. p. 18.
  7. ^ "The 2016 CEO Magazine awards". CEO Magazine.
  8. ^ Redrup, Yolanda (August 26, 2019). "MyDeal ponders IPO after 'maturing' and making a profit". Australian Financial Review.
  9. ^ Waters, Cara (October 20, 2020). "MyDeal joins the e-commerce IPO bandwagon". Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ^ Redrup, Yolanda (October 22, 2020). "MyDeal soars more than 80pc on ASX debut". Australian Financial Review.
  11. ^ Sprague, Julie-anne (November 26, 2020). "Meet Australia's newest and youngest self-made millionaires". Australian Financial Review.
  12. ^ Chanthadavong, Aimee (May 19, 2022). "Woolworths to expand e-commerce offering with 80% stake in MyDeal". ZDNet.
  13. ^ Sharples, Sarah (May 23, 2022). "Woolworths offers to buy MyDeal for $243m". News Corp Australia.
  14. ^ Koehn, Emma. "Big W's online reach expands as Woolies finalises MyDeal buy". Sydney Morning Herald.
  15. ^ "Woolworths Group's MyDeal hit by breach exposing data of 2.2 million customers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. October 14, 2022.
  16. ^ "Woolworths says 2.2 million MyDeal customers' details exposed in data breach". The Guardian. October 15, 2022.
  17. ^ "Woolworths CEO apologises for MyDeal data breach". Australian Financial Review.