Macquarie Bank buys into Internet café chain, Everywhere Internet

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 11:35

IT Industry - Deals

Macquarie Bank has taken a 20 percent stake in Internet café and kiosk chain, Everywhere Internet, for an undisclosed sum and will provide debt finance to fund the rollout of additional cafes and kiosks across Australia.

Macquarie Bank subsidiary, Macquarie Technology Finance, purchased the stake and its managing director, Andrew Gee has joined the board of Everywhere Internet, which presently includes Mark Korda of Korda Mentha, who has also bought a strategic stake through investment company, 333 Capital.

Other board members are the cofounders - Martin Rushe, a former Goldman Sachs analyst and European Space Agency scientist; Craig Watkins (chairman),  former managing director of Liquorland - Sydney based businessman Tim Mahony and UK technologist Nick Bryant.

Everywhere Internet provides pay-as-you-go Internet access via an automated, self-serve system  - users insert cash into a machine which provides a password. Users connect either via Everywhere's PCs or their own laptops or smartphones. The company claims that a unique aspect of its technology is 'Internet roaming', which allows customers to use their credit at any Everywhere Internet location, some of which are owned and operated by franchisees.
 
The company presently has 20 outlets in Sydney and Melbourne and says it is in the middle of a national rollout. The partners say they "plan to have operations in all capital cities and major centres over the next three years, while extending the Everywhere brand to other related ventures."  The company owns most of its present outlets, but future ones will be franchisee-owned. It claims to serve 10,000 users each day.

In January 2005, Everywhere Internet opened Australia's biggest Internet café, a 300-seat facility on Castlereagh Street in the Sydney CB, complete with its own in-store Gloria Jeans Coffee franchise. This was followed in July this year with another large centre on George Street in Sydney with over 200 PCs.

Everywhere Internet's first unmanned AutoKiosk was opened in the Westfield Shopping Centre, Bondi Junction, Sydney in December 2005.