User:BiH/Hipages Group

hipages Group (formerly Viteknologies) is a privately owned Australian technology company that serves as a lead generation partner and online directory services in the home improvement, natural therapies and pet services sectors.

History
The company was founded in 2004 by David Vitek. That same year, he partnered with Robert Sharon-Zipser, and launched the website in 2005.

Funding
The initial start-up capital for hipages Group came from the co-founders, with Venture capital fund Chester Capital acquiring a minority stake of Viteknologies in 2007. In May 2014, the company secured a $6 million investment from Ellerston Capital, KTM Capital, Australian Ethical Investment and others. The raising was facilitated by Right Click Capital

hipages.com.au
hipages.com.au was initially an online directory listing tradespersons and home service professionals, including general contractors, plumbers, electricians, and handymen. It later incorporated a pay per lead model into its product offering. The site allows consumers to post jobs, with three tradespersons sourced to quote on the work. The company is structured on a decentralised basis around growth and operations teams, with a strong focus on the use of technology. It has also adopted an approach called growth hacking to its operations, with a focus on search engine optimization, website analytics and A/B testing. Other competitors in the lead generation sector include Yellow Pages, Service Seeking and Oneflare.

Affiliations
In 2013 hipages Group entered into a partnership with IKEA.