Shorthand
No-code story platform for publishers, brands and universities
At a glance
The business
Shorthand is a B2B software platform for building immersive web stories without design or development work. Founded in Brisbane in 2013 out of an independent news venture, it is used by more than 5,000 teams including the BBC, Dow Jones, Honda, Cambridge and UNICEF.
A newsroom or a brand team wants a feature that holds a reader to the end, and the front-end engineering to build one is rarely available at the moment the story is. Shorthand’s software solutions help remove that constraint and allow for beautiful storytelling.
Why Fortitude partnered.
The same frame guides every investment: good people, building a good business, in a good market. For Shorthand, that means:
01 Good people
A technical team out of Brisbane that built the platform to profitability before taking any institutional capital.
02 Good business
Recurring subscription revenue that expands with publishing volume, blue-chip customers across media, brands and universities, and ISO 27001 / SOC2 certification.
03 Good markets
Secular growth in brand publishing and digital storytelling, with content budgets moving in-house to teams that have no front-end engineering resource.
How we work together.
Fortitude provided Shorthand’s first institutional capital, backing chief executive Ricky Robinson in a business that was already profitable and had never raised. Fortitude and management have since invested in international offices, enterprise sales and the security certifications large customers require.
Capital
First institutional capital to fund international expansion and enterprise sales, in a business that was already profitable.
Strategy focus
Market insight and networks to extend from media into corporate communications, higher education and government.
People and governance
Added board capability and supported the build-out of an executive team across engineering, sales, marketing and finance.
Could this be your next chapter?
If you are a founder weighing up a partner, see what the journey looks like, or start a conversation, in confidence and with no obligation.