Domenic Carosa (born 1974) is an Australian businessman from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Carosa was the co-founder of the digital music company,
Destra Corporation
Destra Corporation Limited, previously known as Sprint Corporation and Ehyou, was an independent Australian owned media and entertainment company based in Richmond, Victoria founded by Domenic Carosa. Destra's interests spanned film, internet ...
. At the age of 25, Destra was listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
, making Carosa the youngest CEO to manage a company on the Securities Exchange in Australian history.
Destra's assets were sold after the
Opes Prime
Opes Prime Group Limited was an Australian securities lending and stockbroking firm which suffered a dramatic collapse in 2008.
Overview
The company was founded in 2003 by Laurie Emini and Julian Smith. Emini, an Albanian emigrant to Australi ...
collapse in 2008, and Carosa became the founder of the Future Capital Development Fund in 2008. In 2014, the development fund diversified into
bitcoin
Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...
investment by launching the Future Capital Bitcoin Fund, which was the first of its kind in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
In 2014 Carosa founded Banxa, a
fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
-cryptocurrency payment processing company, that had
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 2021 and is currently listed in
Toronto Venture Exchange.
Carosa is also the co-founder and CEO of the mobile Q&A company,
Crowd Mobile.
Early life and education
Carosa was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 1974. Carosa attended the
Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship where he earned a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Career
Carosa began his career while he was a teenager
by co-founding the media and entertainment company Destra with his sister in 1993.
The company was originally called Sprint and owned entertainment websites in Australia. He was 25 years old when
Destra was first publicly listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
, making him the youngest CEO in Australian history.
Carosa officially launched the
Destra Corporation
Destra Corporation Limited, previously known as Sprint Corporation and Ehyou, was an independent Australian owned media and entertainment company based in Richmond, Victoria founded by Domenic Carosa. Destra's interests spanned film, internet ...
brand in 2004, and in 2005 announced first year revenue of over $15 million. In 2004,
Destra Corporation
Destra Corporation Limited, previously known as Sprint Corporation and Ehyou, was an independent Australian owned media and entertainment company based in Richmond, Victoria founded by Domenic Carosa. Destra's interests spanned film, internet ...
announced a large deal with
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
to integrate a new suite of services with OzHosting.com's Web hosting service.
Destra reverse-listed on the exchange just prior to the
dot-com crash
The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...
in 2000.
Carosa diversified the company into a web hosting company following the crash, and later led it to become a $100 million company and the second largest web hosting company in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Carosa's company was greatly affected by the collapse of
Opes Prime
Opes Prime Group Limited was an Australian securities lending and stockbroking firm which suffered a dramatic collapse in 2008.
Overview
The company was founded in 2003 by Laurie Emini and Julian Smith. Emini, an Albanian emigrant to Australi ...
in 2008. After the collapse, Carosa had his stake reduced in the company to less than 1%, at which point he shifted from Managing Director to the role of a consultant for the company.
Crowd Mobile
In 2009, Carosa launched Crowd Mobile, a mobile company where users pay experts to answer their questions, each billed at a set amount. In 2015, Carosa's Crowd Mobile announced that it would be acquiring the Dutch firm, Track Holdings for $35 million AUD. During the same year, the company also raised an additional $2 million in a round of funding and also acquired Any Questions Answered (AQA Mobile) for $165,000.
Crowd Mobile again featured in the media in early 2016, after it reached monthly revenues of $4.1 million. The questions and answers website at that stage had reached over 1,000 experts answering questions in over 30 different languages.
Following the operational restructuring in 2019, Crowd Mobile Saw a notable turnover, led by CEO Domenic Carosa and chairman steven
schapera.
Schapera is the co-founder of BECCA Cosmetics, a company acquired by cosmetics organisation Estee Lauder in a buyout worth a reported AU$300 million.
Additionally, along with the restructure at the start of the year the organisation changed its name from Crowd Mobile to Crowd Media Holdings Limited.
Crowd Media
Carosa serves as Crowd Media’s CEO and Executive Director. Crowd Media covers more than 30 languages on five continents. In June 2020, Carosa led Crowd Media in raising US$1.5 million in capital in a heavily subscribed placement. Via Entering into a commerce agreement with VITAL Innovations, a London-based manufacturer of newborn and health products, Crowd Media committed to leveraging social media, social commerce, and the influencer market, selling the Vital Family, Vital Baby, and SuperSafe ranges to European markets. As part of the deal, VITAL purchased five million Crowd Media shares, providing a cash injection to bolster sales by funding strategic marketing initiatives. The deal saw Crowd Media’s share price rise by 17.9 cents%, selling at 3.3 cents each on 16 June 2020.
Future Capital Development Fund
Around the same time Crowd Mobile launched he founded Future Capital Development Fund, which focused primarily on early stage startups. Within the first two years, the Future Capital Development Fund raised more than $3 million for acquisitions, through an initial offering of shares. By late 2010, Carosa expected "to raise between $10m and $20m from a public float of FCDF later this year or early next year, depending on market conditions."
By the end of 2012, FCDF had acquired 3 large stakes in three online companies, Our Wishing Well, Domain Folio 1 and SMS Central Australia.
Carosa launched the Future Capital Bitcoin Fund in 2014. The bitcoin-based fund is considered the first dedicated bitcoin investment fund in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Harris Technology Group
Between 2013 and 2016, Domenic Carosa served as non-executive director of Harris Technology Group Limited as part of the merger with Shoply.
Collaborate Corporation
Between 2014 and 2016, Domenic Carosa served as non-executive director of Collaborate Corporation Limited (CL8).
External links
Future Capital websiteCrowd Mobile websiteBanxa website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carosa, Domenic
1974 births
Living people
Australian financial businesspeople