AUNUA Youth Ambassador Blog Series
From a Viral Post to $1.4 Million: How Liam Fuller Raised a Round from Australia
“How on earth does a 17-year-old raise $1.4 million? Great question.”
A year before raising $1.4 million, Liam Fuller went viral on LinkedIn for taking a sales call from his high school bathroom. That post eventually got him suspended from school — and then he dropped out entirely.
For most people, that might have felt like the end of the road. For Liam, it was just the beginning.
A holiday that became something more
In March of that year, Liam boarded a flight to Australia — a trip he had been looking forward to for a long time. It was the first time in ten years he was going to see his grandparents, and it was meant to be a holiday.
But Liam is not the kind of person who switches off.
He knew he wanted to meet founders and investors while he was in the country, so he logged onto LinkedIn and started sending emails. Most people never responded.
But a few did.
And from those few conversations, something real started to take shape.
Sometimes the opportunity starts with simply sending the email.
One cold email
With an active fundraising round beginning to come together, Liam made a bold move. He cold emailed Paul Bassat — the co-founder of Square Peg VC, one of Australia's largest and most respected venture capital funds — simply asking for advice.
The next day, Paul agreed to meet.
Liam took a three-hour train journey from his grandparents' house to Sydney for a 20-minute conversation.
Towards the end of that meeting, Liam asked Paul directly if he would consider angel investing in Source, his company.
Paul declined — explaining that he typically invests through the fund and that Liam was still at an early stage. But instead of leaving it there, Paul offered to make introductions to help move the round forward.
Two days later
Two days later, Liam was sitting in a room with the entire Square Peg investment team.
He described it as probably the most nerve-wracking experience of his life.
He walked out with no idea how it had gone.
And then, just twenty minutes later, his phone rang.
It was Paul. He wanted to lead the round.
Raised from Square Peg, TEN13, Xtripe Syndicate and Stripe alumni — bringing together investors from San Francisco, Australia and Ireland.
The final result was $1.4 million raised from Square Peg, TEN13, Xtripe Syndicate, and Stripe alumni — including David Singleton, the former CTO of Stripe.
Investors from San Francisco, Australia, and Ireland all came together behind Liam and his vision for Source: an agentic AI ordering system for retail procurement.
Liam was grateful not just for the investment, but for everyone who made introductions and gave their time along the way with no expectation of anything in return.
As he put it himself — this is just the start.
AUNUA Youth Ambassador
At AUNUA, we are proud to have Liam Fuller as one of our Youth Ambassadors. His story shows what is possible when a young person backs themselves, takes the leap, and keeps going — even when the door closes.
Sometimes, all it takes is one email.