Sean Senvirtne

Sean Senvirtne is an Australian businessman. He is the founder of the online marketplace MyDeal, which later became a subsidiary of Woolworths Group. In 2022, he sold the majority share of the MyDeal group to Woolworths in a deal worth $280 million.[1] He retained shares in the business, and remained as the chief executive of MyDeal until its closure in late 2025.

As a businessman, he has been recognised by Australian media for his entrepreneurship.[2][3]

Career

In his twenties, Senvirtne founded two startups. The second of which was NiteGuide, which ran as a Whitepages specifically for nightclubs in Australia. To make the website profitable, Senvirtne between 2007 and 2011 pitched advertising packages for the website, which gave him the idea for MyDeal.[4]

In 2011, Sean Senvirtne founded MyDeal, an online marketplace in Australia for independent sellers to sell goods, often furniture and homeware.[5] By 2015, Deloitte listed E-com, the parent of MyDeal, as the ninth fastest growing tech company in Australia.[6] Senvirtne was recognised for the growth of MyDeal by CEO Magazine, when he was put forward for its CEO of the Year award.[7]

By 2019, Australian Financial Review reported that MyDeal had reached $60 million AUD Gross Turnover Value (GTV) run rate, and would consider an initial public offering.[8] Around the same time, Senvirtne announced that MyDeal would begin to offer a range of products via its own private label.[5] In October 2020, it was announced that MyDeal would be floated on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). It valued MyDeal at A$259 million.[9] After it listed on the ASX, MyDeal initially increased its share value by around 80%.[10][11]

In May 2022, Woolworths made an offer to acquire up to 80% of MyDeal.com.au from Senvirtne.[12] The deal was touted my Australian media to create an online platform for Woolworths that could rival Amazon in the country,[13] in a deal worth $243 million.[1] As part of the deal, Senvirtne would retain a 20% stake. As the Woolworths acquisition of MyDeal was finalised, it was announced that Big W would expand its online reach by listing its products on MyDeal.[14] Following the deal, Senvirtne remained as chief executive of MyDeal. In August 2022, he frequently appeared in the media following a data breach.[15][16][17] MyDeal was shut down by Woolworths in late 2025.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b LaFrenz, Carrie (May 20, 2022). "Woolworths defends $243m offer for MyDeal". Australian Financial Review.
  2. ^ Ogg, Matt (December 23, 2021). "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs". Business News Australia.
  3. ^ White, Kye. "How MyDeal grew its sales 10x in only five years". SmartCompany.
  4. ^ Powell, Dominic (August 17, 2016). "How MyDeal founder Sean Senvirtne bootstrapped his way to build a $30 million online retail business". SmartCompany.
  5. ^ a b "MyDeal.com.au seeks $40m IPO as Aussie tech boom rolls on". The Sentiment.
  6. ^ "Technology Fast 50 - 2015 Australia" (PDF). Deloitte. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
  7. ^ "The 2016 CEO Magazine awards". CEO Magazine.
  8. ^ Redrup, Yolanda (August 26, 2019). "MyDeal ponders IPO after 'maturing' and making a profit". Australian Financial Review.
  9. ^ Waters, Cara (October 20, 2020). "MyDeal joins the e-commerce IPO bandwagon". Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ^ Redrup, Yolanda (October 22, 2020). "MyDeal soars more than 80pc on ASX debut". Australian Financial Review.
  11. ^ Sprague, Julie-anne (November 26, 2020). "Meet Australia's newest and youngest self-made millionaires". Australian Financial Review.
  12. ^ Chanthadavong, Aimee (May 19, 2022). "Woolworths to expand e-commerce offering with 80% stake in MyDeal". ZDNet.
  13. ^ Sharples, Sarah (May 23, 2022). "Woolworths offers to buy MyDeal for $243m". News Corp Australia.
  14. ^ Koehn, Emma. "Big W's online reach expands as Woolies finalises MyDeal buy". Sydney Morning Herald.
  15. ^ "Woolworths Group's MyDeal hit by breach exposing data of 2.2 million customers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. October 14, 2022.
  16. ^ "Woolworths says 2.2 million MyDeal customers' details exposed in data breach". The Guardian. October 15, 2022.
  17. ^ "Woolworths CEO apologises for MyDeal data breach". Australian Financial Review.
  18. ^ Sharma, Yashee (2025-06-27). "Woolworths to pay $100 million to shut down failing online marketplace MyDeal". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
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