Our Founder Story | Murray & Nic Scarce
Murray, or Muz as I call him, my husband and co-founder, is a true blue Aussie, born and raised in Blackall, Queensland. As a curious kid, he devoured encyclopaedias ‘for fun’, a habit that now fuels his (extremely useful) detailed research abilities. As a boarder at Toowoomba Grammar School, Muz also excelled as a competitive swimmer and later went on to be accepted into NIDA (Australia’s National Dramatic Arts). After high school he moved into engineering at Boeing Aerospace Defence and then managed major construction projects. His comprehensive experience, topped with an MBA in Data Science and Project Management, make him the perfect leader for WandrLust – he’s a bit of an over achiever, my husband!
As for me, I’m originally from the UK and moved to Australia in 2004. Initially terrified by Australia’s wildlife, I’ve since made peace with all Aussie critters and would go as far to say that I love them all, even cockroaches! My background at Twentieth Century Fox and Watermelon Global Licensing has been essential in shaping user experiences at WandrLust.
Introduction: Our Roots and Evolution
Our startup journey began in 2015 when my mum visited us from the UK. Assuming all animals in Australia were going to cause instant death, mum’s fear of Australian wildlife pushed Muz to the edge one night – “Wouldn’t a Shazam for animals be amazing?” But, with a two-year old and a new born baby, we were way too exhausted to contemplate taking this idea any further.
Early Years: Building Critterpedia
In 2019, as our kids grew and we regained some sleep, we naively invested $20,000 with an app development company. Excited yet very naïve, we asked how long it would take to launch our app. “Three months,” they claimed, and we eagerly, or stupidly, invested our hard earned cash. This was a costly lesson, but we did walk away with a killer, yet expensive, logo.
Refusing to give up, we reached out to Australia’s National Science Agency, the CSIRO. To our absolute surprise, they loved our ‘Shazam for animals’ concept and awarded us a Kickstart match-funded grant!
Despite a 12-month delay in sourcing images ethically, we teamed up with over forty wildlife experts to gather images, kick-starting our AI development. The CSIRO’s feature on their socials catapulted our local project to global fame. Our relatable ‘everyday people’ story, combined with a fascination for Australia’s unique wildlife, proved to be the perfect mix.
Transition and Pivoting: The Birth of WandrLust
The CSIRO’s project timeline was a further 12 months, and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shifting our focus towards family and immediate priorities.
In December 2022, Lisa Andrews (our early stage investor) introduced us to the incredible Ian Anderson – a Web3 innovator and former co-founder at Wisdom Gaming. We collaborated with Wisdom on the Critterpedia AI algorithm but after Ian left Wisdom in November 2023, we continued our partnership with him directly – Ian is now an investor and part of our team.
In March 2023, Muz and I took part in the CSIRO On Prime Program and interviewed hundreds of individuals and businesses. The feedback established that people were looking for more than just animal identification; they loved the full outdoor experience. Outdoor-focussed businesses also highlighted their need for new ways to reach their audiences as their foot traffic was slowing down. We listened, and our Critter Scanner became a part of a comprehensive suite of features to help you enjoy the outdoors.
The Problem: Tech Giants Built the Most Powerful Experience in History (the Algorithm!), and Used It to Keep Us Indoors
93% of our lives are now spent indoors. We spend 10 hours a day on screens. You went down a rabbit hole and lost countless hours of your life, watching everyone else’s, never living your own. The numbers are brutal: 2.3 hours a day on short-form video, 14% of your waking life, six years of your life gone.
Screen time keeps climbing, and the health costs climb with it. The global mental health crisis is now a trillion-dollar problem, and time outdoors is one of the few things proven to help.
Then there’s the business side. You see the ad, the brand pays, the next ad loads, repeat, and you never leave the sofa. In 2024 alone, $9.86B was spent on travel advertising, with zero of it proven to drive an actual visit. One algorithm, three losers: the person misses their life, the brand burns its budget with no result, and the destination sits empty.
The technology meant to connect us quietly traded our presence for attention. We wanted to flip that.
The Solution: WandrLust and the Presence Economy
The world just woke up, and people are ready. Oxford’s word of the year is “brain rot.” Governments are acting, with Australia banning social media for under-16s, a world first. And a generation is choosing to live healthier lives, with 5am run clubs replacing 5am benders and activity groups springing up everywhere. As AI-generated content floods our screens, real-world experiences only grow in value.
We didn’t create this wave. We built the way to ride it.
The attention economy is paid to keep you scrolling. WandrLust pays you to live. It rewards people for getting out into the real world, and brands only pay when people actually show up.
The App: Go outside. Earn rewards. Walk, run, discover, and earn rewards you can redeem at real places.
The Dashboard: Pay for outcomes. Brands launch a campaign through TAO and pay only when someone actually shows up. Every arrival becomes revenue.
The Intelligence: See where people move. Live destination intelligence, sold (anonymously) to tourism boards, councils and more.
The Agents: A background AI layer guides people to quieter routes and hidden gems, easing problems like overtourism, while confidential computing keeps individual movement private and only aggregate patterns ever surface.
People move. Brands pay. Data compounds.
This is what we call the Presence Economy. Presence is the one thing technology can’t fake. A generation is already walking away from the feed, and we reward their step outside.
The Team
Our journey is ambitious, backed by a clear roadmap and a team with firepower most early-stage companies can’t get near:
- Murray Scarce – Co-Founder & CEO | Strategy, Finance & Partnerships
- Nic Scarce – Co-Founder & COO | Product, Operations & Brand
- Jon Hargreaves – Founding Partner: Strategy & Go-to-Market | Former Global Vice Chair, Technology at Edelman, with two decades leading global campaigns for Microsoft, Intel, Samsung and Xbox
- Jens Albers – Chief Security Architect | Founder & CTO of Fr0ntierX, governing board member of the Linux Foundation’s Confidential Computing Consortium, and adviser to the British Parliament
- Ian Anderson – Head of Development & Investor | 40-Under-40 technology leader, Co-Founder of Wisdom Gaming (Sony, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard), and a day-one WandrLust investor
- Ash Cooper Kerns – Product Management | Attorney-trained strategist who led IP launches at Warner Bros Discovery, bridging law, brand and product
Interested in joining our adventure? Contact us to explore investment opportunities and be part of shaping the future of outdoor experiences.
We’ll look forward to chatting soon,
Nic Scarce
WandrLust Co-Founder
