(Sourced from AFr)
An exciting development is happening in the VC space in Australia. The super funds are looking at this space as an asset class and is looking to allocate a small percentage of the Trillion dollars or has into this sector .
As Malcolm Turnbull says. - this is an exciting time for Australia!
The new fund, managed by Blackbird Ventures, has been backed by 96 technology entrepreneurs including Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Martin Hosking of Redbubble and Leigh Jasper of Aconex - as well as two major superannuation funds, First State Super and Hostplus Super.
The fund will target exclusively Australian tech companies.
This is a major breakthrough for Australian innovation!!
Other active players in the market are Daniel Petres Airtree Ventures ($60m) and Square Peg Ventures .
Square Peg Ventures is backed by Liberman , Bassat and Packer - and back global tech companies - looking to invest $5m plus.... There is no size of this fund but is made up of a consortium
of investors that back deals on a case by case basis.
First State Super has invested most at $110 million, and its chief investment officer, Richard Brandweiner, said it was a relatively low-risk, but important move.
"It is a lot of money for the ecosystem, but it's a tiny proportion of our $58 billion under management," Mr Brandweiner said.
"The super sector has become so large in Australia that we need to think about our impact beyond just returns for our members. This also about investing in the country, because we need lots of strong technology companies in the future, and if we can help them stay here, that's a win for everyone."
While the super funds make up majority donors, investment decisions are made solely by the Blackbird managing committee: Mr Scevak, Rick Baker and Bill Bartee.
Blackbird focus on companies with global growth potential, rather than companies making Australian versions of successful existing overseas models.
Its existing investments (70pc software) include design software Canva, cryptocurrency platform CoinJar, human resources insights software CultureAmp and education software Edrolo.
A major factor is backing people who are committed and passionate about their innovation.
No comments:
Post a Comment