Venture Capital in Australia: Out of Tumultuous times come Opportunity

Monday, August 17, 2020

Out of Tumultuous times come Opportunity

In tumultuous times like these, innovation flourishes - people having a chance to do things differently resulting in some of the biggest disruptive opportunities arising.

Case in point - Uber, Airbnb and WhatsApp were all founded during the 2009 global financial crisis,

What opportunities will this Pandemic create ?

The current state of play

Stocks that are not good for the planet - seem to have had their day and the global investment landscape seems to be changing.
We are facing the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in modern history - and this group is demanding the opportunity to support companies that fund a sustainable future.
Investors are look long to invest at in Companies that are aligned with their values..... and are set on making Ethical Investments
In the midst of the global pandemic, the Australian venture capital sector actually grew - reaching a record high of $US944.7 million ($1,314 billion) in H1 2020. (The KPMG Venture Pulse Q1 2020 report)

Tony Surtees shared with us at the BBG innovation forum last month the insight that the Startup and VC space has become an extremely viable asset class - no longer just for VCs and angel investors.

Changes to Australian legislation in 2017 has seen the creation of investment opportunities for retail investors that were previously only available to high-net-worth individuals or sophisticated investors.

If they meet the criteria, these investors are able to invest up to $10,000 in private companies launching fundraises of up to $5 million;

Investors have generally been motivated by two things:

the opportunity to back the companies changing the world - that will be good for the planet
A great ROI

Startups and Enterprise will need to prove their social and environmental credentials as well as their ability to disrupt and grow. When they do that - says Steven Maarbani - investors will follow!