Interested in Grants

INDUSTRY ASSISTANCE - GOVERNMENT GRANTS  - Join us at a forum to hear more 

 

Join us next week to hear about how to maximise grants https://events.humanitix.com/export-market-development-grants-october-forum-powered-by-bbg

Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) - applications close 30th November for forward funding over the next 2 – 3 years under the new EMDG program – don’t miss out

Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) - applications for Round 2 of the Integration and Translation funding streams will be announced soon – prepare now and don’t miss out

Modernisation Manufacturing Fund (MMF) - applications for Round 3 will open in early December – prepare now and don’t miss out

 R&D Tax Incentive - applications for 20/21 financial year R&D activities close on 30th April 2022 – prepare now and don’t miss out   

Export Market Development Grant (EMDG)

Under the new EMDG program, eligible SMEs are able to apply for forward grant funding over multiple years to cover eligible marketing and promotional activities from 1 July 2021.

Grants will target eligible export-ready SMEs with an annual turnover of less than $20 million at three stages of their export journey:

• Tier 1: Eligible SMEs who are new to export – grants up to $80,000 over two years
• Tier 2: Eligible exporters who plan to expand their presence in export markets – grants up to $240,000 over three years
• Tier 3: Eligible exporters who continue to expand into new markets and make a strategic shift in their exporting business – grants up to $450,000 over three years

The nominal benefit of the new pre-approval EMDG is to provide certainty of finance to exporters as well as faster access to EMDG funds. The intention is for applicants to submit marketing plans for up to three years to enable them to formalise Funding Agreements with Austrade, identifying which of their proposed export marketing expenses will be supported, with payments to be made by Austrade on a milestone basis. The EMDG program is an entitlement program.

Peter,  Harvey and the team at BSI have been helping exporters maximise their grants for 20 years.

With this new programme - they will help you prepare  your export plan, a marketing budget lodge the application, help you with your reporting of your  milestones to Austrade and take you through your Audit of your milestones.

 

There are 2 interesting competitive based Manufacturing grants that the government is focusing on worth over $1 billion dollars

R&D Tax Incentive

Applications to claim 20/21 financial year R&D activities/ expenses close on the 30th April 2022 – the new rates of return are:  

FY 2020–21

·        Annual revenue <$20m – Company Tax Rate: 26% – Refundable Tax Benefit: 43.5% (if matched by tax losses) or 17.5% (when trading in profit)

·        Annual revenue $20m-$50m – Company Tax Rate: 26% – Non-Refundable Tax Offset: 12.5%

·        Annual revenue >$50m – Company Tax Rate: 30% – Non-Refundable Tax Offset: 8.5%

FY 2021-22

·        Annual revenue <$20m – Company Tax Rate: 25% – Refundable Tax Benefit: 43.5% (if matched by tax losses) or 18.5% (when trading in profit)

·        Annual revenue $20m-$50m – Company Tax Rate: 25% – Refundable Tax Benefit/2 tier benefit: 8.5% on eligible R&D expenditure which accounts for up to 2% of total company expenses and an additional 16.5% on eligible R&D expenditure exceeding the 2% baseline.

·        Annual revenue >$50m – Company Tax Rate: 30% – Refundable Tax Benefit/2 tier benefit: 8.5% on eligible R&D expenditure up to 2% of total company expenses and an additional 16.5% on eligible R&D expenditure exceeding the 2% baseline.

A few other interesting Grants 

Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI)

The $1.38 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative (the initiative) is a key element of boosting Manufacturing capabilities and networks in Australia  with a view to build manufacturing capabilities and networks, lift productivity, create jobs, build global competitiveness and boost the export potential of Australian manufacturers.

and will run from  2020-21 to 2023-24. 

These grants will be assessed under three funding streams:

Manufacturing Translation Stream: commercialising research 

The minimum grant is $1m and the maximum is $20m. Capital investment is included.   

Manufacturing Integration Stream: connecting with global supply chains 

- the grant rate is 50% of eligible project costs. The minimum grant is $1m and the maximum is $20m. Capital investment is included.   

Manufacturing Collaboration Stream: 

connecting business, researchers, and investors to build commercial outcomes

 – the grant rate is 1/3 of eligible project costs. 

The minimum grant is $20m and the maximum is $200m. Capital investment is included.   

This scheme is project based is competitive 

The six national priority manufacturing sectors who can apply are:

Space, Medical Products, 

Resource Technology and Critical Minerals Processing, 

Food and Beverage, 

Defence, 

Recycling and Clean Energy

This scheme is project based is competitive 

Round 1 of this grant is now closed

HOWEVER

Round 2 plans to be open before Christmas with a 4 week window to apply. 

Let me know if you want us to let you know when this Round will be open 

If you are project-ready and in one of the six priority sectors, this forum is for you!

 

Manufacturing Modernisation Fund (MMF)

The Manufacturing Modernisation Fund (MMF) provides competitively assessed grants of up to $1m being 25% of total project costs to assist local SME manufacturers within the 6 national manufacturing priority sectors to modernise their factory by purchasing and installing new state of the art plant and equipment and upskill/ employ new staff.

Round 3 will open in December this year and close in late January. 

If this forum is for you, let us help you prepare your  project plans and application NOW to ensure a truly competitive application can be lodged.

 

 Peter, Harvey, Kylie, Linda, Sean, Mick and Linh and the team at BSI are working with Businesses now to prepare the necessary documentation in anticipation of the Round 2 opening dates.  

Zoom’s home run

Eric Yuan served as the VP of Engineering at WebEx from 1997, staying in the role for years after Cisco’s $3.2 billion acquisition of the company in 2007.

By 2011, he was getting frustrated in the job: with Cisco not being customer focussed - or offering a great solution to the mass market 

“So, together with some WebEx engineers  he formed Zoom - with a single-minded focus on creating a brilliant customer experience .

Yuan said at the time that 

“We don’t spend a lot of money to sell the product,” 

A bit of fairy dust 

In Jan 2017,  Zoom raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation in a round led by Sequoia Capital 

The plan for this new $100 million was to scale by spending on marketing and global growth - and that it did!!!

The home run 

In 2019 it raised $350m in an IPO at $36 per share at a 10.5b valuation 

Today it’s at a share price of $250 valuing Zoom at circa $70B 

So VC Investors scored a 70X return from the Zoom deal .
A $10k investment world have generated $750k 

Where to from here? 

Zoom has taken a leaf out of Sequoia Capital’s book and has created a $100 million Zoom Apps Fund, with plans to invest anywhere from $250,000 to $2.5 million in companies across the video spectrum.

Zoom CTO Brendan Ittelson says "At the end of the day, we're looking at folks that are working with our ecosystem, be that Zoom Apps, integrations, hardware." They are focused on early-stage investments in companies that are starting to get traction.

Zoom hopes to help spark more development in the space, to make Zoom Apps into a platform as big and powerful as Zoom imagines it could be. 

Amazon committed $200 million to its own Alexa Fund, and Google has invested $100 million in lots of Google Assistant-related startups.

A cuppla hundred mill goes a long way toward starting a developer ecosystem of a platform! 

Online Business - Oz Hair and Beauty ready to scale with VC

Oz Hair and Beauty founders, Anthony Nappa and Guy Nappa, is ready to take this exciting online hair and beauty business to new heights, with hair and beauty industry expert, Ward Gauvin,  as Executive Chairman.

Congratulations to Anthony, Guy, the entire Oz Hair and Beauty team, and also to my colleagues atExciting times ahead. Bravo! #ozhairandbeauty #edisonpartners #growthequity #entrepreneurs #ecommercebusiness #hairandbeauty

 This is Shaf Dewani of Edison Growth Fund's   third portfolio investment together with We originated and led an investment group including BBRC Private Equity and Daniel Agostinelli 

Edison's team includes  Edison Partners Michael Thompson, Jason Ellenport, Malcolm Thornton, Truman Tang and Simon Weller. 

Unicorns around the world

Thanks Anand Sanwal for this amazing article from CB Insights  market map sorts unicorns into 15 categories, from auto & transportation to supply chain & logistics. Our “Other” category includes renewable energy, space tech, ad tech, and more.

Data is as of 9/29/2021.

Most valuable private companies

The world’s most valuable private company is China-based ByteDance, in the artificial intelligence category. The company, which operates content platforms such as TikTok and Toutiao, reached a $140B valuation following an investment from Tiger Global Management in March 2020. 

The company raised a private equity round from China Internet Investment Fund in August 2018.

Rounding out the top 5 most valuable private companies are payments processor Stripe (valued at $95B), aerospace manufacturer SpaceX ($74B), payments platform Klarna ($45.6B), and collaborative online design tool Canva, which recently reached a $40B valuation following a $200M Series G round in September 2021.

Notably, ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing, which used rank in the top 5 unicorns at a valuation of $62B, went public in an IPO in June 2021.

Unicorn company trends by category

Fintech is the most highly represented category on our map, accounting for almost a fifth of all unicorns (19%). 

It is followed by internet software & services (17%), e-commerce & direct-to-consumer (11%), and artificial intelligence (9%).

The most valuable fintech unicorn is Stripe, with a $95B valuation as of March 2021. 

In internet software & services, the most valuable unicorn is Canva ($40B, September 2021).

In e-commerce & direct-to-consumer, the top spot goes to Fanatics ($18B, August 2021), which provides e-commerce, marketing, and merchandising for professional sports leagues and teams. ByteDance ($140B, March 2020) leads the artificial intelligence category.

Valuation distribution

ByteDance is the only private company considered to be a “hectocorn” (worth $100B+) — though Stripe is approaching hectocorn status, at $95B.

Thirty-eight private companies (4% of total unicorns) are considered “decacorns,” worth $10B+. Meanwhile, 24% of companies included in the global unicorn club are valued at exactly $1B.

Geographic trends

Since our last analysis in June 2021, the US has seen a slight decrease in its leading share of unicorns, now accounting for half of all unicorn startups (down from 51%). China, in second place (20%), held steady in the same time frame.

India claims the third spot at 5%, while the UK is home to 4% of unicorns.

Unicorn club growth

Seventy-one percent of the companies in the market map have joined the unicorn club since 2019. 

Since CBInsight last analysis in June 2021, the unicorn club has grown in size by 16%, from 728 to 842 unicorns. 

At this rate, the unicorn club is likely to break 1,000 by early 2022.

Zip rocking New York

From Larry Diamond - CEO of Zip

G'Day -#NYC! Zip Co live in Times Square, the economic retail heart of New York City is a career pinnacle moment and fills this Aussie heart with such immense pride!

Ecstatic to see our continued growth in US and around the globe, with thanks to our network of leading retail merchant partners, and our incredible team of Zipsters who got us here. 

Kudos to our agency partners at R/GA for lighting up Times Square - a retail hub so bright you can see it from space. Much like the future of Zip!

#wearezip #fearless #timesquare #retail

Refundid raises $3m - another Aussie fintech going global

It’s all about customer experience says Paul Greenberg - E-retail Veteran  - who has recently backed Refundid through AP Ventures.

Brad, Judd, Joel and Ilan have formed Refundid - whose leading product is  a fintech tool designed to cut, or essentially eliminate, waiting times for refunds for products bought online.

Refundid takes responsibility of the refund and repays the client immediately. Refundid gets paid by the retailer once approved.

It effectively provides a short term loan to the retailer!

The founders get that  trust and positive relationships, encouraging repeat custom is a key ingredient of a succesful retailer.

The plan is to have 100 top-tier retailers on board within the next 12 months, says Brad Karney…..

And then go global!!

Tech and Climate Action in Australia - SGG And Swiss Re

A collaboration between Australian Southern Green Gas Ltd (SGG )  and  Swiss Re are both committed to tackle climate change through climate action!

They have identified both onshore and offshore basins with the potential capacity to permanently store hundreds of billions of tons of CO2.

Managing Director of SGG ,  Mr Rohan Gillespie says they have built solar powered  “DAC modules” that removes CO2 from the air, delivering negative emissions, essential to achieving Net Zero emissions.

Head of Swiss Re Australia & New Zealand, Sharon Ooi, said the organization's collaboration with SGG aligns with its global commitment on sustainability and net-zero.

Their goal is to 

• Building awareness amongst key stakeholders in Australia of the opportunity for Carbon Removals
• Educating international stakeholders on Australia's world leading potential for Carbon Removals
• Facilitating access to funding for demonstration projects
• Creating consortia of project investors and off-take customers to make projects bankable

"The carbon removal market creates a new ecosystem of stakeholders and needs—and with that comes opportunities to build expertise and commercialize this new risk pool," said Ooi.

“We need to advocate for emissions reduction first, then removal.”

"There will always be emissions from bushfires, hard-to-abate sectors and historic residual emissions, so carbon removal needs to be part of our planning to reduce present day emissions and the carbon built up in the atmosphere," said Mark Senkevics, Head of Property & Casualty Underwriting, Asia, Australia & New Zealand at Swiss Re.

"Our goal is to drive a balanced mix of natural and tech solutions to achieve and sustain the 1.5°C target."

Why we need to deliver negative emissions 

A recent Swiss Re Institute report highlights that achieving net-zero emissions involves building a carbon removal industry capable of delivering negative emissions at the speed (within three decades) and scale (10–20 billion tons per year) that climate science says will be required to enable sustainable living for future generations.

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-09-negative-co2-emissions-aussie-technology.html

Diversely closes pre-seed round at US$550k

HR Tech platform Diversely expands globally, offering AI-driven hiring tools for users. As D&I roles increase, two time entrepreneurs Helen McGuire and Hayley Bakker will be using their expertise to help customers meet their diversity goals.

Female-founded platform Diversely launched its D&I platform earlier this year, raising US$ 550k in its Pre-Seed round. They want to focus on expansion in the US and the UK. With this round of funding, they have successfully onboard investors from both these nations.  

Helen McGuire and Hayley Bakker launched the HR Tech solution to provide HR professionals and recruiters with tools for understanding, tracking, measuring and improving the diversity in their firms. They both have combined 25 years of experience in the field.

The platform has managed to bring in big companies like Robert Walters, Ogilvy, RMI, WeNetwork and Mural, incorporating their strategy in London, Amsterdam, Delaware and Singapore. By focusing on global growth and remote hiring as major components of their strategy. As they bring in new investors to support fast growth, Diversely will be presenting equal opportunities and removing biases in the hiring process. 

The last year has seen a 107% increase in D&I leadership roles globally. The time is ripe to help companies measure their progress and also to achieve their goals. 

Diversely’s CEO, Helen McGuire has commented: “We are at an exciting point of international growth with Diversely and it’s an honour to welcome seasoned HR, tech and recruitment professionals as angel investors into our business. These individuals are committed to positive change in hiring practices, working with us to introduce Diversely to their extensive network and advising us on our business direction.”

800 private company unicorns!!!

Atlassian breaks through the $100B mark

Atlassian broke through the USD100  billion market cap overnight for the first time 💥 

That’s a long way from the USD4.4 billion at IPO in Dec 2015 

USD 100,000,000,000 🤗 

Huge milestone to end a big quarter  of cap raises and valuations for Aussie tech 

Airwallex reaches a US$4b valuation / yet another Ozzie Unicorn

There is a wave of Ozzie Unicorns being created - with Fintech Airwallex has raised US$200 million in an oversubscribed Series E financing round, giving the company a US$4 billion valuation.

The cool thing - is that Global VCs are recognising the value and capabilities of the Australian Tech Sector.

Airwallex’s latest raise was led by US hedge fund Lone Pine Capital and saw new investors - G Squared and Vetamer Capital Management - put money into the fintech, alongside existing investors Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, Sequoia Capital China and 1835i.

So who is Airwallex and what does it do?

Airwallex was founded sipping lattes at a cafe by Jack Zhang, Lucy Liu, Max Li, Xijing Dai and Ki-lok Wong in 2015 and has grown to 1000 employees around the world.

They focused on helping  smes  make purchases with offshore merchants without incurring typical exchange fees and has expanded to offer products, including multi-currency debit cards with Visa, bank feed integration with Xero and online payment capabilities.

A mini Unicorn to look out for?

Looking forward to seeing the continued growth leading to an explosion of value of Anwar Khalil’s My Recruitment Plus …..

Sunified - connecting solar to blockchain - making solar investing accessible

"In a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year." – U.S. Department of Energy.

The sun is a limitless source of energy, but currently just 3% of the world’s energy is generated by solar.

Sunified Founder and world renowned blockchain expert, Leon-Gerard Vandenberg is making solar investing accessible to everyone.

He is creating scaleability, financeability and profitability for solar - by connecting  blockchain, fintech  and solar power.

The opportunity

In March this year, Sunified secured $375 million 

investment to build 28 solar parks across Australia with co-located, grid-scale batteries in regional centres around Australia.

These solar parks will work within the existing, ageing grid infrastructure, to deliver renewables without the need for expensive grid upgrades – this is the game changer! 

The projected ROI

In just 5-7 years time, by 2026 – 2028, Sunified projects a total valuation at exit of $2.6 billion, offering investors a phenomenal 3,000% ROI – 

It seems that solar energy isn't just a renewable energy resource - it's an incredible investment opportunity.

Want to know more? 

A big week in Venture Capital in Oz

Last week, data out of venture capital industry association Ignition Lane showed the local sector has raised more than $1 billion already over September.

The record result was headlined by Canva’s $US200 million ($275 million) raise, with Siteminder, Immutable, Mable, and Automic Group all raising more than $80 million this month.

(AFR)

A new generation of Philanthropists

Melanie Perkins, CEO & Founder of #startupaus Canva, promises to give fortune away as business hits US$40 billion, making it most valuable private software company ever. How inspiring to commit vast majority of remaining equity in Canva to philanthropic causes across the world. 

This could make co-founders and recently married Perkins and Cliff Obrecht among the biggest philanthropists in Australia, and potentially later on the world.

#ceo #socialimpact #philanthropy #businessandmanagement #founders #venturecapital

A new generation

Tim Draper Gems

One of the most successful VCs , Tim Draper is happy to share his email with you 

“I’m at tim@draper.vc,” he says  . 

Tim gives his email freely - and likes to be  accessible to those who want to connect with him.

Some of his home runs

Since the mid-1980s, he has built a fortune making early investments in companies like Hotmail, Skype, Baidu, Tesla and SpaceX.

His biggest failure 

His biggest failure he says - was those investments he doesn’t make…. The one that got away - like Facebook!

“If 30 pc of his investments work - we are so ahead of the game! “

Draper the Bitcoin Bull

He is a bitcoin bull and believer in blockchain technology. 

In 2014, he purchased early 30,000 bitcoin seized by the U.S. Marshals (bitcoin was worth around $600 at the time) and he says he has invested in over 50 cryptocurrency-related companies. He’s led investments in Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange that went public in April, Ledger, a cryptocurrency wallet maker; and Tezos, an open-source blockchain platform, to name a few.

Draper’s grandfather, and father were VCs and Tim  started his own early-stage VC firm Draper Associates in 1985, which would grow into Draper Fisher Jurvetson (it was later renamed DFJ and then Threshold), and later Draper University. In 2013, Draper left DFJ to focus on Draper University and his sole VC Draper Associates.

💎 Some of Tim’s  gems 💎 

💎 Always give that extra 10pc - Tharshan where the magic happens

💎 Arrive before a  forum and stay after the end / that’s  when you meet the relevant people and get the real gems

💎 I like people. I like the idea that we’re all interconnected. I like the idea that people can help each other. I also like being out there.

💎 I strive to be a lifelong learner 

💎 I do enjoy what I do and I think that maybe that’s what people are feeling when they see me.

💎 As an entrepreneur, you can’t really worry about what people are thinking today because what you’re really trying to do is something that’s kind of gonna blossom five or 10 years from now.

When investing….. The one question I almost always ask is 

“Why are you doing this?”

Some of the answers 

• “Oh, because of this and this,” 
• “I heard somebody who thought it was a good idea,” o
•  “I wanted to make money.” 

The clever ones say, 

• “I want to make you money.”

But the best is 

• “because my boss did it all wrong and the customer wanted this. This is where we got to go.”

They need to have this certainty or confidence that what they’re going after is important.

On failure 

An entrepreneur belongs to “club fear” and one of the credos of Draper University is, 

“I will fail and fail again until I succeed.”

You have to be willing to take the heat or just say, “Hey, we screwed up. We’re gonna try to do it this way next time.” That will save you countless troubles, trials and tribulations. And then explain your thinking about how you got to where you made that decision.

You don’t fail - you learn