Monday, December 03, 2018
Looking for Innovative Companies looking to raise money and have an advisory board
We are looking to host a BSI Investor Forum in February/March 2019 for 8 innovative companies looking to grow - to present to 50-100 High Net Worth Individuals and Venture Capital Funds in Sydney , Melbourne and Brisbane. (we currently have 3) If you know of any that are looking for mentors and money, please share this with them or refer me on. business startup blockchain bitcoin machinelearning collaboration investments mentoring
Saturday, December 01, 2018
Huddle Startup Insurance Company Raises $19m
Huddle Insurance has developed technology and algorithms to help reduce fraud. Supported by Hollard Insurance , 7 west and Alium Capital as investors / yaising $19m
Huddle has developed a fully automated claims and approval assessment process - which enables a “less hands on approach” to handling claims . Any savings above a “targeted loss ratio” gets rebated to customers.
Huddle has written “tens of thousands” of policies with an insured value of over $2b
CEO Jason Wilby said that revenue has been growing at 700% per year and the company is planned to turn a profit in a few years.
Perkii probiotic raises $3m for USA expansion
PERKii Probiotics a food tech start-up, spun out from the University of Queensland has raised $3 million from Uniseed, angels and the Advance Queensland Development Fund, to launch its low calorie probiotic drink technology in the US.
Launched in mid 2016, the drink is now now in 2,000 stores across ANZ incl. Coles and Woolies.
So what is this drink?
The PERKii range includes four natural fruit flavours with each bottle containing 1 billion CFUs (colony forming units) and just 37 calories. The drink uses patent-protected ProGel technology that protects the probiotic in a natural coating to create on-shelf stability and enhance the probiotic’s survival through the acidic stomach environment.
The market size of US$21.8 billion will make this product interesting, especially with consumer demand for high quality probiotic supplements growing as we learn how a healthy gut can positively influence overall health and wellbeing.

Friday, November 30, 2018
So whose making the money from Bitcoin - Coinbase of course!
Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper on the need for an electronic cash system called bitcoin.
- In 2010, a user on the Bitcoin talk forum paid 10,000 bitcoins for two large pizzas.
- 2013 - Bitcoin hit $100 and $1,000 three months later.
- 2017 - the price of a single coin “bubbled” to nearly $20,000 before starting to fall.
Fortunes have been made and lost .
But like all gold rushes , the real winners are the providores and the traders.
One such providore is Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam’s trading platform Coinbase who has just raised $300 million at an $8b valuation
Coinbase rise has been more impressive than the rise of Bitcoin , which trades on its platform.
- 2012 - $6m raised at $23m
- 8 months later valuation went to $150m
- 2015 -$75m raised at a $490m valuation
- 2017 -valuation went to $1.6b - boom - Unicorn
- 2018 - $8b valuation
Coinbase co-founders and their investors have a lot to thank Satoshi Nakamoto for!
Enboarder raises $5m
Australian HR-tech company Enboarder has secured a AUD $5 million funding round
Athena Home Loan raises $45m in the last 12 months
Venture Capital seems to be alive and well in Oz
Nathan and Michael with Hostplus CIO Sam Sicilia

Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey, 2 ex bankers, founded a fintech start-up, Athena Home Loans, has closed a $25 million Series B raise, led by Square Peg Capital and supported by Australia’s biggest venture capital investor and industry super fund, Hostplus, and Airtree Ventures, bringing the total raise to $45 million after a $20m round raised by Macquarie Bank and Square Peg.
The latest round has firmly set the start-up’s path to becoming Australia’s most innovative home loan provider and validates the company’s model through the strength and calibre of backers.
What does Athena do?
They make the journey to home ownership faster, cheaper and stress free - bypassing the banks.
They have developed a unique funding structure, bypassing the banks to connect borrowers to superfund backed loans.
The company was founded by two ex-bankers, Nathan Walsh and Michael Starkey, who are passionate about.
They are excited about a strategic partnership with Resimac Group.
The money raised will be used to continue to innovate our platform, invest in talent and scale the business.
Square Peg
Paul Bassat Of Square Peg sits on the board and says
“Having worked with Nathan, Michael and the team over the last year I have enormous admiration for the speed at which they have navigated complex financial systems to develop a robust and customer-centric mortgage service, and we look forward to supporting them on this extraordinary journey,”
Hostplus
Has over 1.1 million members and $37 billion in funds under management. They have invested over $1 billion of its fully-diversified portfolio committed to Australian venture capital managers.
Hostplus Chief Investment Officer, Sam Sicilia, said that Athena is a great example of disruptive innovation delivering big savings for home loan borrowers.
Airtree
AirTree is an Australian venture capital firm and has recently raised $250 million to invest in disruptive Australian technology companies.
James Cameron, Partner at AirTree Ventures says, “Athena is building a home loan company that is very different to anything that exists today. They have built what we believe is the most technologically advanced mortgage platforms in the country – and this means a better experience and better value home loans for Aussie borrowers. We’re excited to be backing them on the journey.”
Athena COO Michael Starkey says that the team has benefited hugely from the insights and support from some of Australia’s smartest investors.
Steve Jobs on happiness
Steve Jobs died of Cancer at the age of 56....
Did being a billionaire make him happy?
“aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to”
This is important
“Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends...Treat yourself well. Cherish others.”
This is not important
Material stuff is just that - stuff - it does not bring happiness
As we grow older, and hence wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300 or $30 watch - they both tell the same time...
Whether we carry a $300 or $30 wallet/handbag - the amount of money inside is the same;
Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the road and distance is the same, and we get to the same destination.
Whether we drink a bottle of $300 or $10 wine - the hangover is the same;
Whether the house we live in is 300 or 3000 sq ft - loneliness is the same.
Whether you fly first or economy class, if the plane goes down - you go down with it...
So what is true happiness?
Therefore.. I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh with, talk with, have sing songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth, .... That is true happiness!!
Be a human being - not just a human
Deputy raises US$80m from VC in a series B round
IVP led the round with support from OpenView Venture Partners, Square Peg Capital and Equity Venture Partners.
Ahik credits that growth to support from VCs. He shares the following with Kate Clarke of TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/28/australian-scheduling-software-company-deputy-brings-in-81m-amid-rapid-growth/
“It’s not about the money but more about the expertise that we have been able to bring in,” he said. “OpenView, for example, has been really, really instrumental for the next stage of our journey.”
What Deputy Does
Deputy’s employee management workflow tool makes scheduling, time sheets, tasks and workplace communication easier for hourly and shift workers.
There software is a brilliant tool for the gig economy - helping contractors, casuals or shift workers manage their time, rostering and other critical workplace operations. It also integrates with many point-of-sale, payroll and accounting systems.
CEO, Ashik Ahmed shared with the press that 10 year old Deputy has grown exponentially every month as much as it did in [the first] six years. It now has 90,000 customers in 80 countries, including Amazon, Google, McDonald’s, Compass and Uber. It’s scheduled some 200 million shifts, or 1.2 billion hours of work, and facilitated more than $30 billion in payroll payments.
Ashik on the Gig Economy and how Deputy solves a major Pain
Around the globe, most workers earn money on an hourly basis. In the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data from 2015, roughly 80 million workers were hourly, or about 60 percent of all wage and salary workers in the country.
“The world of work is changing,” he said. “We are becoming more about instant gratification, we want what we want when we want it, and work is no different.”
“If businesses of today do not recognize the change that is happening, if they don’t adapt to it, they will become irrelevant tomorrow. Our goal is to help our customers adapt to this change by offering more flexibility in how they engage their workers. Our vision is to help these businesses thrive in the future world.”
"Great things happen outside of your comfort zone so we really like to aim high and shoot for it," says Ahmed.
Monday, November 19, 2018
A cool idea
Innovation in Australia: Solving the graduate unemployment problem : http://australianinnovation.blogspot.com/2018/11/solving-graduate-unemployment-problem.html
Friday, November 16, 2018
How App Retention is Like Dating and Getting Engaged
Great article and infographic by KC Karnes of Clevertap
Mobile app retention continues to plague mobile marketing teams, with the large majority of users abandoning applications within the first month of download. If you have any chance of standing out in a marketplace of millions of apps, your product must solve a big enough problem or offer enough value to warrant your customer’s continued use. This continued use builds trust and loyalty between the company and consumer that can extend offline.
It might surprise you to learn that 53% of smartphone users don’t even have their favorite brand’s mobile app installed.1 With limited data storage space, attention span constraints, and previous experiences with poorly built mobile apps, there could be a whole host of reasons why this is the case.
This is why having a strategy for mobile engagement and retention — not just an acquisition strategy — is vital. If a competitor can offer an exceptional mobile user experience that offers more value, this company might supplant brand favoritism and loyalty in the mind of your hard-won customer.
There is a lifecycle of app retention that requires establishing a genuine connection on the first impression, growing a sense of dedication to their needs, and continuing to nurture the relationship. Like personal relationships, you should aim to have a friendly yet productive appeal to your users. Below we have compiled app retention statistics across the industry and devices. Browse through them or jump to our infographic about how app retention is like dating and getting engaged.
App Retention Stats
- In 2017 there were nearly 4 billion connected mobile devices and 178 billion annual app downloads. (AppAnnie, 2017*)
- The average US app user spends 90% of their mobile usage in their top five apps. (Business Insider, 2017*)
- 23% of apps are used just once. (Applause, 2017*)
- Retargeted users show more retention and bring in 37% more revenue than new users. (Adjust, 2018*)
- 30 days after an app is downloaded it has lost nearly 90% of daily active users. (CleverTap, 2017)
- 66% of users feel they can accomplish the same goal on the mobile website as the app. (Think With Google, 2018*)
- A 5% increase in retention can result in a 25% to 95% increase in profits. (Harvard, 2000*)
- Personalized push notifications have been found to boost engagement by almost 10%. (CleverTap, 2018)
- In-app messaging, such as a live assistant, can increase user retention by 3x. (Dazeinfo, 2016*)
- The average smartphone user engages only 9 apps per day. (TechCrunch, 2017*)
iOS App Retention Stats
- 11.82% of iOS users purchase apps compared to 5.76% of Android users. (Statista, 2018*)
- iOS app retention rates are 1% to 3% higher than those of Android apps. (MediaPost, 2018*)
- 60% of iPhone users opt-out of push notifications. (Andrew Chen, 2015*)
Android App Retention Stats
- The top 10 Android apps have a 12.8x greater retention rate than the average Android app. (App Cues, 2015*)
- Android accounts for a 38.9% majority of the mobile market share. (CitrusBits, 2018*)
- It costs 24% less to convert in-app purchases on Android than iOS. (Liftoff, 2016*)
Bain Capital Ventures raises $1b for startups
Bain Capital Ventures raised $1 billion for its newest venture capital funds.
The new funding includes:
– a $650m core fund,
– a $250m co-investment fund for larger growth investments, and
– over $100m from the partners at Bain Capital.
Led by Ajay Agarwal, managing director, Bain Capital Ventures invests the new funds in early through growth-stage technology startups that are disrupting major industries, including SaaS, infrastructure software, security, commerce, fintech and healthcare.
Since its first dedicated venture fund in 2001, the firm has helped launch and commercialize more than 240 companies, including DocuSign, Jet.com, Kiva Systems LinkedIn, Rapid7, Rent the Runway, SendGrid, SurveyMonkey, Taleo, TellApart and Turbonomic.
It has $4.9 billion in assets under management with offices in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Palo Alto.
Bain Capital Ventures’ active portfolio include:
– SaaS: Gainsight, FourKites
– Infrastructure Software: Redis Labs, Turbonomic
– Security: Attivo Networks, LeapYear
– Commerce: Rent the Runway, ShipBob
– Fintech: AvidXchange, Justworks
– Healthcare: AbleTo, Remedy Partners
Bain recently launched a network investing program in spring 2017 to grow a vetted network of angel investors, providing exposure to hundreds of seed and Series A opportunities annually.
FinSMEs
14/11/2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
A record year for Australian Venture Capital
2018 marks another record year for Venture Capital investment in Australia, fuelling the growth of exciting tech startups with the ecosystem going from strength to strength.
At Innovation Bay’s ‘Year in Venture Capital event’, hosted on the stunning roof of Macquarie Bank, some of the industry’s key people gathered to reflect on another year of growth.
Daniel Petre — Airtree Ventures, Niki Scevak — Blackbird Ventures, Tony Holt — Square Peg Capital and Katherine McConnell — Brighte took to the stage to discuss 2018 with Ian Gardiner from Innovation Bay to discuss the successes, failures and lessons learned in 2018, and what the future holds for the Australian ecosystem in 2019.
With Australian businesses raising $3.5bn AUD in funding during the 2017–18 financial year, the country’s highest ever figure mirrored the global trend of increasing investment into early-stage businesses, breaking previous records for capital investment. It is also interesting to note that the number of investments decreased slightly, with more money being spread across fewer deals.
This market shift was attributed to the “easy days of SaaS” being over, with a move towards investment into higher quality ‘deep tech’ businesses, with AI, health-tech, agri-tech and food-tech attracting investor attention. It seems the quality of startups is increasing, based on deeper expertise and greater experience.
That being said, 2018 was another year that saw fintech rule supreme in Australia, receiving 47% of investment, with a continued trend towards automating significant parts of the financial system.
Niki from Blackbird highlighted the dangers of following “trends”. Early stage investing is about meeting a founder creating a category before it even has a name. Take Airbnb for example, there was no such thing as a “sharing economy” before they pitched their wild idea. Now with advances in AI, the opportunity to now reimagine the potential of possibility and disrupt every industry is extraordinary.
Tony Holt noted that we are “moving from the Year of [series] As, to the Bs and the Cs”. Now progressing to later and larger investment deals, the lack of deep data in the ecosystem to enable effective decision making is limited. Largely relying on self-reported surveys, Australia could largely benefit from an outbound deep data collection, similar to Startup Nation in Israel, to better inform how we can better prepare for the continued growth of this ecosystem.
Another interesting shift in VC is the increased moves towards transparency and providing more value to founders than just ‘money and cheerleading’. VC funds are looking to standardise terms across the market, not looking to hide anything from the founders they’re investing in, in order to share what they believe in and attract further businesses in future.
One of the most heartening changes though, is the wish to provide genuine support to founders besides just investment. With the acknowledgement that being a founder can be a challenging and often lonely experience, funds are providing additional support on everything from recruitment to mental health counselling to ensure their portfolio companies thrive.
A real highlight of 2018 was the global attention Australian startups are now garnering. Australian VC’s are only providing 15% of the capital to startups, with the remaining 85% coming from overseas as the world wakes up to the Australian ecosystem, with Sequoia China being the leading investor into Australia. It seems the conversation needs to switch from the internal ‘Sydney vs Melbourne’ debate and pivot to what Australia’s place is on the global stage.
With the industry starting to mature in Australia, there is naturally a look forward to when these early stage businesses will start to provide return to investors. With a trend of companies remaining private for longer than usual, the industry is drawing towards the crunch time of liquidity events being necessary to ensure value to investors, allowing VC funding to continue to grow.
As we continue to evolve from an immature technology hub to a rich, varied and thriving ecosystem, venture capital investors, industry leaders and members of the community alike, all have a role to play in positioning Australia as a more significant player in the global technology sector. 2019 — big things are happening!
Saturday, November 03, 2018
What are the 3 things Reid Hoffman - founder of Linkedin - looks for when he invests
LinkedIn's co-founder Reid Hoffman took a risk on the networking platform after being told it "would never work."
He shared some great insights on CNBC
"Starting a company is jumping off a cliff and assembling the airplane on the way down, and what you're realizing after you've jumped off this cliff, after you've said, 'hey, we're going to go start this new thing,' is, 'Oh, I don't have a lot of the parts. I need new people to help me with this. And I don't know what order to assemble this plane in.'"
Welcome to club fear
Hoffman's why was to "try to help humanity evolve," and “make a huge difference” which he goes about achieving by facilitating connections.
"(I) think in terms of networks, think in terms of how people are connected, how we find each other, how we navigate life together,"
Hoffman noted that launching a start-up was a huge learning curve. 'I've never learned so much, except for maybe between the ages of two and three,'" he told CNBC. "It's because at the end of every week, there were things that I wish I knew at the beginning of the week."
Linkedin went public in 2011, with shares surging on its first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and was sold to Microsoft for Billions.
His mission to forge connections was also an influencer in Hoffman's decision to invest in Facebook and AirBnb.
"What was clear was that Facebook had an awesome product market fit," he said. "When they turned on a college campus, within six weeks 80 percent of the students in the campus were using it more than six times a day."
He added that he knew "within two minutes of their pitch" that he wanted to invest in AirBnb.
"We're here in an Airbnb and it's part of how you hope to see the world transform, which is more local and cultural connections as people travel around the world," he said.
Hoffman has three key areas that he looks for in a start-up pitch, he revealed.
The 3 things Reid Hoffman looks for before he invests is
- a great scale mission,
- an interesting application of a technology or product or service, and
- a world-class entrepreneur.
Best
Ivan
Friday, November 02, 2018
Just as things look as if the deal is done .... terms change ... what do you do?
When you are in a transaction that’s been negotiated - you have an ”exclusive” for due diligence to finalise the deal ......
And terms are changing
You’ve done everything you can .... your ducks are in a row - you have a buyer - they have an exclusive - and everything seems to be falling apart - they are changing the terms of the deal at the last minute!
Emotions are charged!!!!
There is massive tension, things are charged - and you are annoyed and afraid
Has this happened to you?
Dr Jeff Spencer shares 4 strategies when a deal is about to conclude and the terms change!
- Work out how you feel - what’s relationship to the transaction - what do you think of the deal - take the charge out - prevent yourself from being blindsided
- Identify the other parties issues issues - compartmentalise them and see how you can resolve them . Make sure that your team have been heard before solutions are made, vs having the solution nailed - and then hearing their issues.
- Investigate the other buyers that were turned away - choice is good - something to anchor to - when there are problems .
- 24 hour rule - don’t make any decision until feathers settle - don’t have judgement clouded - creates composed state of mind
Do what champions do - just keep on showing up!
Here’s Jeff’s podcast
https://www.drjeffspencer.com/podcasts/making-decisions-under-duress/
Thursday, November 01, 2018
Connecting Entrepreneurs with investors and alliance partners around the world
Matt talks about his “Energence ASIA Programme - a 30 day whirlwind trip around the world with 30 tech entrepreneur - connecting them with global investors.
This last month, I travelled with Wholesale Investor, showcasing over 30 companies raising capital, to over 1000 investors at events in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and London.
After packing up my entire apartment on the Monday night, I spoke at Wholesale Investor's China Investment Roadshow event on Tuesday morning, highlighting the potential in China for Aussie companies (see more here). I then flew up to the Gold Coast that lunchtime to speak and host our Emerging Company Investor Evening with the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur and AVCAL - here we showcased companies to Australia's Venture Capital and Private Equity ecosystem.
Wednesday morning, I drove to Brisbane to catch a flight to Singapore, where on the following Friday, we would finish a massive week thanks to Consensus Singapore (one of the world's largest crypto and blockchain event), with our very own Emergence Singapore event. We showcased 20 of Australasia's most exciting Crypto, Blockchain and Advanced Tech investment offerings to some of the heaviest hitting investors and funds in the space.
Consensus saw over 8000 attendees across the week, and we attracted over 400 investors to Emergence Singapore to conclude a massive week in Singapore.
We concluded the event with a fantastic WI Private Cocktail Reception sponsored by Techemy - this was a stand out in Singapore and builds the foundations for my 1st finding below. (See highlights from Emergence Singapore here).
Then we ventured to Malaysia showcasing to over 120 investors. Kuala Lumpur was a completely different ball game to what we'd ever experienced - and the city holds a special place in my heart as it's where I kicked off my career with the UK's Department for International Trade.
We walked a group of 120 investors from company to company, formally introducing them to each Founder - I have never experienced such a powerful moment of difference at an event before.
- it was a real eye-opener and each and every company saw tremendous success from this - courtesy of our partners X-infinity at this event and their Founder Eddie Chong.
Our final stop in Asia was Hong Kong - what a city! Busy, energetic, crazy, fast-paced, exciting and so, so different from anything I've ever experienced. I cherish Hong Kong as the most eye-opening stop on our month-long Emergence Asia roadshow. Here we showcased companies to over 100 investors - and business here was formal and unique - surprisingly we saw a large expat attendance, and an array of UK investors in attendance - this was a point of attention as to the global connectedness of the city.
Finally we ventured to London - while seemingly bias as a Brit, this was a stand out for me. In a city where authenticity, honesty and the deal are essential, we did an outstanding job for the Wholesale Investor brand in London. I met with Founders, Investors, Funds, Corporate Organisations who all provided vital insight into what UK investors are looking for.
While showcasing Australian, South African and Asian companies in London, we were providing trusted access to global markets - at a time of Brexit, this is exactly what UK Investors are looking for.
With special thanks here to Chris Hancock from Crowd2Fund, the guys at Silicon Roundabout who are true experts and leaders in the space, Graham Rowan from Elite Investor Club, Paul Webster from the Department for International Trade, Gen George - a friend of mine and a great entrepreneur leading the charge in the marketplace space, and finally the London Stock Exchange!
Key Learnings:
1. The power of networking and human interaction is paramount to what we do.Wholesale Investor facilitates the introduction between a company raising capital, and investors looking to build upon and expand their portfolios. With a flourishing online platform, over 19000 investors can source deals from over 410 companies, however, our events offer a vital human element to this digital process.
In particular, the networking sessions and after parties we held at Singapore, Malaysia and London showcased the power for human interaction. While a beer in hand is enjoyable, it does something else - it adds a vital informal component to business where investors and founders assess whether they can actually work together in a formal setting - this 80-20 dynamic of formal with informal communication and networking is vital for us.
2. Quality over quantity. After just 3 months heading up Wholesale Investor's Marketing team, I can see the quality in our database. Resoundingly, we promote the importance of just one great introduction, and I can see that we facilitate this introduction with a fantastic success rate - however the reason we are able to do this, is that we have an active database of over 19000 QUALITY global investors - I am proud and inspired to be part of this process.
3. Local Impact - Global Collaboration. Perhaps it's my past of working in startups and working for the UK Department for International Trade, but I am a massive advocate for Local Impact. Every single company we showcased, will, given the right investment and opportunity to achieve its potential, change the world as we know it.
Every company we showcased will change the way we live, work and play for the better - they're all very special.
The crucial element to creating true local impact through ensuring the companies we showcase raise capital is our ability to activate our global database of investors. True local impact creates global ties to new and exciting markets, comprised of new and exciting investors and founders alike. This 3rd point for me is crucial, I'm an Englishmen, raised in Africa working in Australia, and along the way, I've made ties in each country personally both in my social life and in business.
Collaborating with my global network not only allows me to achieve more, but it allows me to contribute more to changing the way we operate and function for the better - it's a bigger picture mentality that benefits business and the way companies grow.
We also proved a model where investors are increasingly looking to expand their portfolios across borders. This was evident at all events, where the appetite for global opportunity was resounding - we're on a mission to invite investors from all markets to Australia in 2019 to attend Emergence 2019 both in Queensland and in Sydney - more to come on this soon.
I would also hasten to add here two concepts; 1) Nothing is worth doing unless it serves a purpose and 2) nothing is worth doing on our own.
Collaboration and purpose drove Emergence Asia into a new level for Wholesale Investor, it raised the bar and it showcased the power of working together with partners, sponsors and investors to create something together, something bigger, and something better.
A vision for the future...
Finally, I'll leave you with this. As 2019 fast approaches, the Wholesale Investor team are constantly optimising our existing service, and are bringing the biggest, most impactful, insightful, productive events we've ever done in the form of Emergence 2019. In our 10th year of existence, we've learnt a lot, and it's our mission to constantly optimise our offering to ensure maximum success for the companies we showcase both digitally and online - our prime focus is to help them raise capital in the most successful and efficient way possible.
Everything we do is about creating opportunity, and Emergence Asia and London have showcased this more so than ever before - what an experience it's been - however it's just the start!
Stay tuned for more information about Emergence 2019 at www.wholesaleinvestor.com.au and get in touch with me for a chat,
Matt.
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