Superhero raises 8m from Afterpay - Fintech startup on steroids

JOHN WINTERS AND WAYNE BASKIN’s  new Startup, Superhero, has raised  $8 million from Zip shareholders Larry Diamond, Garen Azoyan and Philip Crutchfield; Afterpay founder Nick Molnar and Leon Zweir, a senior partner at law firm Arnold Block Leibler.

Relationships and who you know is so important when raising capital for Startups - Trust plays an enormous part! 

Winters - previously at Shaw and Partners, helped with  Zip’s IPO and Baskin sat on the Afterpay board for a long time. 

So what is Superhero 

Superhero is likened to  Robin Hood in the US -

It  has been under wraps for the past 2 and a half years - and intends to disrupt the online investment industry in Australia by making share trading more transparent and accessible, as well as offering a $5 flat fee. 

The $5 flat-fee brokerage, which Superhero claims to be "Australia's cheapest", also comes with free Pay ID deposit processing, meaning users can fund their account "in minutes" using their associated Pay ID email address or phone number.

Using Superhero, users can invest in ASX-listed shares, ETFs (exchange-traded funds), listed investment companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

On sign-up, users also get a free 30-day trial of 'Superhero Live', which is a premium live trading platform that costs $9 a month, billed annually.

The way people approach financial management is being disrupted. There is a generational, structural shift in the way people invest - and Superhero plans to play a significant part in this disruption! 

The key is to build a massive customer base! 

Will Superhero be able to leverage on  the learnings over the journey of Afterpay and Zip to build massive customer bases?

My view is that this is a Company to watch! 

Here is David Winters chatting to Ausbiztv - 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ausbiztv_a-new-superhero-is-in-town-activity-6708868265302740992-WYxR

5 Ways to Identify Innovation Opportunities to Drive Business Growth

In this volatile and uncertain environment, the key to SMEs long-term viability and profitability is to undertake business innovation. Meaning, making new introductions to, and/ or improvements across the business.

Studies have shown that persistently identifying and executing on innovative opportunities results in a significant contribution and improvement to SME revenue and business growth. (Source: The Impact of Persistence Innovation on Business Growth, Office of the Chief Economist, 2018)

Michael Haynes identifies 5 ways  to innovate your own SME and drive business growth

Click here for the article

Redbubble - benefitting from the radical change in Spending Behaviour

We are proud to have been a founding investor of Martin Hosking’s Redbubble .... whose shares have gone from 45c to $4 in 6 months - benefitting massively  as a result of changes in spending patterns and the shift to online. 

It’s taken 15 years to become an overnight success!! http://bsivc.blogspot.com/2006/06/usa-gateway-held-last-thursday-in.html?m=1

Joseph Kim of Montgomery Investment Management shares a great article sharing some Redbubble facts 

So What is Redbubble?

Redbubble is a growing online marketplace providing print-on-demand products based on user-submitted artwork.

Redbubble is an e-commerce business which provides a marketplace for independent artists to sell their designs on over 60 product offerings including stickers, T-shirts, wall-art, home décor etc to customers. The business has a global supply chain with third party manufacturers fulfilling orders which is then shipped around the world.

Redbubble has been listed since 2016 and since that time the company has experienced some short-term hiccups to its growth story – with issues ranging as widely as changes to the Google search algorithm to lower sticker purchases – which has led to a volatile share price experience for investors and questions around its longer-term potential.

Like many e-commerce businesses, COVID-19 has drastically changed the operating landscape and prospects for the business. 

The Flywheel effect 

Redbubble’s success is partly driven by the sustainability of its flywheel effect, whereby a growing community of artists fuel demand for better and more unique content. During a period of lockdown where independent artists are likely to find it more challenging to commercialise products, Redbubble has likely provided an outlet for artists to monetise their work. This has coincided with the e-commerce spike, helping to drive a significant uplift in sales.

The opportunity set for Redbubble is compelling. The business already has a global presence with its main markets being North America and Europe. 

The Redbubble Opportunity 

Should the company build a recognisable brand, the potential to be a global e-commerce marketplace for aspiring artists presents significant upside. Recent interest in both social and mainstream media point to growing brand awareness, which helps perpetuate the flywheel effects.

Source: Redbubble

It’s important to note Redbubble’s recent success has required continuous investment – not just in the website itself, but also the supply chain infrastructure with fulfillers and shippers – including product quality control. This has helped the business meet the surge in demand, while benefiting financially from the operating leverage that comes with higher sales.

The Redbubble results are compelling 

For example, at RBL’s previous sales run-rate of approximately $250-300 million, the company was largely break-even on an operating EBITDA basis, largely driven by a spike in sales during December quarter trading.

However, with the recent surge in Redbubble’s sales, the company has been able to accelerate its journey into profitability as gross margins remain largely intact (approximately 38 per cent) and paid acquisition on an incremental basis remains stable (or declines). 

This was demonstrated in its FY20 result where Redbubble’s implied Q4 Operating EBITDA of $8.6 million did not include around $20 million of “unearned revenue” (i.e. sales booked and received payment but yet to be shipped) – which would have added an additional ~$7-8 million on 40 per cent gross margins.

Joseph Kim of Montgomery’s prediction 

While RBL has clearly been a “stay-at-home” trade, we believe the business has the opportunity to emerge a longer-term structural winner from COVID-19 should it capitalise in the recent spike in user and customer interest as a result of recent lockdown measures.

Senate Committee meets - sympathetic to Issues of the Innovators

Companies investing in R&D and Innovation - especially startups, are facing enormous hurdles and risks of failure and uncertainty. 

The last thing that they need is a possible timebomb where Government will potentially claw back incentives claimed based on uncertain legislation and lack of clarity.

The Senate this week recommended that government better clarify the eligibility of software claims under the scheme and for the government to provide clearer guidance on RDTI audits and to place limitations on the ability for the payments to be clawed back retrospectively.

“The committee believes there needs to be greater clarity around the point at which software is seen as innovation and the point at which it is not. The committee considers this additional clarification is required to clarify when and how the RDTI is applied to software development in relation to FinTech businesses to ensure genuine software creation by Australian startups is reliably supported,” 

Mick Lynch , Director of BSI innovation said that 

he was quietly optimistic based on the number of constructive suggestions made by the Senate Committee 

Another Senate committee is currently scrutinising the RDTI legislation - with the report expected after the October budget

Senator Bragg suggested that 

“If we are going to compete with Singapore and Tokyo, we first need to get our house in order at home. Much progress has been made but it’s time for some recalibration. Government should not be afraid to act like a FinTech and be iterative,” 

Envato and Hey Tiger - business for good

About Envato 

Collis Ta'eed -  co-founder of Unicorn  Envato, -  is stepping down as CEO after announcing a record profit of $18.75m on a turnover of $200m to its 360k paid subscribers and 2m active users. 

Envato is a Melbourne-based digital marketplace to the creative community people buy and sell creative digital goods like music, graphics, video, photos, website themes and basically anything you might need for a creative project.

Envato - bought  Mexican Company PlaceIt in 2018 - a  competitor to Canva in the simplified graphic design market - doubling its workforce from 300-600.

A global search is being undertaken for a CEO to take Envata to the next stage of its journey. There is an abundance of talent from the likes of other content creators such as 99Designs, Airtasker, Canva, Freelancer.com and Redbubble - which have all boomed as housebound hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic has seen rapid growth in the sector. 

"It's time to let someone else with fresh ideas and energy lead the day-to-day running of the company. I feel comfortable in handing over the keys while the company is in good shape,"  say Collis

It’s Values

Envata has its  company values, based on the core value “when the community succeeds, we succeed.”

Around this , values include 

”not just the bottom line,” 

“tell it like it is” and

 “diverse and inclusive,”

That stems from the reality that there are thousands of talented people all over the world selling with us, and our goal as a business has to be about helping them earn a livelihood doing creative work they love on their own terms. 

Cyan says that she loves that this value is also applied to our community of team members and our broader community.

Envato was recently listed in the top 10 Best Places to Work of Australian workplaces with 100-999 employees.

It’s the sixth consecutive year it has been recognised in the Great Place to Work awards.

'At Envato, we’ve worked hard to cultivate 100 per cent flexible work. For the members of our team who have ongoing mental health differences that make it hard to get to work sometimes, being able to work from home whenever they feel they need to makes a meaningful difference,' said Cyan 

The Story 

Collis 40 and his wife Cyan 39 started selling its first Subscription as a Service with Adobe Flash products 14 years ago from their garage expanding to now selling everything from WordPress templates to 3D printing renders. SAAS is the go!!!

They are  ranked fourth on 2019's Financial Review Young Rich List with the couple's stake in the wholly family-owned business valued at $799 million.

So where to from here? 

Giving

Cyan has developed “Hey Tiger” a chocolate brand that is all about pairing chocolate with unusual flavours, the best ingredients, and incredible design. It’s  100% owned by a charitable trust that funds community development projects with cocoa farming communities in West Africa (where most of the world’s cocoa is grown). Collis will be joining Cyan once the handover to a CEO is complete hopefully by end of 2020.

20% of Envato's operating profit has been shared with staff, who mainly sit in Melbourne or the Mexican city of Guadalajara, with 2% being donated to charity - mainly Homeless charities in Melbourne

The entrepreneurial couple made headlines when it was revealed they generously offered a $13 million profit share to 1000 current and former staff.

This is despite Envato profits almost halved in 2017-18.

'That was a fun email to send. I had former colleagues ringing to check it wasn't a phishing scam,' Mr Ta'eed told AFR In April. 

Succession 

The search for Envato's new boss is global, although Mr Ta'eed noted there was plenty of great talent both within Envato and Australia's online marketplace scene,

Mr Ta'eed will remain chairman of Envato's board, which also includes Cyan, his father Fuad and brother Vahid. 

Additional independent directors could be appointed as part of a renewal process under the new chief executive.

Source 

This article has been sourced from various articles including from 

Michael Bailey of afr - who writes on entrepreneurship  and the arts. He is also responsible for the Financial Review's Rich Lists. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at m.bailey@afr.com

Songtradr for Musicians - could be what Redbubble is for photographers and Artists

Paul Wiltshire’s online music platform Songtradr, has closed a $42 million ($US30 million) capital forum 25% of the equity. 

Money raised from  family offices including WiseTech Global boss Richard White and the St Baker family office, which is connected to energy sector businessman Trevor St Baker. 

What will the money be used for

A third of the capital will go towards fuelling organic growth and expanding the product development team. Expanding the office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and building up a tech team in Australia.

The balance is for strategic acquisitions across complementary technologies that improve processes and acquisitions of boutique music licensing companies who represent major brands or customers.

So who is Paul Wiltshire

Paul Wiltshire started as a songwriter - and together with his wife, Victoria, created a formidable team - who were record producers, working with the likes of Delta Goodrem, Vanessa Amorosi and Guy Sebastian.

Paul identified the opportunity to set up a platform to licence independent artists and moved to LA in 2014, setting up their own music licensing platform - connecting musicians to consumers. 

So what is Songtradr

Songtradr connecting artists, record labels and publishers to licensees from multiple verticals such as advertising, brands, film, TV, gaming, video streaming services and other media.

The idea is to expand artists’ revenues, while ensuring they maintain control of their rights, and are paid fairly.

Paul says that he believes it's the right time for artists who are creators to put their energy into creating and releasing more music. Sngtradr is built on artists seeing their music as a business, activating all of those income streams, being discoverable ... and working their social media and other channels to support that.

One of the cool things that it does is that it uses artificial intelligence to automatically describe a piece of music and match pieces of music with advertisers looking for a song that will appeal to a particular audience.

Songtradr is the only open marketplace for music licensing in the world with scale, and currently has a community of over 500,000 artists, songwriters and catalogues from 190 countries and a quarterly growth rate of more than 30 per cent. 

It has more than 1.3 million songs on the platform, and more than $1.5 million in monthly recurring revenue. 

Since COVID-19 began, the number of new songs released by artists has increased three times since the onset of the pandemic.

Its users include Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, Disney, MTV, Apple, Microsoft, Fox and CBS.

So who is Redbubble 

Today, Australian startup Redbubble - helps Artists and Photographers commercialise their Art - founded by Martin Hosking in Melbourne Redbubble is close to being a unicorn!

The Timing is now to Connect Innovators and Entrepreneurs to Mentors and Money

“Out of every Pandemic or Disaster comes Change.....And from Change comes Opportunity.” Ivan Kaye 

I noted an article written by my friend Jordan Green, founder of the Melbourne Angels, and the 2019 Australian Angel Investor of the Year. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordangreen

He wrote about  how technology has given us the ability to recognise and respond to the COVID-19 crisis with a speed and scale in an unprecedented way. 

The necessity to innovate and solve pain points that has been created from this Change has created opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators. They will find the key elements of a new direction, a new way of doing things.

• New business models are being created.
• The environment is a focus
• Purpose and Values are coming to the fore as people have a time to reflect, realign and reimagine 

There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur and an investor in the VC space  - and timing is everything in the startup world! 

When I first met Jordan 18 years ago - the VC market in Australia was Nascent and we were holding BSI Investor Forums to groups of HNI and Angels - when very few funds existed - The Government invested $130m in the BiTs programme- creating 10 incubators -which helped spark an industry where over $1b from a few funds in the last 3 months! 

At our BBG investor forum last month, Tony Surtees notes that in Australia, VC has been an asset class, where it is not unusual for investors to get a 20-30% return on investment .

The forum was outstanding - where we discussed the opportunities and the “where to from here?” question 

Well worth checking it out!! Here’s the link 

http://bbg2020.blogspot.com/2020/07/bbg-june-super-forum-with-tony-surtees.html?m=0

One of my takeouts from the forum was that market timing is the most critical factor in startup success and failure — meeting the market! 

The Opportunity is Now 

I believe there is an opportunity today - to create a Forum connecting Startups and Entrepreneurs to the plethora of highly skilled and cashed up Baby Boomers - and I look forward to playing a part in connecting these Humans - to collaborate, contribute and learn from each other and take advantage of the Opportunities that are arising from this massive change .

Together We will imagine and build a  better future. 

There will be a plethora of opportunities - Let’s get them to market together.....

Who wants to play? 

The 4 biggest and most active VCs in USA

For those looking to get VC

Accel, Andreesen Horowitz, GV and Sequoia are four of the biggest names on the venture capital landscape. 

In the second quarter of 2020, all four were among the 20 most active venture firms in the US, led by Andreessen Horowitz and its 29 new investments.

Senate looking to make a $1.8B cut to innovation and tech sector

Canva and Atlassian are fighting to save the R&D Tax Incentive as a methodology to promote innovation .

Instead of the proposed changes - to cut incentives for innovation amounting  to an estimated  $1.8 billion, the government should look to several “immediate, interim measures” to stimulate the growth of Australia’s innovation economy, both Atlassian and Canva argued.

The federal government’s planned changes to the research and development tax incentive, is planned to go before a Senate committee to approve the controversial reforms - that could kill innovation incentives for much of  the Technology and Startup Sector and harm Australia’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

Atlassian’s  Scott Farquhar said the RDTI is “more important than ever” in the wake of COVID-19, and the proposed reforms would damage the scheme for most companies.

Scott  goes on to say that research and development – including software R&D – sits at the core of Australian innovation and is vital to its future in a global knowledge economy - and  the RDTI is the most significant program available to Australian companies to incentivise innovation. 

The changes to how the RDTI scheme applies to companies with annual turnover under $20 million would lead to a “significant decrease in refundable R&D offsets for Australian startups”, Canva chief financial officer Damien Singh said in a submission.

The Government should look to  increase support for R&D “with reference to the higher tax incentives available in other OECD countries”, the tech companies said.

“Small-medium enterprises will require additional financial support due to COVID-19 and losing access to previously budgeted refundable R&D tax offsets will further reduce their ability to invest in needed innovation within Australia,” he said.

“We see research and development as fundamental to furthering Australian innovation and to growing the Australian economy, especially post-COVID. In this continually evolving COVID crisis, the incentive is more important than ever to the recovery of the Australian economy.”

The Senate Committee is due to hand down its report on the RDTI changes on Monday, after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

22-year-old Adam Stone launches Speedlancer - raiding $500k

Adam Stone (22) launches Speedlancer - a freelancing platform after raising $500k plus from  Macdoch Ventures, which has previously invested in design tech firm Canva

The goal is to make  outsourcing effective for start-ups and small businesses who don't have access to a HR manager or the time to go through and recruit the talent that they need.

Looks like a savvy investment - as distributed and outsourced teams are the go 

https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/fast-and-young-22yearold-adam-stone-launching-freelancing-platform-20161223-gth54z.html

Diversity and a inclusion on the VC Industry to “hit the spot”

VC firms - a predominantly white male dominated industry is being disrupted - in a positive way!

 Diversity and Inclusion is hitting the spot!

Blackbird Venture have appointed Samantha Wong, 36, and Nick Crocker, 36, to equal partners  and  Airtree Ventures appointed Jackie Vullinghs, 31, as principal.

Ms Vullinghs said the new generation at venture capital firms will inevitably change the way funds invested. 

Elicia McDonald, 31, who was made a principal at Airtree last year, said greater diversity would strengthen venture capital and by extension the startup sector Australia.

"It's not just a gender thing but having diversity of opinions across investments leads to better outcomes," she said. 

Blackbird partner Ms Wong said the sector was changing and likened working in venture capital to an apprenticeship, where working directly with founding partners Rick Baker and Niki Scevak allowed her to learn the craft of venture capital.

Ms Wong said there is much to be done  to ensure opportunity is available to those  that did not found a successful company or go to Stanford when Google and Facebook started, and disadvantages migrants and women who may not have accumulated a lot of wealth.

“We need to look at diversity through not just gender but also a socio- economic background and race as well. We are just at the start of this."

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! 

Sources:- 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ivankayebsi_vc-investment-is-becoming-a-serious-asset-activity-6697116865904418816-Ud6V

https://bsivc.blogspot.com/2020/08/vc-investment-is-becoming-serious-asset.html?m=1

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/analysis/conscious-investors-post-covid-19/

http://bbg2020.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-great-reset-post-covid.html?m=0

The wine industry is being disrupted during this crisis - could be a good thing

Digital Wine Ventures (ASX:DW8) CEO Dean Taylor (named one of the 50 Stars of Wine and TOP 50 People in Ecommerce) expects to raise up to A$6.15m to disrupt Australia’s $5.3 billion wholesale liquor market which is currently serviced via distributors who charge on average between 35 and 50% of the wholesale price. 

The current Disruption to markets seems to be an ideal time launch the Direct-to-Trade Marketplace and expansion of its Smart Logistics Solution.

This Marketplace will allow restaurants, hotels, bars and bottle shops to support wine producers by purchasing directly from them via a farm-to-table inspired ordering solution.

The Marketplace is a simple, cost-effective and highly scalable platform to reach and transact with thousands of trade buyers.

Wineries can easily pivot to online sales during cellar-door closures, with wineries coming onboard  including Henschke, Jim Barry (James Halliday’s Winery of the Year 2020), Brokenwood, Josef Chromy, Peter Lehmann, Primo Estate, Delatite Wines, Mollydooker and Casella Family Brands.

The volume of cases processed through the cloud-based platform over the last three months doubled as Australians took advantage of online ordering to purchase from their favourite wineries as an alternative to visiting retail outlets and shopping centres.

Triller becomes a unicorn

Triller, the developer of a short-form video-sharing app, is in the midst of raising a $250 million funding round that could value the startup at $1.25 billion, according to reports. The Los Angeles-based TikTok rival has reportedly raised more than $30 million in venture capital funding over the five years since it launched.

Triller has made strides as its larger peers continue to undergo growing pains. Microsoft is in talks to acquire a large slice of TikTok amid a political firestorm. Instagram launched Reels this week—its answer to TikTok—after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a recent congressional grilling over whether his company's habit of acquiring and imitating rivals was anticompetitive.

Meanwhile, Triller's popularity surged over the weekend, briefly making it the number one app in the world. The company also named TikTok star Josh Richards as its chief strategy officer, and sued TikTok for patent infringement. Triller has worked to set itself apart through partnerships with major music studios and an investor roster that includes artists like Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and Snoop Dogg.

VC Investment is becoming a serious Asset Class

Although Australia is in its first recession in 29 years, the startup investment scene remains active - with 3 new funds coming to the market focussed on Australia and New Zealand-founded startups .

The Australian Venture Capital Industry is coming into its own as an asset class - says Tony Surtees (Co-founder of Zeetings which was recently sold to Canva) at our BBG Innovation  Forum.

Amanda Price KPMG - head of High Growth Ventures - points out that Startup investment in Australia hit new highs over the first six months of 2020,  with 92 deals reaching US$944.7 million, up from US$627.3 compared to first six months of 2019 according to KPMG’s Venture Pulse report (circa 1% of global activity) See full Article  https://home.kpmg/au/en/home/media/press-releases/2020/07/australian-startup-investment-continues-rise-2020-despite-covid19-28-july.html - the article goes on to give details of Global VC Investment .

The standout Aussie Startup has been Atlassian Inc., which was founded in Australia about 19 years ago with less than $50k is now a $43 billion public company.

Aussie Funds loading up - getting ready to invest 

Square Peg cofounded by Justin Liberman and Andrew Bassat raised a A$350 million round in June (topping $1b with pension backing) 

Blackbird - cofounded by Niki Scevak, and Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes has  just raised  $500m  which now has  A$1.3 billion in total committed capital 

and 

Our Investment fund is  just finalising the  raise of its 2nd fund of 75m (see   https://bsivc.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-fresh-75m-for-australian-vc-our.html) for details of  what this amazing group of humans are doing ( Lawrence, Bella, Jeff,Dave and Jeremy )

Blackbird and Square Peg’s home run is its investment in Canva  of about $110 million part of capital rounds together  with with existing backers including Sequoia China , General Catalyst Partners, Square Peg , Felicis Ventures and Bond.

Canva now Has a $6 billion valuation in a funding round in June. 

Blackbird also invested in autonomous vehicle startup Zoox Inc., which sold in June to Amazon.com Inc. for more than $1 billion. 

All 3 like the edtech space - and together with Microsoft, Seek, Amazon and others have just backed GO1 in a $62m series C investment.

Edtech seems a hot space!!!! - it’s the #nexttechrevolution

A fresh $75m for Australian VC “Our Innovation Fund”

Lawrence Schwartz and Isabella Rich - supported by Jerry Stesel, Geoff Levy and David Shein plans to close its 2nd  fund ($75m) after having invested in 12 Australian Companies with its first $50 fund - (who has raised a further $250m from other funds) .

Isabella said that they have five deals at the pointy end of due diligence that they are very excited about. 

Remote work, remote operations and making businesses more efficient seems to be the flavour of deal flow in this Covid-19 environment.

Three of the notable Companies they have backed are 

Go1 - a workplace training marketplace - "The OIF team have been incredibly helpful – particularly with our US expansion where we’ve seen 5x growth over the last 12 months" 

Kasada - a cyber security company backed  by Malcolm Turnbull 

Advanced Navigation.an artificial intelligence powered navigation and robotics business

Assignar - a construction operations software business Sean McCreanor, said the OIF Team have been pragmatic and empathetic towards its portfolio companies and their customers.

This team is clearly not scared to get their hands dirty and does what it takes to help their portfolio companies succeed .....  they see themselves as an extension of the businesses we invest in.

David Shein shared an amazing 3 hours with the BBG Innovation forum - and shared a secret to the funds success -  its 3F values

• founders (supporting them), 
• fund (generating returns for stakeholders) and 
• fun 

The team  relies strongly on personal referrals - says David - and it was rare that an investment would be made from a cold call! 

The value they bring is so much more than the money they provide !

The CEO of GO1 who raised on the $62m raise said “The OIF networks are strong for both prospective partners and customers. For example, they helped organise an introduction to Walmart."

Laurence Schwartz said the fund  was tracking at a compounded annual rate of return of 32.7 per cent after tax, which would put it in the top quartile of global funds like Accel and Lightspeed.