A new event connecting investors and founders is coming to Melbourne in August

Some of Australia’s leading VC funds, including Blackbird Ventures, Airtree VC, Grok Ventures, Square Peg Capital and Rampersand VC are coming to Melbourne in August for a new event organised by the host of the The Startup Playbook podcast, Rohit Bhargava.

The Investor Connect event in Melbourne on August 15 is Bhargava’s brainchild, knowing how challenging it can be for founders to build relationships with investors. 

“Almost every one of the investors in the ecosystem has mentioned that the best way to get funding from them is to build relationships,” he said.

“But for many founders, especially first time founders or those with limited networks, balancing running their business, serving their customers and updating their product and users with finding the right access to get a warm intro can be extremely difficult. That’s where the Investor Connect event comes in.

Rohit Bhargava

“The focus is less on pitching in the traditional sense and more geared towards building relationships with investors by getting them to better understand the founders and their business in small and more curated settings.”

Bhargava said that unlike traditional demo days or pitch events, Investor Connect will heavily curate the process, matching each investor with 2-3 startups that meet their stage, industry and areas of interest.

“The goal is for each startup to meet with at least one investor who is interested in their industry as well as having access to 15+ of the other leading investors in the country,” he said. 

Rampersand managing partner Paul Napthali said his VC business loves meeting with startups early to better understand them and their business when they are ready for investment.

“Events like this help bridge the gap and form these relationships early in the process,” he said. 

Bhargava said more investors will be announced for the event in the coming weeks. In the meantime applications for startups who want to attend are available online at his business, Playbook Ventures, here. Applications close on August 1.