Venture Capital Archives

Queensland backs impact VC Pollination’s $150 million fund for climate solution startups

Simon Thomsen - June 6, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Queensland government is backing in specialist venture capital firm Pollination in a new fund for local climate and nature technology startups. Pollination’s Climate and Nature Impact Venture Fund has kicked off with the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) as cornerstone investor through the Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund (QVCDF). It’s been a busy week for… Read more »

Llew Jury, Georgia Barkell and Heath Shonhan

Venture Capital

Queensland backs local VC Sprint Ventures, lures Blues fund Tidal Ventures north

Simon Thomsen - June 4, 2024 3 MIN READ

Brisbane early and growth-stage venture capital fund Sprint Ventures is among four new VCs to be backed by the state government’s Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) as part of an ambitious plan to invest in more local startups. The QIC-managed Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund (QVCDF) is the cornerstone investor for Sprint Fund 3. It follows an initial… Read more »

Investing

If governments act like a VC, they need to be made responsible like one

Hon Weng Chong - June 4, 2024 3 MIN READ

There’s an old adage in the acting business that you can’t become a household name back home, without first cracking Hollywood. In the wake of PsiQuantum’s success, and another underwhelming Federal Budget, that could be extended to the startup sector too, with growing unease in the local ecosystem that the government doesn’t fully understand or… Read more »

Venture Capital

A VC on the things you need to do when email pitching to investors

Alan Jones - June 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

It’s easy to get these basic things wrong and easy to get them right, so let’s get them right! First up: videos are sometimes an investor deterrent. Unless you’re a video startup or there’s something visual about your customer experience that is essential to understand, don’t send investors videos instead of decks — they are… Read more »

Funding

Runway May 24: The 7 startups revealing venture raises this week

Simon Thomsen - May 24, 2024 2 MIN READ

Welcome to Runway, Startup Daily’s weekly round up of capital raising in the ANZ startup ecosystem. This week it’s also worth noting a VC banking big bucks with LaunchVic investing $900,000 in Paul Little’s early-stage fund Skalata to back around 30 new Victorian startups. Meanwhile, here’s who banked Bare Funerals Founded Perth, 2019 Doing Friends… Read more »

Skalata Venture chairman Paul Little with the fund's COO Maxine Lee and CEO Rohan Workman

Funding

Paul Little’s Skalata lands $900,000 from LaunchVic

Simon Thomsen - May 21, 2024 2 MIN READ

Melbourne VC firm Skalata has a new investor in LaunchVic, which has backed the seed fund with $900,000. Skalata, chaired by former Toll boss Paul Little, has been a highly active in early capital for nascent startups, making 70 investments across two funds since its l. LaunchVic will invest directly into the fund manager overseeing… Read more »

Funding

Budget 2024: It seems the federal government went dutch with Queensland on the $940 million PsiQuantum deal, but the really surprising part is a $28m fine print cost

Simon Thomsen - May 14, 2024 2 MIN READ

We now know how much the federal government is spending to bring PsiQuantum, the California-based quantum computing company with Australian founders, to Brisbane. Well, almost. The budget says $466.4 million in equity and loans from Export Finance Australia on the National Interest Account. And it seems that a fair slab is a loan “estimated to exceed… Read more »

People

Harikesh Pushpapathan named partner at Stoic Venture Capital

Simon Thomsen - April 23, 2024 2 MIN READ

Life sciences and deep tech VC Stoic Venture Capital has promoted Harikesh Pushpapathan to partner at the fund. Pushpapathan joined Stoic in early 2022 as an investment analyst, becoming an investment manager 12 months later. He graduated from University of Sydney with degrees in psychology, neuroscience and finance, and now sits on the Uniseeed biotech… Read more »

People

Phoebe Harrop steps up to Blackbird’s Kiwi boss as Samantha Wong returns to Aus

Simon Thomsen - April 19, 2024 2 MIN READ

Blackbird partner Phoebe Harrop will take the helm of VC fund’s Kiwi out as its founding head, Samantha Wong, returns to Australia pending the birth of her second child. Wong announced the move back across The Ditch on Blackbird’s blog, saying “I’ve decided this is the right time for me and my family to move… Read more »

Business strategy

A VC explains how to avoid the most common mistake founders make – raising too much too early

Ben Armstrong - April 15, 2024 4 MIN READ

Away from the VC mega-round headlines or the hard stories of founders who can’t raise capital at any price, is the solvable problem of how much money a new founder should raise. I’ve participated in hundreds of investments where founders have opted for different answers to this question, and watched the consequences unfold over the… Read more »

Opinion

Horses for courses: why Canva is Blackbird’s Winx moment

Simon Thomsen - April 9, 2024 4 MIN READ

Much of life is about pedigree. It’s why parents pay insane amounts of money for private schools (aka the old school tie), why VCs back founders 2nd time around (even after previous failures), royals marry other royals, and why a co-owner of champion racehorse Winx paid $10 million for her filly at auction this week.… Read more »

The NextGen Ventures Melbourne team: Varad Chaudhari, Ikya Thearam, Mitchell Hughes and Donald La. Photo: Valent Media.

Venture Capital

Students are getting into VC with NextGen Ventures to back uni-founded startups

Simon Thomsen - April 2, 2024 3 MIN READ

Australian universities are creating extraordinary startups founded by students that are changing the world. Think tech giant Atlassian – cofounders Mike and Scott met at UNSW – to more recent successes such as gaming platform Immutable, diagnosis medtech Harrison.ai, and drone deep tech venture Propeller Aero. Now students are taking charge of the investment side… Read more »

Pitching

A VC explains the difference between what they say and what they actually mean when talking about traction

Casey Flint - April 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

I often hear founders say “Australian VCs are so conservative, they all want traction before they’ll invest! You have to go to the US!”. While the idea that you must go to the US for funding merits a longer write-up, let’s talk about VCs asking for traction. VCs, like most people, can be bad communicators.… Read more »

Venture Capital

RAYN MAN: The secrets of investing in Australian startups revealed in ‘Memoirs of a dumb VC’

Simon Thomsen - April 1, 2024 4 MIN READ

Rayn Ong is the Taylor Swift of Australian venture capital. The Archangel Ventures partner has made more than 100 investments. A Startmate mentor, Blackbird limited partner and poker shark, Ong works with angel investors and venture fund mangers to co-invest in 1st and 2nd rounds for early stage tech startups. His fans, known as Ongies,… Read more »

Venture Capital

A VC unpacks the why and process of deciding to invest in a sports tech startup

Jack Atkinson - March 27, 2024 9 MIN READ

Investor Rayn Ong pointed out recently that “VCs (and angels) say no to 95% of the founders they meet with”. That’s ignoring the many more no responses over emails and even DMs (from some brave founders). As anyone in startup land will attest, the no comes in many forms. There is of course the quick,… Read more »

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