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

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 those funds. 

The strategic investment marks a continuation of the partnership between LaunchVic and Skalata, following a $3 million investment in 2018. Its initial round of investments in 2019 included the eCommerce platform Preezie, which went on to raise a $5.5 million Series A in 2021 and last year was among the Victorian startups with the potential to  reach unicorn status (a $1bn valuation) by 2030 and was chosen to part of LaunchVic’s 30×30 program.

The latest support from the state government-backed startup agency, which received a further $40 million in funding over the next four years

While Victoria’s startup sector has grown strongly in recent years, early-stage funding has flatlined since 2106, to remain below $100 million a year. 

LaunchVic’s investment in Skalata is set to channel at least $20 million into more than 30 new Victorian startups over the next five years. 

Skalata has so far seen a >10x return on several startups including AI hospitality operating system, Restoke. 

Its first fund (SF-I 2019) has an unrealised IRR of 21%, while its second fund is in the final stages of deployment.

Paul Little said the ongoing relationship with LaunchVic will double the number of local startups in the Skalata portfolio.

“From day one, LaunchVic has been an integral part of our journey,” he said.

“Skalata has now invested in 30 Victorian startups and we look forward to doubling that number over the next few years.”

LaunchVic CEO Kate Cornick said Skalata’s focused founder support, especially during the pivotal seed stage, was helping to cultivate a stronger Victorian startup ecosystem. 

“We’ve worked alongside Skalata for several years now and it’s great to see LaunchVic’s investments being leveraged so that more money is being invested into early-stage VC,” she said.