VENTURE CAPITAL – AUSTRALIA

AI leads Australian start-ups’ $5b funding boom

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Original article by Tess Bennett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 3-Feb-26

Funding for Australian technology start-ups increased by $1 billion to $5.1 billion last year, according to the State of Australian Start-up Funding report. Investments linked to artificial intelligence dominated funding, with 61 per cent going to start-ups using AI in their product offerings, while the 20 biggest deals accounted for 58 per cent of the total capital deployed. Commenting on the 2025 figures, Airtree Ventures partner James Cameron said VC sentiment was "buoyant" again after a subdued couple of years, while diversity among funded start-ups still remains a major issue; all-female founding teams received just two per cent of total capital invested in 2025

CORPORATES
AIRTREE VENTURES PTY LTD

Private equity ready to splash $7.7bn cash

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Original article by Scott Murdoch
The Australian – Page: 17 & 18 : 19-Feb-18

The Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association has reported that the industry raised $A3.35 billion in 2017. Local private equity funds invested $A3.38 billion in deals in 2017, while private equity and venture capital funds are estimated to have a $A7.7 billion "war chest" at their disposal. Vic­toria Allen of Minter Ellison says sectors that can expect to attract private equity and venture capital investment include healthcare, technology and disability services.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, MINTER ELLISON, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, KKR AND COMPANY LP, KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS AND COMPANY, VARDE PARTNERS INCORPORATED, I-MED/MIA NETWORK LIMITED, EQUITY TRUSTEES LIMITED – ASX EQT, PERMIRA ADVISERS LIMITED, LASER CLINICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, CLAYTON UTZ, FORT STREET CAPITAL PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, REDCAPE PROPERTY GROUP, MOELIS AND COMPANY, DIXON GROUP, VENTIA, APOLLO GROUP INCORPORATED, FITNESS AUSTRALIA, QUADRANT CAPITAL PTY LTD

Tech fund rush to hit $1b

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 2-Nov-15

Square Peg Capital will launch a $A200m venture capital fund that will invest in technology start-ups. Square Peg Capital was co-founded by Paul Bassat, who was also the joint founder of jobs website SEEK. Other recent initiatives in Australia’s venture capital space include a $A200m fund launched by Blackbird Ventures and Atlassian Software founder Michael Cannon-Brookes. Brandon Capital also launched a $A200m fund earlier in 2015.

CORPORATES
SQUARE PEG CAPITAL PTY LTD, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, BLACKBIRD VENTURES PTY LTD, ATLASSIAN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, BRANDON CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, HEALTH EMPLOYEES’ SUPERANNUATION TRUST AUSTRALIA LIMITED, STATEWIDE SUPERANNUATION PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, THE GROUP OF EIGHT LIMITED, AIRTREE VENTURES PTY LTD, ACCEL PARTNERS, 99DESIGNS PTY LTD, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, GOCATCH, ROCKT, VEND LIMITED, SCRIPTROCK PTY LTD, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD

Crowdfunding gathers impetus with investors

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 38 : 27-Aug-15

Property crowdfunding is still a novelty in Australia. In the US, $A1.42 billion has been raised for property investments. CrowdfundUp’s founder Jack Quiqley told a Property Council of Australia breakfast in Sydney on 26 August 2015 that property equity crowdfunding gives retail investors an opportunity to enter the property market with a small sum of money.

CORPORATES
CROWDFUNDUP PTY LTD, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LESTER GROUP LIMITED, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA

Westpac buys stake in payments start-up

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 25-Jun-15

PromisePay has raised $US2m ($A2.6m) in seed funding from several venture capital funds, including the Westpac-owned Reinventure Group. PromisePay was founded in 2014 and offers a payment platform for online marketplaces such as Jobstream and Flippa. PromisePay forecasts strong growth in revenue in 2015-16. Reinventure has previously invested in SocietyOne, Nabo and Zetaris.

CORPORATES
PROMISEPAY, REINVENTURE GROUP PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, JOBSTREAM, FLIPPA.COM PTY LTD, SOCIETYONE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NABO COMMUNITY, ZETARIS PTY LTD, RAMPERSAND HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CULTIVATION CAPITAL, 99DESIGNS PTY LTD, SQUARE, SIXTHIRTY, KIMA VENTURES, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, ERICSSON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FUJITSU AUSTRALIA LIMITED, STANDARD CHARTERED BANK PLC, BRAINTREE LABORATORIES INCORPORATED, UBER TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, AIRBNB INCORPORATED, EBAY INCORPORATED, CRAIGSLIST, GUMTREE.COM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CAR

Angel investor Clive Mayhew leads $1.7m round in OpenLearning

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Original article by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
BRW – Page: online : 5-Feb-15

Australian online education platform OpenLearning has received $A1.7 million in funding from individual investors. Clive Mayhew contributed $A1 million. The company will use the new capital to fund expansion, aiming to raise the number of its users from 125,000 to a million globally by 2016

CORPORATES
OPEN LEARNING PTY LTD, MURU-D PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, ICSGLOBAL LIMITED – ASX ICS, BENESSE HOLDINGS PTY LTD, SKY SOFTWARE PTY LTD, SYDNEY SEEED FUND MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, ORCHARD STREET PTY LTD, COURSERA INCORPORATED

Shoes of Prey closes $6.5m Series A round with Khosla Ventures

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Original article by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
BRW – Page: online : 3-Dec-14

Australian online retailer Shoes of Prey has raised $US5.5 million ($A6.5 million) in new venture capital. Companies and individuals that participated in the funding initiative included Khosla Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn, ThirdLove co-founders David Spector and Heidi Zak, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, and Bill Tai from Southern Cross Venture Partners. The new funds will be used to finance expansion in the US and to construct a new factory in China

CORPORATES
SHOES OF PREY PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS VENTURE PARTNERS PTY LTD, ATLASSIAN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS PTY LTD, KHOSLA VENTURES, BLACKBIRD VENTURES PTY LTD, BONOBOS INCORPORATED, THIRDLOVE

ROKT, eBay in digital ad deal

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Nov-14

Bruce Buchanan, CEO of digital marketing company ROKT, has announced a new agreement with web auctions group eBay for the North American market. The Sydney-based firm forecasts revenue of up to $A200m by 2016 from the deal on targeted advertising for eBay users. In Australia, ROKT has Car­sales, Tigerair and Australia Post among its clients. The business has been provided with venture capital by the Square Peg Capital vehicle of Paul Bassat and James Packer, as well as by Lachlan Murdoch and Carsales CEO Greg Roebuck

CORPORATES
ROKT PTY LTD, EBAY INCORPORATED, CARSALES.COM LIMITED – ASX CRZ, AUSTRALIA POST, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SQUARE PEG CAPITAL PTY LTD, JANCHOR PARTNERS LIMITED, PINCHME AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Tech funder on lookout for more start-ups

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 21-Oct-14

OneVentures will soon start making new investments through its Innovation & Growth Fund II, having already invested $A60 million in technology start-ups. OneVentures MD Michelle Deaker hopes the fund will reach the level of $A100 million by the end of 2014 or in early 2015. The fund will split its investments between technology companies and life sciences groups

CORPORATES
ONEVENTURES PTY LTD, THE MYER FAMILY COMPANY PTY LTD, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, THE CARLYLE GROUP, CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED, VAXXAS PTY LTD, AIRTREE VENTURES PTY LTD

Online star back from the brink

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Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 19/22 : 27-Jun-14

Australian entrepreneur Patrick Grove does not like his wealth to be examined by the media. In 2013, he appeared on the "Young Rich List" of "BRW" with a wealth of $A95 million. Grove says he is motivated by the desire to build new businesses rather than to make money. His Catcha Group now controls online assets worth more than $US300 million ($A318.8 milion), including stakes in three Australian-listed companies – iCar, iProperty and iBuy

CORPORATES
CATCHA GROUP, CATCHA MEDIA BERHAD, ICAR ASIA LIMITED – ASX ICQ, IPROPERTY GROUP LIMITED – ASX IPP, IBUY GROUP LIMITED – ASX IBY, THORNEY INVESTMENT GROUP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FRONTIER DIGITAL VENTURES, NASDAQ, ANDERSEN, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX