Australia’s Kaz Capital to launch venture fund

"We found that a lot of businesses that would rather have their money spread across a number of investments and that is why we set up the fund. Small companies also need that start; they got a good product and need that early seed of capital," Peter Kazacos, founder of Kaz Capital, told ARN.

The Kaz Capital Innovation Fund will target Australian companies in the IT, telecom and biotech industries that are looking to commercialize proven technologies and develop them domestically and internationally. There is a particular interest in the mobile space.

In addition to Kazacos, the fund's advisory board includes John Harvey, an executive direct at IBM Australia, Major Santiago, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and John Walters, managing director at Nextgen Distribution.

The ESVCLP program is run by the Australian Taxation Office and Innovation Australia, an independent group under the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science & Research that oversees federal Government innovation and venture capital initiatives.

Earlier this month it was reported that Paul Bassat, co-founder of Australian job search site Seek, is setting up a private equity platform that will target the technology, internet and media spaces, raising capital from investors on a deal-by-deal basis. Bassat previously established Square Peg Ventures, an early-stage investment fund.

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