The Founders Fund plans Australian startup fund
US venture capital firm The Founders Fund is reportedly planning to create a vehicle which will invest in Australia-based startup companies.
The investor, which is managed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Sean Parker, of Napster and Facebook fame, is sending three of its top executives to Australia in January in search of local tech startups, sources told The Sydney Morning Herald. Thiel is also expected to visit Sydney in person in March.
It is thought that Australian entrepreneurs are likely to be encouraged to move overseas, should they attract investment from the firm.
This interest from Founders comes as Australian technology startups are said to have had one of their most successful years, and follows in the footsteps of a number of US VC firms. In July last year, for example, Silicon Valley-based Accel Partners made what was ostensibly its largest investment in a software business to date, with a $60 million commitment to Atlassian Pty, a Sydney-based software developer.
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