Australia's OneVentures hits $53m first close on second VC fund

The new vehicle - Innovation Growth Fund II - differs from its A$40 million predecessor, which focused on earlier-stage companies and had a smaller average ticket size. This fund, which will invest A$5-20 million per transaction, will focus on start-ups across healthcare, education, mobile, media, cloud computing and data, sensors and robotics, and food security.

"Often the entrepreneurs who run such companies are forced to move offshore in their search for this funding,' said Dr. Michelle Deaker, managing director and CEO at OneVentures, in a statement. "At OneVentures we want them to have a quality onshore professional investment alternative."

Investors in the fund include high net worth individuals (HNWIs) and domestic family offices. These two types of investor have moved to fill the gap in Australian VC fundraising ever since the country's superannuation funds withdrew from the asset class. 

OneVentures previously received support from the Australian government through its Innovation Investment Fund (IIF) program. However, this program could be discontinued by the government as part of its 2014-2015 austerity budget.

"The rapid rate at which the fund has attracted investment from HNWIs and family offices reflects the strong appetite for opportunities in high growth technology-based companies in Australia," added Deaker. "These ventures will increasingly fill the void left by manufacturing and mining as traditional drivers of economic growth and job creation."

According to the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCAL), venture capital and private equity funds have invested $30 billion into Australian businesses over the past decade.

"This is a tiny fraction of the money sitting in the hands of the country's HNWIs and superannuation funds," said Deaker. "There is huge potential for Australia's economy to enter a new and innovation-based era of growth as more of the money is mobilized through vehicles like Fund II."

 

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Early-stage
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Australia
• Venture
• Fundraising