Venture Capital

Venture capital funds gain equity in a company in return for funding, generally seeking long term capital gain rather than immediate and regular interest payments and offsetting the risk of corporate failure by investing in a spread of companies with the potential for rapid growth and greater than average returns.  

As part owners, the fund representatives typically require board membership but usually do not take day to day control, instead offering advice on management and technical issues.

In contrast to North America, venture capital investment in Australian Internet companies tends to be small; several of the funds identified below have total portfolios of well under a million dollars.  We have selected some of the bodies that are interested in online or other digital developments. 

More information is available from investment advisers and from bodies such as the Australian Venture Capital Association Ltd (AVCAL).

Accord Capital Investors (Accord)

Advent Management Group (Advent)

Aegis Partners (Aegis)

Allen & Buckeridge (A-B)

AMWIN Management (Amwin)

Australia.internet.com (AI)

Australian Mezzanine Investments Pty Ltd (AMIL)

Australian Technology Group Ltd (ATG)

BluePeak (Bluepeak)

Citicorp Equity Capital Ltd (CEC)

Coates Myer Pty Ltd (CM)

Colonial First State Private Equity (CFSPE)

Concept Investments (Concept)

ECAT Development Capital (ECAT)

Equity Partners Management (EPM)

GE Capital Equity Capital Group (GE)

Hitachi Data Systems Australia R&D (HDS)

IT Capital (IT)

Jigsaw Group (JG)

Macquarie Technology Funds Management (MTFM)

Momentum Funds Management (MFMP)

Newport Capital Funds Management (NCFM)

PoleStar Business Development (PBD)

Senetas (Senetas)

Shield Equities (SE)

Technology Venture Partners (TVP)

VC Mentors (VC)

Vital Capital (Vital)

The AVCAL Directory is available on its site, along with papers from the 6th AVCAL Conference and an Australian venture capital survey prepared by Venture Economics in conjunction with Arthur Andersen.  

It suggests that  the most popular sectors are biotechnology, medical/health devices, communications and information technology.

The site also contains Guidelines for the Valuation and Disclosure of Venture Capital Portfolios, modelled on the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) guidelines. AVCAL members are bound by its Code of Conduct; the site contains a model Confidentiality Agreement.

Pollitecon Publications publishes an annual Australian Venture Capital Guide and the Australian Venture Capital Journal.


   next part (3: angels and mentors)