UPDATED: June 2014
Looking for money is always hard. Here is a list of the options we know of in Australia.
Accelerators
Startmate is a group of startup executives offering mentorship and seed financing to founders of Internet and software businesses based in Australia. The 3-month program offers mentorship from more than 20 successful founders and a 2-week trip to Silicon Valley.
- Leader/s: Niki Scevak & 25 others
- How much equity do they take? 7.5% of equity
- How much cash do they put in? $ 50,000
- Big success/es: Too early to tell.
- What is their strategy? Startmate provides small, early-stage investment and hands-on mentoring to local startups.
muru-D is a new accelerator program established in 2014 by Telstra.
- Leader/s: Annie Parker (ex-Wayra) co-founder and Mick Liubinskas (Pollenizer)
- How much equity do they take? 6% of equity
- How much cash do they put in? $ 40,000
- Big success/es: Too early to tell.
- What is their strategy? Provides small, early-stage investment and hands-on mentoring to local startups.
Slingshot is a high tech accelerator that provides seed funding, a dynamic co-working space, and a 12-week mentoring program that nurtures skills and relationships to enable entrepreneurs to build a remarkable company.
- Leader/s: Trent Bagnall, Craig Lambert.
- How much equity do they take? 5-10%
- How much cash do they put in?
- Big success/es:
- What is their strategy? Provide seed funding, coworking space, mentorship for early stage startups.
ilab was established by the Queensland Government in 2000 to support early stage, high-tech companies through the first few years of development.
- Leader/s: Bernie Woodcroft and a team of 80+ mentors
- How much equity do they take? Provision of % equity to investors inline with market value
- How much cash do they put in? Up to $20k per team in Germinate with mentoring, training, office space, utilities, connections and up to $100k per team in Accelerate
- Big success/es: Too early to tell
- What is their strategy? ilab supports early stage, high-tech companies through the first few years of development by validating they have a market, building their business management capabilities, fostering mentor networks for start-up founders, creating investor ready companies, and graduating companies with increased chances of success.
Angelcube is a mentor-driven startup accelerator that invests in web and mobile startups with big ideas and exceptional teams.
- Leader/s: Nathan Sampimon; Adrian Stone
- How much equity do they take? 10%
- How much cash do they put in? $20k + 6 mths free office space @inspire9
- Big success/es: angelcube.com/startups
- What is their strategy? Provide seed funding, coworking space, mentorship for early stage startups.
GRIFFIN accelerator looks for startups who have identified the government as a potential first customer
- Leader/s: Nick McNaughton, Hamish Hawthorne, Ben Wright, Craig Davis.
- How much equity do they take? 0% with a follow on of 5% in the second three months.
- How much cash do they put in? $50k in two $25k tranches.
- Big success/es: Too early to know.
- What is their strategy? Generate successful startups through experienced mentors who contribute the equity, coworking space, access to government and corporate customers in Canberra.
Part-time Acceleration
The Founder Institute
The Founder Institute is a global network of startups and mentors that helps entrepreneurs launch meaningful and enduring technology companies. The Founder Institute recently opened offices in Sydney, Australia.
- Leader/s: 25 Mentors per Semester
- How much equity do they take? Equity pool
- How much cash do they put in? Cash pool
- Big success/es: rentcycle, cakehealth, udemy
- What is their strategy? Great People + Expert Training + Aligned Incentives = Exponentially Better Chance of Success
Early stage funds
Dominet Digital is a boutique investment and consulting group with a focus on digital, innovation and investments.
- Leader/s: Domenic Carosa
- How much equity do they take? N/A
- How much cash do they put in? N/A
- Big success/es: CheapHotels.com.au, mailinglists.com.au
- What is their strategy? The success of any startup is based on having the right ingredients across strategy, sales, marketing, financial and operations.
Optus-Innov8 Seed
Optus-Innov8 provides startups with access to various means to get off the ground. As Optus and SingTel Group’s corporate venture capital team in Australia, they fund, resource and provide access to one of Asia’s largest telco groups.
- Leaders: Peter Huynh and Alfred Lo.
- How much equity to they take? Varies.
- How much cash do they put in? $150k to $250k in a pre-Series A round of $500k to $1m with ability to follow on in later rounds through SingTel Innov8, preference to co-invest with early stage investors.
- Big Successes: Venuemob and 121cast
- What is their strategy? Optus-Innov8 Seed invests in early stage Australian tech startups across a broad range of themes. Through its associates, Optus-Innov8 is able to help its portfolio companies access the SingTel Group’s base of over 470m mobile subscribers and customer across Southeast Asia.
ANZ Innovyz START
ANZ Innovyz START provides break-through companies with the education, tools and mentorship they need to rapidly grow and commercialise their innovation. Each program, up to 10 lucky teams spend 13 dynamic weeks working full-time on growing their business, with guidance from expert mentors, funding to fuel their growth and support from our Sponsors.
- Leaders: Dr Jana Matthews
- How much equity do they take? 8%
- How much cash do they put in? $20,000. Companies also have access to a $20,000 Loan from ANZ (subject to ANZ’s normal credit approval criteria & terms & conditions)
- Big Successes: Australian Baby Bargains (Australia’s Largest Preloved Baby & Kids Marketplace), Singa Entertainment (Total Girl Popstar Party App, Sing with Wiggles App, The Fairies App) Bluedot Innovation ($6M Valuation), Broken Arms Games (Kaboom Monster was voted “App of the year”, “One of the Top 50 Best Mobile Games” and “Best Turn Based Strategy Game on Mobile”), Skwibl (Shoestring’s top 10 startups to watch in 2014, Mashable’s 14 Fantastic Free Tools for Design Collaboration).
- What is their strategy? Our mission is to nurture the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Australia by empowering CEOs and their teams with the insight and the skill to commercialise innovation and rapidly scale their companies. We provide companies with a curriculum designed to prepare their businesses for investment and rapid growth; intensive mentoring by world-class CEOs & corporate executives; and funding, tools and perks to support learning and rapid growth.
Black Citrus
BlackCitrus provides entrepreneurs with the funding, resources and expertise to grow their business. This is done through funding models and development capabilities tailored for start-up and growth businesses.
- Leaders: Bill Moss, Stephen Moss, Shannon Murray, Pezh Moradi and Andrew Everett. BlackCitrus also represents an advisory board with family-houses from various corporate disciplines with a collective track record over $1b.
- How much equity do they take? Anywhere between 5 – 49%.
- How much cash do they put in? Internally: up to 2mil per transaction / Externally: up to $20m
- Big Successes: Cozero – environmental commodities and energy retail – (BRW fastest growing company circa $200m turnover)
- What is their strategy? BlackCitrus has a core focus on strategic investment, development and commercialisation for businesses. Strategic investment continues to be instrumental to success. Examples include partnering up with Nippon Gas in Japan to leverage synergies with the environmental market
Tank Stream Ventures
Tank Stream Ventures is a technology focused fund investing in the brightest Australian early-stage startups
- Leaders: Markus Kahlbetzer, Tim Fung, Jonathan Lui, Rui Rodrigues
- How much equity to they take? Dependant on startup valuation
- How much cash do they put in? $250k-$750k
- Current Portfolio: goCatch, Spring.me, Pocketbook
Square Peg
Square Peg are a leading Asia Pacific based investor in venture and growth stage online and technology companies.
- Leaders: Partner list here
- How much equity do they take? Varies on a deal by deal basis
- How much cash do they put in? Focus on Series A to growth investments ($2m+)
- Current Portfolio: ROKT, Vend, Canva, goCatch, ImageBrief
Sydney Seed Fund
The Sydney Seed Fund is an early stage investment fund managed by experienced entrepreneurs looking to invest in Australia’s most passionate tech founders.
- Leaders: Benjamin Chong, Ari Klinger & Garry Visontay
- How much equity do they take? Varies across different businesses
- How much cash do they put in? An investment between $50,000 and $150,000
- Current Portfolio: See-Out, Qwilr.
Carnegie Innovation Fund
M.H Carnegie & Co is investing in great companies great ideas great entrepreneurs. This seed fund invests in companies at a more progressive stage.
- Leaders: Mark Carnegie
- How much equity do they take? Varies across different businesses
- How much cash do they put in? Varies, however the Innovation Fund is $120million
- Current Portfolio: One Big Switch, Inception Digital, assetic.
Angel Investors
1. Innovation Bay
Innovation Bay is an invitation only group, gathering for intimate breakfast and dinner events with selected guest speakers. Innovation Bay is a non-profit group created in 2003 aimed at creating a more intimate environment for tech investors and startups in Australia to share their experiences and network.
- Leader/s: Ian Gardiner, Phaedon Stough
- How much equity do they take? NA
- How much cash do they put in? NA
- Big success/es: Posse
- What is their strategy? Innovation Bay acts as a broker between “angels” (those with money to invest or advice to give) and “entrepreneurs” those with ideas and talent but not enough money or business advice.
Sydney Angels
Sydney Angels is a formal angel investment group focused on the needs and successes of its members as angel investors. It is a potential source of capital for innovative, high-growth, early stage businesses based in Sydney.
- Leader/s : Vivian Stewart, Richard Dale, Mathias Kopp, Hamish Hawthorn, Andrew Stead, Adrian Bunter, Steven Maarbani, Tim Staley, and Peter McWilliam.
- How much equity they take? Angel investors expect >10% equity
- How much cash they put in? Businesses seeking $100k-$1m equity capital
- Big success/es: Posse, DriveMyCarRentals
- What is their strategy? Sydney Angels encourages the development of formal angel investment groups in Australia.
Melbourne Angels
Melbourne Angels is a group of over 30 private investors who actively invest in early stage technology companies. You should anticipate that it will take 3-6 months from initial application for a deal to close.
- Leader/s: Jordan Green
- How much equity they take? Equity anywhere between 20-45%
- How much cash they put in? Viable business proposition that requires $50,000-$500,000 in funding
- Big success/es: NA
- What is their strategy? Invests in companies that offer exceptional opportunities for high returns on investment. They only invest in companies that have the potential to grow to more than $50 million in annual revenue within 5 years.
Capital Angels
Capital Angels provide a forum for qualified high-net worth individuals to proactively support Capital Region entrepreneurs through both investment and direct activities supporting the companies.
- Leader/s: Uwe Boettcher, Nick McNaughton
- How much equity do they take? N/A
- How much cash do they put in? $ 25,000 per deal
- Big success/es: GPSports Systems, Windlab Systems
- What is their strategy? Capital Angels seek investment opportunities in Canberra and the surrounding capital region in high-technology and services.
Angel Investors Tas
Angel Investors Tas provide seed funding for new business start-ups, and equity funding for businesses in the emerging stage, commercialisation stage, or growth/expansion stage. Funding is usually through equity capital, but can be a mix of convertible debt & equity.
- Leader/s: Will Downie
- How much equity they take? N/A
- How much cash they put in? Typical investments range between $ 100 K to $ 1 million. Investments are in multiples of $25,000.
- Big successes: N/A
- What is their strategy? Invest in promising opportunities with potential rewards commensurate with recognised risks.
Brisbane Angels
Brisbane Angels is a large group of private investors who actively invest in early stage technology companies, usually in South East Queensland, Australia.
- Leader/s: John Mactaggart
- How much equity they take? N/A
- How much cash they put in? $50,000 to $500,000
- Big success/es: Five Faces, Aussie Colours
- What is their strategy? They finance growth activities, including product development, recruiting key staff, launching sales and marketing activity.
Scale Angels
Scale Angels is a female focused angel investor network, investing in early stage companies with a female founder or woman at the executive level with significant equity and influence.
- Leader/s: Susan Oliver, Annette Kimmitt, Carol Schwartz, Laura McKenzie (CEO)
- How much equity they take? N/A
- How much cash they put in? $50,000 to $500,000
- Big success/es: Paloma Mobile, See-Out
Business Angels
Business Angels provides venture capital through angel investment.
- Leader/s: Christine Kaine
- How much equity they take? Negotiable depending on agreed value of equity
- How much cash they put in? Sweat – $2m
- Big success/es: Bread Solutions, Stream Group, Design Crowd and some.
- What is their strategy? Business Angels Pty Ltd acts as a broker between angel investors whose money, business acumen and valuable networks can assist entrepreneurs whose innovation needs support through funding, exposure to markets and mentoring.
Venture Capital
Blackbird Ventures is a new Australian VC fund that supports global companies growing out of Australia
- Leader/s: Niki Scevak, Rick Baker, Bill Bartee, John Scull
- How much equity do they take? Varies
- How much cash do they put in? As needed
- Big success/es: Too early to tell
- What is their strategy? Great teams with a globally scalable model
Yuuwa Capital
Yuuwa Capital is a $ 40 M early-stage venture capital firm based in Perth, Western Australia. Prefer Perth, but otherwise Australian based Startups.
- Leader/s: Liddy McCall, James Williams, Matthew Macfarlane
- How much equity do they take? NA
- How much cash do they put in? $500,000 to $5,000,000
- Big success/es: AdAlta
- What is their strategy? Seek investment opportunities where Yuuwa can provide both capital and expertise to help founders, management and early investors to turn good ideas into great companies.
Starfish Ventures
Starfish Ventures invests in high growth companies and outstanding management teams. It seeds, builds and manages high growth technology businesses in Australia.
- Leader/s : John Dyson, Michael Panaccio, Malcolm Thornton, Nick Peace, Hun Gan, Ivor Frischknecht, Eve Burgess, Susan Lawrence, Anthony Glenning, Laura McKenzie, Felicity Donnelly
- Size: Manages over $350 million in investment funds
- How much equity do they take? N/A
- How much cash do they put in? $3 – $5 million in the first round
- Big success/es: Aruspex , iSelect
- What is their strategy? Invest in technology businesses that possess outstanding management teams, are commercializing innovative technology and are capable of becoming a global or regional market leader.
3. Southern Cross Venture Partners
Southern Cross Venture Partners (SCVP) was launched by veteran Venture capitalists who have managed and operated companies themselves.
- Leader/s: Gareth Dando, Bob Christiansen, John Scull, William A. Bartee, Dr Larry Marshall
- How much equity do they take? NA
- How much cash do they put in? $2 million to $5 million
- Big success/es: Mantara, Quantenna Communications
- What is their strategy? SCVP assist early stage technology companies that demonstrate the potential for exceptional growth and market leadership.
ESVCLP Funds
Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) is a Program of the Government of Australia.
Eligible venture capital funds can register as an ESVCLP. Businesses with assets of less than $50 million may access venture capital under this program.
The list of active ESVCLP funds is as follows:
The following limited partnerships have capital and are registered with Innovation Australia under s13-1(1A) of the Venture Capital Act as early stage venture capital limited partnerships.
| S.no | ESVCLP fund | Location | Area of Investment |
| 1 | Constant Innovation, LP | NOTTING HILL VIC 3168 | Young businesses active in providingtechnology based products or services into markets (includingIT businesses such as software, internet,content and related services). |
| 2 | OneVentures Innovation Fund, LP | SYDNEY NSW 2000 | Cleantech, information technology and lifescience. |
| 3 | Parallel Capital No. 1, LP | SYDNEY NSW 2000 | Intellectual property and technology, software and hardware, services businesses, media both traditional and new, consumer products, and asset management services. |
The following limited partnerships are seeking capital and are conditionally registered with Innovation Australia under s13-5(1A) of the Venture Capital Act as early stage venture capital limited partnerships.
| S.no | ESVCLP fund | Location | Area of Investment |
| 1 | BGS Early Stage Venture Capital LimitedPartnership | BELROSE NSW 2085 | Growth businesses including those operatingin: Environmental,including water, energy production, energystorage and advanced materials, Information,media and communication technology,Sustainable environmental science, Medicaland pharmaceutical innovations andInnovative manufacturing solutions |
| 2 | Carnegie Innovation Fund, LP | PADDINGTON NSW 2021 | New or emerging companies commercialisingAustralian research and development with afocus on the following sectors – life sciences,bio-medical technologies and innovationindustries such as information technologyand engineering innovation. |
| 3 | Elcano Sustainability Investments 2, LP | GRACEVILLE QLD 4075 | Eligible entities that are at their pre-seedthrough to early expansion stage that are seeking equity to fund their growth.Specifically the focus is on entities withtechniques and technologies that can be beneficially used in the waste, recycling,energy, water building and transport sectors. |
| 4 | Early Stage Capital Expansion Fund LP | AUBURN VIC 3123 | Investments in Australian businesses within three classifications, each with a different riskprofile; start-up / early commercialisation,emerging and expansion across a range of industries. |
| 5 | Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund, LP | MELBOURNE VIC 3000 | Internet/web services, biotechnology, cleantechnology, healthcare, IT services, mediaand entertainment, communications andsoftware development sectors. The Fund willleverage an exclusive partnership withSydney based angel investment group,Sydney Angels, to invest alongside experienced active Angels. |
Closed funds & programs
Pushstart
PushStart is a new set of community-focused, mentor-driven, activities to help grow Australian tech (web and mobile) startups, and the Australian tech startup community.
The PushStart Accelerator, run in Sydney, offers Seed capital, focused mentoring from great industry people and a location for successful applicants to work on startups for 3 months.
- Leader/s: Kim Heras, John Haining, Roger Kermode
- How much equity do they take? N/A
- How much cash do wthey put in? N/A
- Big success/es: N/A
- What is their strategy? Combining top Aussie tech startup people, seed funding and community events, they plan to give local tech entrepreneurs help to start, grow & succeed.
Thanks to Business Week for the awesome image.
There is also Neo Technology Ventures: http://www.ntfund.com/portfolio.html
Funding options for bright, keen amp; enthusiastic Aussie web entrepreneurs
Hello, I have tried to get in touch with Tony Faure via t-4 but have not received any response at all. Would dearly love to talk to him or anyone equally as clever about guidance and help finding finance to grow my company which has been operating for about three years. Still a ‘one woman band’ and that woman is about to crack under the pressure. Need help! Have many many plans. Please advise next step.
Yours hopefully,
Jacqueline
Funding options available for startups in Australia http://www.pollenizer.com/funding-options-available-for-start-ups-in-australia/ via pollenizer
Not sure who wrote this. It’s an awesome resource! Great to have it chunked down and staged to those new to the scene. Thanks Phil, Mick and P team!
What about Blackbird.vc ?
Thanks Matt – we are updating this. It was written before Blackbird existed so a bit out of date 🙂
What about the founder’s own bank account?
And of course, selling stuff 🙂 Not all businesses map to these two models though.
Yes, but I see many, many online businesses spending aeons begging for VC when they only need a couple of thousand to get going if they bootstrap smartly and eat bread and water for a few months.
Totally agree. It should not be the default path to raise money.
It’s an interesting point. I have spent all my ‘spare’ money, the overdraft and a credit card to get to the point of still needing just a few thousand more to go live and start cranking. So it’s all on hold while I work the day job to raise the money, and it is taking that aeon and I feel like I am a poor beggar on the street looking for grants and support – which never materialise. I might as well be asking for millions, it is so difficult to raise ‘small’ money. There seems to be ‘big’ money but not much at the micro scale. I’m considering going down the VC path but it seems to me I need to wait until the business is a much bigger proposition before it will attract interest. That’s going to take quite some time. I would love to be proven wrong on this, truly.
It would be great to add our Creative Enterprise Fund which invests up to $150k in creative ventures in Australia http://www.creativeenterprise.com.au/investment
Scale Angels http://scaleinvestors.com.au/ is a female focused angel investor network. We invest in early stage companies with a female founder or woman at the executive level with significant equity and influence. We are national.
Leader/s: Susan Oliver, Annette Kimmitt, Carol Schwartz, Laura McKenzie (CEO)
How much equity they take? N/A
How much cash they put in? $50,000 to $500,000
Investments to date: Paloma Mobile, See-Out
Thanks Laura, we’ve added your details. Thanks
Hello, I am Christine Kaine from http://www.businessangels.com.au I am one of the early pioneers of Angel Investing in Australia. Always available to answer any queries. If you are seriously looking at attracting an angel investor I have written an easy guide to the process.
Hi Christine. I’m about to start my pitching journey and I could use as much help as I can get so that I’m on my game. Your guide sounds fantastic. Are you able to send me a copy?
Hi Jess,
I sell the guide from my website Jess. I am very happy to have a chat on the phone during business hours. My main advice is to be yourself and look for investors you really love. It is a bit like dating 🙂
Hi Jess, sorry for the late reply. You can buy my manual on my website. businessangels.com.au
Hi Christine. I am at a point in my career now that I have worked out what my strengths are and believe that I could add value to entrepreneurs who have great ideas and secured funding but need a leader/builder/manager to execute and implement the strategy. Is there anyone you could recommend me talking to, that might offer me an insight into how I can source these opportunities.
Oh dear Margo, I wasn’t aware of this conversation till just now. I think you could be a co-founder, part of the crowd entrepreneur movement. You can register on my site for that businessangels.com.au
Hello Margo If your still seeking a new business involvement contact me 03 93607375 Regards Michael
Oh dear Margo – I just saw this 9 month old post. If you are still out there please call me 0400680007
Hi Christine, great to e-meet you! My social enterprise is in start-up phase currently and we have been stuck on a burning question that I am hoping you may know the answer to. Is a company able to use its profits to offer micro-financing to employees or ex-employees? Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Because I am not legally or financially qualified to answer that question Ree I encourage you to seek out someone who is qualified. I love micro-finance, I am such a fan of Mohammed Younis. Perhaps he would be available for a comment – he is on facebook, and possibly twitter.
Do angel investments fund social enterprises with unique ideas? It’s small now but the dream is big. My business is very small but the model was visioned to be big, effective and empowering. It has multiple levels of effect, first the product to client (hydration & health products- unique product developed by me), this is also a community education initiative in that the business is set up on a bike. So it attracts attention in public space, provides great service and also educates about health and well being through providing great healthy hydration options. I want to build a model that I can then franchise and sell to young people who are unable to find secure employment for small repayments similar to a micro lending scheme. I have worked in social services for 10 years and have also run a number of small businesses. I want to make a different by combining them both now. Hope to here from you. @mumasoulshine (insta)
Hi Chelsea,
Angels will support those with a viable plan. Your idea to assist the unemployed is excellent. Best to give me a call 0264954331.
hi we have a really good idea to build an indoor play and party centre for children with cafe.
it has the potential to bring in 4000+ a day or more there is nothing in my area. we have seen one else where and its in another state and does exceptionally well there is nothing for children in our area and there is alot of families where we are. can you guide us in the right direction or help us. Thanks Suzi
A local crowdfunding campaign could be a good option Susan. You are always welcome to call me during business hours to discuss your options.
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