AVCJ Private Equity Forum Australia & New Zealand 2024
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney and Online
06
Mar
Venture capital: Survival of the fittest?
Valuations have reset, global growth investors have retreated, and local VCs have reverted to earlier-stage deals. The environment is challenging, but not without opportunity; Australia’s leading start-ups may just need longer to grow into their valuations. Within the investor community, differentiation and distributions are key. Managers must demonstrate an ability to access top founders and technologies, and then find a route to liquidity. Experienced investors share their views on delivering value despite industry headwinds.
- How are VCs dealing with problems in their portfolios?
- What will be the main sources of liquidity in the next five years?
- Are superannuation funds overlooking up-and-coming local managers?
- Is artificial intelligence transforming investment theses?
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SpeakersJustin Niessner Associate Editor ASIAN VENTURE CAPITAL JOURNAL
Tom Humphrey Partner BLACKBIRD VENTURES
Matthew Koertge Managing Partner TELSTRA VENTURES
Alister Coleman Founder and Managing Partner FOLKLORE VENTURES
Kylie Frazer Co-Founder and Partner FLYING FOX VENTURES
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Tom Humphrey is a Partner with Blackbird Ventures, a venture capital firm supercharging Australia and New Zealand's most wild and ambitious founders right from the beginning.
Since 2012, Blackbird has raised $2.5B in funds and invested in over 120 companies including Canva, Zoox, SafetyCulture, and Culture Amp.
Prior to investing, Tom spent 8 years in operations. He was the COO of OurDeal, a D2C ecommerce company which grew to 80 people and exited to News Corp in 2011 returning over 4x to investors. He then moved San Francisco with his sister to launch Kanopy, a B2B video streaming platform which exited to KKR in 2020 returning 13x to investors. Immediately prior to Blackbird, Tom was a Partner at US-based Access Ventures.
Matthew Koertge is a Managing Partner of Telstra Ventures. Telstra Ventures manages over A$1.3B FUM with a team based in Australia and the USA which has invested in 90 companies around the world of which 34 have achieved liquidity events so far, delivering 15 Unicorns, including 4 of which are Decacorns. Since its inception in 2011, Telstra Ventures has generated more than A$630M of revenue for its portfolio companies across 1,600 customers. Matthew has more than 20 years experience in the venture capital industry including leadership positions at Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, Macquarie Bank and Accede Venture Partners and he has worked with around 200 private equity backed companies including many successful acquisitions and IPOs. Prior to this, Matthew started his career as a software/hardware design engineer and project manager at Fujitsu. Matthew holds degrees in Engineering, Law and Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Alister is the founder and Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, an Australian venture capital firm with three top-decile funds under management that invests in ANZ founders building global technology companies. Alister has over 15 years’ experience as an investor, advisor and founder of technology companies.
Kylie Frazer is a co-founder and partner of Flying Fox Ventures, an early-stage investment firm supporting Australian and New Zealand founders with global ambition. Flying Fox has over 50 companies in its portfolio and has enabled hundreds of folks to start or turbocharge their investment journeys. Kylie brings empathy to the founder experience, having founded two technology businesses. She has almost two decades of experience as a corporate transactions lawyer (M&A, capital raisings, and IPOs) and is a capable company director.