Australia now has a crowdfunding platform for startup funding. VentureCrowd will facilitate investments by a new generation of investors interested in accessing, investing in and supporting Australia’s innovative, early stage, high growth-potential startups. In contrast to existing crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which merely offer access to a new product at a discounted price, VentureCrowd will offer business ownership and the potential equity upside of the startup.
Developed by Artesian, one of Australia’s leading early stage venture capital firms —VentureCrowd lets startups pitch and secure funding online from a crowd of investors in exchange for equity in the business. According to Managing Partner Jeremy Colless, VentureCrowd will not only help Australian entrepreneurs secure backing for their ideas, but it will allow a wider range of investors to share in the success of high growth startups.
“VentureCrowd will democratise the early stage finance sector in Australia in a way that has never been done before,” Colless said.
VentureCrowd will encourage investors to build a diversified portfolio of startups to increase their chances of achieving strong investment returns and mitigate the inherent risks involved in investing in individual startups.
“More than 50% of startups fail, and the distribution of outcomes is asymmetrical. Approximately 90% of the returns in a diversified portfolio come from 10% of the startups. This is the reason that a filtered deal flow and a diversified portfolio are critical strategies for early stage venture investors,” Colless said.
Investors registered on VentureCrowd will be given the opportunity to invest in companies that have been pre-screened through Artesian’s partner channels, as well as startups that register directly on the site. Artesian partners include Blue Chilli, StartMate, Blackbird Ventures, the University of Melbourne, SydVentures, Tank Stream Labs, Vivant, TechBeach, Fishburners, iAccelerate, the University of Wollongong, the Slingshot Accelerator, AngelCube and Future Capital.
Startups and investors can register their interest in the new platform here, with equity crowdfunding kicking off in early 2014.
More information at www.venturecrowd.com.au – also it’s been far too long since we’ve seen a 3D rotating website.
