Funding & Finance

The Anthill Masterclass has already helped hundreds of Australian business owners, marketing professionals and web developers embrace the future of marketing and get real results from their websites and social media.

As 2011 draws to a close, end of year festivities are coming into full swing and Australian businesses are celebrating a year of success. Despite the current economic conditions, Australian businesses have performed well overall in 2011, with the economy growing 1.8 per cent despite natural disasters such as the Queensland floods. Meanwhile, the OECD is also predicting strong relative growth for our economy through 2012 and 2013.

Fancy building a global brand from scratch? What if we threw language barriers, different work cultures and new tax regulations into the mix? Sydneysiders Alex Herlihy and Chloe Vandervord have done just that. The intrepid duo recently launched luxury leather bag line ECEL – from Buenos Aires, no less.

If you thought equipment leasing was just for computers, server systems or high tech IT equipment – think again. For many start-ups and small business owners, signing up to lease technology is a great way to get their businesses off the ground. Leasing a computer meant you could spread out the cost of the equipment over a longer period of time and you could conserve your precious capital for other uses as marketing or getting the word out.

On Thursday, eight Anthillians were given a pitching opportunity like no other -- access to two prominent Australian investors in a hot-air balloon, while floating over Victoria's Yarra Valley. Some might call it, Australia's most elevated elevator pitch! Seven entrepreneurs (and Anthill founder James Tuckerman) earned the opportunity to 'hang' with AngelCube's Adrian Stone and Adventure Capital's Darcy Naunton... some 2,000 feet in the air.

Many of our young entrepreneurs in Australia glean their understanding of business, market and investment from vicarious or direct experience of Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley. However, Australia is not the USA. Our culture, business environment, market structure and consumer behaviour are all quite different. Assuredly there are similarities but, in thirty years of doing business in all these markets and many others, I have learned that it is the differences rather than the similarities which underpin the biggest opportunities.

The Cool Company Awards Readers’ Choice Index was created to provide an opportunity for Anthill readers to vote on Cool Company Award finalists, in one of three ways: Commenting, Like-ing and Tweeting. This way, readers not only direct attention to a worthy cool company but also introduce new people to these awards.

This year's overall Cool Company winner, iiNet, was recognised for its use of innovative technologies, clever marketing and for challenging some of Australia's biggest brands. "This company sells itself as solid like a big telco but has managed to sustain the spunky attitude of a startup," said Anthill founder James Tuckerman, at the Sixth Annual Cool Company Award in Melbourne on Thursday.

Way back in June, we introduced you to Pozible, a newish online platform sharing the crowd-funding love with Australia’s arts industry. Just five wee months later, founders Rick Chen and Alan Crabbe have reached a cool $1 million in pledges. Here are Pozible’s 11 tips to crowd-funding success.

In this clip from a U.S. talk show, a former Democratic congressman encapsulates the stated grievances of the Occupy Wall Street movement in a bit more than 30 seconds. Now, if only the movement could stick to the script instead of wandering off and setting things on fire.

Winged Media, a developer of technologies in digital media, domain assets and online publishing, has raised $3 million from the Carnegie Innovation Fund, which is supported by the Innovation Investment Fund (IIF) program, a federal Government initiative. The investment will be used to further its Protrada platform. An aggregator of the major domain auction houses, Protrada allows members to buy and sell domains, and provides data and analysing tools.

The Australian venture capital firm Starfish Ventures has invested $3 million in DesignCrowd, according to a media release dispatched on Thursday. The Australian start-up, a design crowdsourcing community with more than 40,000 registered graphic designers, plans to use the new investment to launch two new services in 2012 and to expand its client base outside Australia.

For small businesses, there’s no question about it – cash flow is king. Unfortunately, thanks to the GFC, keeping cash flowing and preserving a line of credit is proving a challenge for many Australian businesses. According to a recent Dun & Bradstreet report, the average time it takes to get an invoice paid in Australia has risen to 53.4 days. Furthermore, many small businesses are finding it difficult to acquire the capital they need from traditional lending institutions, especially the big banks. Here's one way to get yours flowing.

Mark Bouris earned his entrepreneurial stripes founding ‘Wizard Home Loans’, a business he sold to GE Money in 2004, and Yellow Brick Road, a wealth management company, which he listed on the ASX within four years of launch. But for many Channel Nine viewers he is perhaps better known for his role as the host of The Apprentice (and, as of last night, Celebrity Apprentice), giving the US franchise -- made famous by Donald 'the Don' Trump -- a more Australian feel.

Lack of funding is nothing new for many young entrepreneurs. Without assets or experience, traditional funding sources are often out of reach. As luck would have it, 23-year-old Sydney-based entrepreneur Ryan Wardell thinks he’s hit upon a solution. His company, Project PowerUp, pitches itself as "Australia's first crowdfunding platform for startups and small businesses."

Converting your idea into a valuable asset is a challenge. That's why Pitch Club offers aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to “pitch” their idea to angel investors, venture capitalists and fellow entrepreneurs. Rub shoulders with those who have been there and done that. Get access to expert advice, funding and opportunities to take an entrepreneurial journey.

Last week, we announced that Anthill had partnered with global ballooning and an organisation called Qumpit to host a pitching event that actually needs your hot air. We're giving eight (8) Anthillians a pitching opportunity like no other... access to a prominent investor/entrepreneur... in a hot-air balloon! It's networking thousands of feet in the air, floating over the Yarra Valley. So, what is Qumpit?

“If you think the sky is the limit, you have a limited imagination.” So say our friends at Global Ballooning. It's not hard to imagine, then, why they are sponsoring Anthill's latest 'uplifting' initiative to support entrepreneurship in Australia, giving eight (8) entrepreneurs exclusive access to a prominent investor/entrepreneur... in a hot-air balloon!

The familiar question often investors face is: Stocks or bonds? The answer, unsurprisingly, is often wrong. Guess why? Because it was the wrong question...

If your high-tech business needs funding, then the Angel Dinner held on 15 November 2011 is where you need to be. Innovation Bay is calling for 90-second video pitches from businesses that will aim to convince the organisation’s members to award a pitch spot at the dinner.