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OneVentures launches its second fund to tap into Australian investors’ growing appetite for venture capital

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Australian venture capital firm, OneVentures, recently officially launched its new OneVentures Innovation and Growth Fund II.

This new fund aims to raise a total of $100 million from institutional investors and high net worth individuals over the next 12 months.

The fund will invest in a portfolio of emerging Australian companies with ambitions of going global, across various sectors.

These include healthcare, education, mobile, media, cloud computing and data, security and privacy, machine learning, sensors and robotics, and food security.

Filling the gap left by the global financial crisis

The first OneVentures Innovation Fund, formed as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership in 2010, raised $40 million and the Australian Government’s Innovation Investment Fund pitched in too with $20 million.

The fund was one of the first in Australia to tap into a growing trend in the Australian market for high net worth individuals and family offices to diversify their investments towards venture capital, filling the gap that was left by institutional investors after the global financial crisis.

Since then, in addition to investments made directly out of the fund, OneVentures has also closed three co-investment funds securing another $30 million for its portfolio companies.

After only four years, of the fund’s eight portfolio companies, two are now operating out of Silicon Valley and one out of Boston, which says a lot about the fund’s global ambitions.

Dr Michelle Deaker, Managing Partner at OneVentures believes there has never been a better time for investors to turn their attention to venture capital.

You see, now that traditional drivers of the economy such as mining and manufacturing are slowing or moving offshore, it is innovative technology-based companies that hold the key to driving Australian economic growth and many are now succeeding on the global stage.

“We see no reason why Australia’s entrepreneurs, with the assistance of experienced venture capital firms like OneVentures, cannot compete successfully in global markets. For investors, the fund provides an opportunity to truly diversify a portfolio and gives access to emerging businesses with true breakout potential,” Dr Deaker said.

A track record of success

OneVentures has always aimed to deliver successful for both the companies on its portfolio and its investors. Here are a few highlights since its inception in 2010:

OneVentures portfolio company in e-learning, Smart Sparrow, recently announced it had raised $10 million in a capital to provide for its further expansion into the US.

Last year, Melbourne-based Hatchtech closed a $12.6 million capital raising to fund phase three trials for its proprietary head lice treatment.

Paloma Mobile, based in Sydney and UK, is forming key strategic partnerships with telecommunications companies in the rapidly growing emerging economy telecoms markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

OneVentures recently scooped an award for Best Venture Capital deal at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington DC for Vaxxas, and on top of that, the technology behind Vaxxas was awarded Australian Innovation of the year in 2012.