Venture Capital
Risk is for wimps: Planning for the inevitable
If your banker refused to consider risk when considering investments and only sought out those that sounded romantic (like almost every entrepreneur), would you partner with her? Of course not, yet entrepreneurs ask venture capitalists to consider them as superior investment candidates with no comprehension of the risk they represent to investors.
Atlassian’s Scott Farquhar talks about raising US$60 million from Accel
Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar should be in a good mood. Last month, the company he created with business partner Mike Cannon-Brookes, as 22-year-old university students in 2002, became the recipient of a massive US$60 million venture capital injection from Silicon Valley venture capitalists Accel Partners. In this podcast, he speaks to Anthill’s James Tuckerman about [...]
Australian Angel investors have a growing taste for Cleantech, at the expense of internet plays
A national survey, released this week by capital raising magazine Wholesale Investor, suggests that Australian private investors have a growing preference for Cleantech, at the expense of Internet and IT plays.
Past winners talk about winning Enterprize (How would you spend $100,000?)
It’s been an enjoyable ride watching the evolution of the University of Queensland Business School’s Enterprize competition. The winners are always an inspiring lot. But so have been the various promotional videos that the University has created in recent years to promote the awards.
Pitch Club LITE is back in Brisbane!
Sponsored Message: Pitch Club LITE is back in Brisbane every month starting from 15th July. The Pitch Club LITE presentation will be given by Peter Christo (founder of Pitch Club), talking about ‘Evaluating your big business idea before the investors do, an entrepreneurs perspective’.
Why this angel is not investing in social networks
A young entrepreneur asked me an interesting question, “If Twitter hadn’t happened yet and you had the chance to invest in it at start-up, would you?” As it turns out this is quite relevant as I did have the chance to invest in Twitter during a very early funding round through my own networks in Silicon Valley.
Electric cars ready to go mainstream
Better Place, an ambitious, venture capital backed company, is building electric car infrastructures targeting major cities around the world. The idea is simple yet constitutes a radical departure from conventional wisdom – instead of stretching the technological limits of a battery’s life, Better Place is constructing a network of battery swap stations that will allow electric cars to replace its depleted battery for a new one in less than 60 seconds.
Allegro launches new $250 million private equity fund for Australia
Australian private equity firm Allegro Private Equity, last week, announced it had launched a new fund, Allegro Fund II, to raise more than $200 million to invest in the growing number of smaller mid-market private equity opportunities emerging in the post-GFC environment.
Why won’t prospective investors sign my confidentiality agreement?
A sale is a process and the first step in that process is not to demand exclusivity. Exclusivity is either bought or earned and, in the case of raising capital, it is usually earned. An NDA implies exclusivity and that brings with it constraints on both parties. Would you ask a date to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the first date?
Want VC from Google? Here’s the guy who decides whether to invest in your business (or not).
Amin Zoufonoun is a senior member of Google’s Corporate Development team, which is responsible for evaluating, negotiating and executing Google’s mergers, acquisitions and investments. In an email interview, we asked him to share his views about future opportunities for Australian startups and what he looks for when evaluating investments.
