Tag: Angel Investing

In August, we decided to explore the many facets of capital raising - from angel investment and grants to venture capital and private equity. For want of a better name, we called the exercise Anthill’s Venture Capital month. The theme tossed up plenty of investment advice and discussion. But it also triggered some strong reactions from Australian inventors who think that the investment culture in Australia needs a dramatic overhaul. Trevor Rose was among the most ardent, so we invited him to provide a 'right of reply'.

Design Victoria today launched Transform Your Design Business, an online guide that aims to equip designers with the know-how to successfully navigate the grants space and write strong grant applications.

Gretha Oost has adopted an unusual approach to raise capital. The Melbourne mum, designer and Pitch Club contestant has decided to trial a 'crowdfunding' approach to launch her award winning product 321 Water.

This week we were presented with further evidence that cleantech is rapidly gaining mainstream status in Australia with the launch yesterday of the Sydney Cleantech Network (SCN).

Later in the evening, perhaps after a second or third round of cocktails (all the pubs were closed), Cummings shared his views that raising capital is a time consuming process and that, in particular, he would be seeking a strategic partner. That's why I was particularly pleased to receive news yesterday that Travellr.com has secured growth capital from none other than the travel insurance and travel services company The Worlds Normad Group.

Sacha Baron Cohen might be making more waves these days with his other alter egos, Borat and Brüno, but his original breakout character, Ali G (ayyyeee), was where it all began. In this clip, Ali G gets his entrepreneur on, pitching his idea for "Ice Cream Gloves" to a less-than-wooed Donald Trump and a series of bemused US VCs.

Thinking about starting up a business? Or are you in the middle of the ride of your life, totally focused on making you business a success? Take a moment to read this – it may save you from making some of the more common mistakes that entrepreneurs make. When my business collapsed last year, I learnt 10 things...

Pollenizer's Mick Liubinskas, Anthill's man on the ground at this week's TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, has been wandering around with his trusty video camera hunting down Aussie startup entrepreneurs to interview for you. In this first video, he interviews Green Lane Digital, the team behind iPitch, an online platform matching companies and investors. Below, Liubinskas catches up with another regular contributor, spellr.us founder Kevin Garber.

Pollenizer's Mick Liubinskas, Anthill's man on the ground at this week's TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, has been wandering around with his trusty video camera hunting down Aussie startup entrepreneurs to interview for you. In this first video, he interviews Green Lane Digital, the team behind iPitch, an online platform matching companies and investors. Below, Liubinskas catches up with another regular contributor, spellr.us founder Kevin Garber.

In part five of our series on the capital raising cultures in Australia and the US, San Francisco-based Steve Anderson explores how Australian entrepreneurs can best prepare for securing US venture capital.

Ari Gold, the fast-talking fictional Hollywood agent in the hit TV show Entourage, may not be known for his sensitivity nor subtlety. But no one would accuse him of being naive when it comes to business.

Ari Gold, the fast-talking fictional Hollywood agent in the hit TV show Entourage, may not be known for his sensitivity nor subtlety. But no one would accuse him of being naive when it comes to business.

While most new technology developers will spend months chasing down angel investors and cold calling VCs, often with the randomness of a headless chook, without too much planning or forethought (much to the potential investor's frustration), sometimes the safest money is already right under their noses. It's called 'strategic capital' or 'smart money' (or a mix of the two).

In part four of our series on the capital raising cultures in Australia and the US, San Francisco-based Steve Anderson explores how Australian and New Zealand entrepreneurs can best prepare for securing local investors.

It says much about the schismatic nature of Australia's economic strategy that the Federal Government invited public submissions on how to build a clever country in the same week that it signed a $50B gas export contract with China. Jordan Green outlines his vision for Australia's knowledge economy.

In further evidence that there is investment capital available for innovative Australian companies in this bear economy, Adelaide-based seed investor Playford Capital succeeded in generating more than $12 million in innovation investment during the 2008-09 financial year.

In part three of our series on the capital raising cultures in Australia and the US, San Francisco-based Steve Anderson explores the five things Australian and US venture capitalist must see before they will invest in an early-stage company.

A little over one week ago, the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, issued a call for public comment to help inform the development and operation of the Commonwealth Commercialisation Institute. Over the past seven days, we have been pressing our readers to get involved and provide a 'private sector' perspective (after making the seemingly unpopular suggestion that commercialisation in Australia has been hijacked by public servants with MBAs). Today, we're turning our attention to the last section of SmartForm, which requests suggestions for the delivery of funding.

It's not an easy game standing up in front of a crowd of 120 people and pitch to a panel of hard-to-please angel investors, as 11 brave entrepreneurial souls did recently at the Melbourne Pitch Club event (held 25 June).

The Federal Government has just launched a new grant for third party service providers to help small and home based businesses with: • ‘free or low cost’ IT skills development • training and mentoring services • improved web presence and e-business capability Funding is available up to $500,000.