There's been a fair bit of deal making lately with Accel leading the charge through investments in Atlassian, OzForex and, sometime ago; Mig33. However, most of the deals have been somewhat later stage with Australian companies including Aconex taking roughly $100m (PE), Atlassian and OzForex each received more than $50m and ThreatMetrix & Migg33 each took in roughly $10m.
I have no doubt that this type of activity will begin to ramp up, particularly when the US investors begin seeing a return on their money. This appears to be just the case with Accel putting $15m into Australian-founded company SpringSource in 2008 - a year later it was acquired for $400m. At the other end of the scale, one of the smallest investments made by a US VC into an Australian company, that I know of, is the $6m put into BluePulse. BluePulse is no longer around and, as far as I know, the investor, VantagePoint, has not made any further investments in Australia. Obviously, given the distance involved it's difficult for a US investor to justify a small(ish) investment in an Australian company due to its value relative to their overall portfolio. However, this is an issue that can be overcome by establishing of a local office. I imagine that there's more than one US VC that wouldn't mind the idea of calling Australia home for at least a couple of years. PA On Feb 8, 11:15 am, pcoll...@cpan.org wrote: > Looks promising. If you read between the lines he says, > > “Venture fundraising has been down significantly,” Lester told the *Australian > Financial Review*. “It’s actually a good time to be a venture capitalist > because the scarcity of venture capitalism is driving valuations down.” > > Then he says: "Competition is fierce there [in the US]". > > What he is really saying is, there is a market here in Australia for great > low value investments because there are great ideas here and a lack of > credible funding sources. All of those Silicon Valley companies have too > many options for getting cheap money. It is a clever strategy and a lot of > US VC's are looking outside of the US to make wise investments. > > For those of you who are interested in Venture Capital funding, be sure to > subscribe to thefunded.com which is a great source of up to date information > on which VC's are hot or shoddy and the general sentiment around VC > financing in the US. > > Patrick. > > On 7 February 2011 15:15, David Lyon <david.lyon.preissh...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > The article has a lot good points. > > > I'm not sure they care about Australia too much per se. But there is a > > strong sense > > of goodwill there, more than can be found here in some cases. > > > That's primarily because they have a lot more machinery to make their tech > > ventures > > work than we do. > > > In the past, Australia had great success with tech. Particulary in the > > 1920's through > > to 1960's. Then it has receded. > > > In many cases, what they have in the US is the ability to get a tech > > venture the > > 'last mile' (into profitability). It's just a greed driven thing.. > > > Another thing that separates Australia from the US is the 'Global' > > expectation. > > In the US, people say 'Let's set up a global brand for X,Y or Z and get > > offices all > > around the world'. > > > Australia used to be like that - Qantas is proof. In tech, local is the new > > expectation. > > > The Australian Wine Industry, Wheat, Shopping Centres and to some degree > > Construction are all doing well globally. > > > Every little bit of support, ranging from StartupSmart, Polineser to just > > the > > Siliconbeach drinks can make a lot of difference to bringing tech in > > Australia > > up on par with our other export industries. > > > David > > > On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 8:48 AM, Guy Tucker <astut...@googlemail.com>wrote: > > >> Found this, this morning. > > >> Looks promising for the tech startup community. > > >>http://www.startupsmart.com.au/growth/buy-a-business/2011-02-08/us-in... > > >> Guy Tucker (Ellis Terry) > >>http://au.linkedin.com/in/guytucker > > >> -- > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > >> Australia mailing list. > > >> Guidelines on discussion: > >>http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e13... > > >> No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > >> To post to this group, send email to > >> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > >> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > >> For more options, visit this group at > >>http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > > Australia mailing list. > > > Guidelines on discussion: > >http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e13... > > > No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > > > To post to this group, send email to > > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia/msg/351e183e1303508d?hl=en%3Fhl%3Den No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
