“VentureCrowd will democratise the early stage finance sector in Australia in a way that has never been done before,” VentureCrowd managing partner Jeremy Colless said.
“As individual investors do not have the capacity to assess even a fraction of the startup opportunities that exist in their own region, let alone nationally, they will benefit from VentureCrowd’s partners’ filtered flow of startup opportunities that are subsequently selected to participate in mentor-driven accelerator and incubator programs,” Colless said.
VentureCrowd differentiates itself from other crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo – which offer access to new products at discounted prices – through business ownership and the potential equity upside of the startup, Mr Colless said.
The last 12 months have been a very healthy period of maturity and growth for the Australian emerging technology space, with more new startups being created, more new incubation and support programs, increased angel investment and more new micro-venture capital funds being launched than at any other time in recent history, PwC director of venture capital Steven Maarbani said at yesterday’s launch.
“What we are likely to see over the medium term is the maturity of the early stage finance industry to meet the funding requirements of high-growth startups. Equity-based crowdfunding is an important part of that development,” Mr Maarbani said.
“The VentureCrowd platform will democratise the previously elite opportunity of being a venture capital investor and has the potential to allow easier access to funding for companies, thereby creating a better market for turning great ideas into thriving companies,” he said.
