To every Australian founder around the world sitting on an idea, wondering who will back you before you have proof... We built Fund II for you. AU$15M. Pre-seed only. afr.com/technology/eucalyptu…

The heat in Singapore hits different! I'm chairing the LP/GP Relations & Fundraising Summit tomorrow at @SuperReturn Asia—any friendly Aussie faces in the crowd?

Drumroll, please… After three years as Australia’s first solo female General Partner, @Coventuresvc is expanding from one to two partners. I’m incredibly proud to welcome Alexey Mitko to the team as Partner. He brings the systems, scaffolding, and calm certainty that help founders get through the early chaos. Alexey’s spent fifteen years shaping high-growth companies. He's seen Canva at twenty people, scaled Koala, and co-founded Eucalyptus into a company of hundreds. As an angel, he's invested in dozens of early-stage companies. Anyone who's met him knows: he's the kind of investor who writes the check and sits with you until the messy parts are solved. If you’re thinking about building or have an ambitious pre-seed idea, we'd love to chat.

Things are changing at @Coventuresvc. It’s the natural next step in how we grow our mission together… For three years, I’ve been running Australia’s first dedicated pre-seed fund as a solo General Partner. But Co Ventures has never been a solo journey. More than 400 incredible people (founders, LPs, venture partners and angels) already stand behind the companies we work for. And I’m beyond grateful to this community for helping us become an accelerating force for pre-seed companies. Now we’re amplifying that spirit of collaboration within our investment team. We're expanding from one to two partners, deepening our operational DNA and bringing even more support, belief, and scaffolding to Australian founders at the earliest, rawest stages. Next week, I’ll share who’s joining me. Best guess?

Incredibly excited to re-introduce you to Turnto, founded by Jessica Dove London (Jess). Finding reliable health information shouldn’t feel like wandering a maze with no exit. Yet, for many patients, it does. Jess lived this firsthand when her twins were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. She built Turnto as the solution: An AI-native health content platform designed to help patients find credible and up-to-date insights about managing their conditions. We invested at pre-seed, and it's been a joy to be a part of Jess' build journey since. Spoiler: Patients aren’t just finding information; they’re changing their treatments based on what they learn. While @Coventuresvc is 100% first cheques, we’ve secured an allocation for our angel community* to invest in Turnto’s latest round through our Co Ventures Community Syndicate. Questions? Keen to know more? Join us at the founder Q&A tomorrow (12pm AEDT) to get a sneak peek of the traction ✨ Here's how: 1. Join Co Ventures Community Syndicate on @AussieAngelsHQ: app.aussieangels.com/syndica… *Disclaimer: Wholesale investors only. Please always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal note before making an investment decision.

72 hours left to wrap your pre-seed investment into Nate Spiteri, Drew Flaherty and Shopfront 🎁 It’s the final weekend before Christmas. Presents? Semi-organised. Christmas films? On repeat. Your final angel investment for 2024? …Still pending? Consider this your sign if you like the Shopfront team and what they're building. Nate and Drew are tackling the issue of textile waste by using AI to help brands, charities, and super-sellers create listings at scale—and cross-list them across ALL second-hand marketplaces. Our @Coventuresvc Community Syndicate deal closes in 72 hours, so if you’re interested in joining Nate and Drew on this journey, here’s how: 1. Join Co Ventures Community Syndicate to access the official deal note and founder Q&A recording: app.aussieangels.com/deal/sh… 2. Commit your investment bid via the @AussieAngelsHQ platform before midday this Friday (Dec 20) You might be the perfect fit for their cap table if you have experience as an operator/founder in SaaS, AI, e-commerce, circular economy, or climate, or if you're passionate about investing in climate-conscious ventures. Disclaimer: Please always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal note before making an investment decision. 📸: Pictured left to right: Drew Flaherty and Nate Spiteri, co-founders of Shopfront

Your chance to co-invest in Nate Spiteri and Drew Flaherty from shopfrontapp.co at pre-seed 👗🧢 If you're passionate about the second-hand retail market, this deal's for you. @McKinsey estimates that in the US alone, retailers are sitting on approximately $740 billion worth of unsold goods every year (source: mckinsey.com/industries/reta…). 10-40% of garments produced annually remain unsold (source: theguardian.com/fashion/2024…), contributing to 92 million tonnes of textile waste ending up in landfills each year (source: theroundup.org/textile-waste…). Until today, there's never been an easy way for brands to list their unsold stock on secondhand marketplaces to give them a way to recoup these costs and reduce their waste. Enter Shopfront—an AI-powered API designed to streamline how brands, super sellers, and charity shops list second-hand products across multiple platforms. Join our @Coventuresvc Community Syndicate on @AussieAngelsHQ to co-invest in what this team are building alongside Co Ventures Fund 1, @AntlerGlobal , Inhouse Ventures and experienced retail angel Paul Greenberg—and meet the founders at our Q&A TOMORROW at 3pm (AEDT) 🎉 Questions? Keen to know more? Here's how: 1. Join Co Ventures Community Syndicate: app.aussieangels.com/syndica… 2. Access the official deal note and Q&A deets: app.aussieangels.com/deal/sh… Laura Nicol and I will see you at the Q&A tomorrow! Disclaimer: Please always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal note before making an investment decision.

It takes a village to build a company, so we're gifting 5% of our @Coventuresvc Fund 1 carry to the founders we work for. Here's why: Building an early-stage company is inherently risky. Even if you make all the right calls—assemble the perfect team, nail the product, and hustle every waking hour—it might not work. But that’s also why it matters. Early-stage companies are the foundation for generational companies that shape industries, create opportunities, and, sometimes, even change the world. Take @turnto_ai, helping people with health conditions find cures and live easier lives. Or Matilda, empowering individuals to build better lives in Australia. These founders are tackling complex, deeply meaningful challenges, and when they succeed, their impact ripples far beyond their businesses. This work isn’t just valuable for Australia but for the world. But here’s the hard truth: founders shoulder most of the risk in the current model. They dedicate decades of their lives, pour every waking hour (and some unwoken ones), and make sacrifices most of us can’t imagine. They’re the ones building, leading, and solving the problems that matter most. We can’t change this dynamic entirely—but we can share it. And we believe we'll be better if we do this together, share the risk a little, and pledge to share a percentage of our future profits with all the founders we work for. We’re excited to announce Co Founders, our founder carry grant—gifted to every founder in Fund 1. To every founder we work for, thank you for planting the seeds for the future. To founding partners Rachael Neumann and Kylie Frazer at @flyingfoxvc, thank you for leading the way (they launched a similar initiative in 2022). Happy holidays from Co Ventures 🎄 #CoVentures #venturecapital #startups #fundraising #earlystagestartups

Your chance to co-invest in a solo female founder and her vision for StoryTribe. We’re inviting our angel community to back a new deal through our @Coventuresvc Community Syndicate. This is an early-stage opportunity to support @yunmie as she scales her low-fi storyboarding tool globally. A quick look: Our thesis focuses on the growing shift toward visual communication, especially on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn, driven by diverse, multicultural audiences and generative AI. You'll co-invest alongside our fund and notable US-based investors at the pre-seed stage. Learn why we're excited about this team through our Community Syndicate on @AussieAngelsHQ, and join us for a founder Q&A next week (Nov 21 at 1pm AEDT). Here's how: 1. Join the Co Ventures Community Syndicate: app.aussieangels.com/syndica… 2. Review the deal memo and Q&A details: app.aussieangels.com/deal/st… We'll see you next week! 🙏 Disclaimer: Always review Aussie Angels' Risks and Disclosures and the Deal Note before making investment decisions.

Lisbon is buzzing for @WebSummit tomorrow—it's always one of my favourite events of the year. I’m proud to be here representing global pre-seed, Australia’s tech ecosystem, cross-border strategies between Australia and the US, and sharing the latest developments we’re seeing in AI. I’m also excited to learn from founders building AI-first companies in Europe. Already feeling inspired by the solo GPs, GPs with cross-border focus, top global funds, and world-class LPs attending. Can’t wait to meet many of you over the week. Here's where you can find me: 〰️ If you’re a fellow investor or LP, let’s connect at Venture tomorrow. 〰️ For founders looking to achieve the perfect founder-investor fit, join me for this panel (websummit.com/sessions/lis24…) on Tuesday at 12pm GMT (Stage 5, Pavilion 2). At @Coventuresvc, we’re dedicated to supporting pre-seed founders where at least one founder is Australian. But even if you’re not an Aussie founder, this session will unpack the essential ingredients for building strategic founder-investor relationships from day one. A big shoutout to my fellow panellists, Itxaso del Palacio and Hattie Willis, and our wonderful moderator, Nick Huber. Looking forward to sharing insights and learning from each of you. #WebSummit #PreSeed #FounderInvestorFit #AustralianTech

Are you raising a friends and family, angel, pre-seed or seed round in the next 6-12 months? Your startup's earliest investors are more than funding sources; we're your mentors, champions and sounding boards. @AWSstartups is bringing together myself, Rayn Ong (Archangel Ventures) and Elli Hanson (Side Stage Ventures) next week to help you learn what to look for in your first investors. It's a free virtual one-hour webinar, and we'd love to see you there! Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 3pm AEDT. Sign up here: aws.amazon.com/startups/even…

4% is a fail. 13% is a fail. These are the percentages of total capital raised by female founders in Australia in 2024 (YTD): 4% for female-only teams and 13% for mixed-gender teams with at least one female*. However, there is some good news at the pre-seed stage. Pre-seed participation by teams with at least one female founder reached a record-equalling 50% for the second consecutive quarter in Q3*. I want to take a moment to celebrate this stat and the early-stage ecosystem for moving the needle in the right direction 🎉 Read more via @cutthroughvc Quarterly Q3 2024: drive.google.com/file/d/1-e8…

OpenAI's model updates couldn’t have come at a better time. In our view, lyngo.ai is well-positioned to grow stronger as LLMs advance—an important accelerator for companies building at the application layer in gen AI. Join our latest syndicate deal on @Coventuresvc Community Syndicate via @AussieAngelsHQ to learn more about this incredible team and what they're building in the AI voice space: app.aussieangels.com/syndica… Disclaimer: Please always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal note before making an investment decision.

I’m delighted to announce that we’ve officially closed @Coventuresvc Fund 1 🎉 We surpassed our $5 million AUD target for our first fund—and added a community of Venture Partners building global companies and LPs passionate about accelerating the next generation of pre-seed companies. There aren’t sufficient ways to thank you all for being on this mission with us and believing in the next generation of Australian-founded global successes. Only a very small portion of 2023 vintage funds hit their raise targets, let alone surpassed them. It's a testament to the Australian ecosystem’s commitment to lifting each other up and changing the onramp for founders. Now, the real work begins. #EmergingManager #FundManager #GeneralPartner #VentureCapital #Startups #PreSeed

I was quoted last week in @smh saying, "[a startup's] cap table should be like a group of Avengers, all bringing different things to the business—ideally, very strategic things." This couldn't be truer for the LPs in our first fund. Each one brings their own unique superpower. A huge thanks to Overnight Success (Aussie Startup & VC news) for spotlighting one of them at the weekend. @euphemia_invest 's syndicate raised over AUD $550K for Co Ventures Fund 1. Of this LP group, 23%* were women investors, contributing 25% of the total investment. On average, their cheques were 11% higher than their male counterparts. *Stats exclude Euphemia's cheque. Congrats to Dom and Judy on the beautiful result and your efforts in fighting for women's participation in venture capital. #venturecapital #investing #tech #startups #fundraising #angelinvesting

Happy 4th of July to our Stateside friends! 🇺🇸 There's been an exciting update overnight for @euphemia_invest's (@dompym's family office) syndicate allocation in @Coventuresvc Fund 1. The original allocation didn't just fill up; it skyrocketed to a 190% subscription rate in less than a week. I'm so incredibly thankful to the early believers in Fund 1. This syndicate deal is your golden ticket to be the final LPs joining us for Fund 1, and Judy and Dom have secured additional allocation to cater to the demand ⚡️⚡️⚡️ Join the Euphemia Syndicate on Aussie Angels to learn more and access the 'Meet the GP' Q&A recording. It's available on a first-come, first-served basis, with the deal closing EOD Monday, 8 July. Join here: lnkd.in/gA2-pfVe Disclaimer: Always consider Aussie Angels Risks and Disclosures in conjunction with the Deal note before making an investment decision 👀

There’s much to say about solo GP funds as a strategy. The beauty of this approach lies in its simplicity and flexibility. With a solo GP fund, raising enormous amounts of capital is unnecessary. Instead of deploying $30 million, you can make a significant impact with just $5 million, fundamentally changing the deployment strategy. For a deeper dive into our solo GP advantage and @Coventuresvc' focus on pre-seed investments, check out my “studio on the road” conversation with @innovationbay's Ian Gardiner ( ⏰ Timestamp 48:00). innovationbay.com/podcasts/e…