Investible Year in Review: 2022

In the past twelve months, we’ve hit many ambitious milestones, making initial investments in 22 visionary startups, and follow-on investments into 20 companies in the Investible portfolio.

We reviewed over 4,100 companies, met with 650+ founders, hosted 24 events, strengthened our Club Investible community, and welcomed several new members to the Investible team. Over one-third of the companies in Investible’s active global portfolio raised subsequent funding, none of which saw a decrease in valuation, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment.

As we set our sights on 2023, we are proud of what we’ve achieved and eager to tackle what comes next. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the year that was and see where we’ve landed as the sun sets on 2022.

Backing the visionaries, advancing humanity

Becoming a global early-stage VC focused us on building momentum around the world, sourcing exceptional founders with huge ideas and the audacity to build them. In opposition to the narrative of a ‘slowdown’ year, we believe uncertain times create the best opportunities to invest and grow - making sure we're ready for the inevitable recovery when it comes.

Across all three Investible Funds and Club Investible, we maintained our steady investment pace, partnering with visionary founders across sectors and geographies. Notably, in a year of investment capital becoming a more precious commodity, we were more active than ever – screening over 4,100 opportunities and completing 42 investments.

Next year shows no signs of this traction slowing down. When it comes to new investment activity, both Fund 2 and the Climate Tech Fund are set to come out of the gates of 2023 swinging.

"The entire Investible portfolio is at an exciting inflection point. Our unique model — combining our Funds with the Club Investible co-investment syndicate — has empowered founders with a wealth of pathways to raise capital and unlock strategic support.”  

“Next year we'll double down our backing of the ambitious companies across our portfolio in their continued growth for the long term and on a global scale."

James Andrea, Chief Operating Officer

The Investible Early Stage Fund 2 completed 10 new initial investments this year. This brings the Fund 2 portfolio to 19 fast-growing companies spanning 13 sectors and 5 countries.

The Investible Climate Tech Fund made its first 12 investments into climate technology solutions across the retail, agtech, proptech, logistics, transport, and biodiversity sectors.

The Fund will continue to raise into 2023, adding to its diverse, global group of Limited Partners.

This year, we were proud to see two of our investments successfully exit with the acquisition of Car Next Door by Uber and another to-be-announced.

Other notable milestones included:

• Quantum Brilliance partnered with the Fraunhofer IAF, the German government’s premier semiconductor research facility for a$17.5m research project.
• ShoreTrade partnered with Sydney FishMarkets to power SFMBlue, their new online marketplace that can potentially double their sales.
• Iluminr, Applied EV, Eden Farm and Faye raised new rounds, totalling over $45m.
• Inspace developed a powerful 3D stack and virtual tour for Australia’s single biggest hotel deal with Hong Kong-based investment manager BPEA (acquired for $530m).

A platform for startup success

Investible has now made over 130 investments, including those made by our co-founders and through the Club Investible syndicate and community.

This year, over one-third of Investible’s 95+ active portfolio companies raised subsequent funding, none of which saw a decrease in valuation, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment.

This is a testament to the grit and determination of the 166 founders we are proud to back. Looking over this group, we were struck by their unique makeup, experiences, and capability.

Here's a quick glimpse at the numbers behind our investments this year:

• Investments into companies based in Singapore, Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, and Indonesia
• This year we invested across 14 sectors, including in healthtech, mobility & transport, edtech, and agtech
• We invested most heavily at the Seed stage (69% of all investments), followed by Pre-Seed (18%) and Pre-Series A/Series Arounds (6% and 7% respectively)

“One of our primary focuses for this year was working with our portfolio companies to weather difficult macroeconomic trends and maintain cash runways for their businesses. We’re proud of the resolve and resilience our founders displayed in their ability to maintain traction in the face of hardship and uncertainty.

Moving into the new year, we'll focus on working with the teams across our portfolio to identify and leverage pathways that foster sustainable long-term company growth.”

Adam Hardy, Portfolio Manager

Club Investible

This year, we breathed new life into Club Investible, reinvigorating the community with regular Club social and Founder Pitch events, in addition to seeing a number of successes across the portfolio. Notably, the acquisition of Car Next Door by Uber in early 2022.

The Club Investible community expanded this year, elevating our exclusive network of investors to 139 members around the world.

The strength of the Investible model of pairing Funds with a diverse group of investors, scouts and strategic advisors has proven itself as a strategic resource for supporting our portfolio. Unlike a typical investment syndicate, this group is exclusive and by invitation only, helping ensure we maintain a high-impact and dedicated community.

Club members serve as a source of additional capital, expertise and connection for our founders, and next year, we’ll be levelling up the Club Investible platform in a big way to build this support network even stronger.

“One of the most rewarding things for me this year has been seeing some of the founders we backed years ago come full circle. Now — as members of Club Investible — these former founders are reinvesting capital, passion and experience, helping the next generation build.”

Trevor Folsom, Chair and Co-founder

Building the Investible infrastructure

2022 saw substantial progress in our operational capability and Investible’s activity across the APAC startup ecosystem.

We were proud to host 24 events in partnership with organisations including Lendlease, City of Sydney, the Australian Technologies Competition, She Loves Tech, Impact X, Earlywork, Spark Festival and many more.

We also hosted 11 Virtual VC office hour sessions for emerging founders seeking clarity on the capital raising process. (Sign up for January here!)

While it may not be front-page news, the foundations of a scalable investment platform must be robust, efficient, and secure. The talented crew making up the platform, finance, operations and marketing teams exist to ensure our founders and investors have an unparalleled experience.

“From re-invigorating our much-loved founder pitch and social events post-COVID to launching Investible’s new website and collaborating with some of the most passionate people in our ecosystem, we really felt the engine of community humming this year.”

“We’re eternally inspired to work alongside so many passionate founders, builders and people helping pull our world into the future”

Franko Ali, Head of Brand & Marketing

Planting the seeds for a global climate action ecosystem

This year, we are also excited to have unveiled the next phase of Greenhouse, a new organisation—led by Investible co-founder Creel Price—dedicated to tackling the impact of climate change.

Greenhouse is a climate action ecosystem that connects climate tech innovators to investors, corporate partners, academic experts, government agencies, and other organisations.

In the leadup to the Greenhouse tech hub opening at Circular Quay next year, the team have been busy forging strong partnerships with industry giants and connecting with passionate founders with corporates across all sectors of the economy.

“We have been humbled by the overwhelming positive response and support of Greenhouse. These past months, we’ve been inspired as we connect with so many incredible organisations on the ground driving meaningful climate action.

We’re eager to announce some new initiatives in the new year that will bring so many future partners together to co-innovate for greater impact and support the international expansion of climates tech companies ready to scale.”

Elisa-Marie Dumas, Chief Impact Officer, Greenhouse

If you’d like to get involved with climate action, get in touch.

Looking ahead to 2023... and beyond

We’re looking forward to the year ahead. Since the launch of Fund 1 in 2018, we’ve continually grown as a business and a team, evolving and adapting the way we operate to back more visionary founders every year and deliver outstanding returns for investors in Australia and globally.

Next year, we’ll be taking this to a new level, backing the best founders at more stages across the startup lifecycle and stamping our mark as a truly global VC.

“As investors in early-stage tech all over the world, we think deeply about trends and act on our conviction. This year, we’ve continued to build the bonds with our founders, significantly improve the way we operate and laid the foundations on which we'll build our next phase of growth."

"I’m grateful our team had the opportunity to connect and reflect at our year-end offsite, taking stock of a challenging and rewarding year.  I’m proud to work alongside the passionate group of amazing, passionate and committed people we’ve assembled; and to help our founders carry the flame of ambition forward into the future.”

Rod Bristow, Chief Executive Officer

We’ll see you in the next chapter.