Investible closes its Early-Stage Fund 2 oversubscribed with $51.6m

Investible has successfully closed its second early stage investment Fund oversubscribed, with AU$51.6 million in committed capital.

The close comes just a few months after Investible first announced its raise plans and caps off a year of strong growth for the early-stage venture capital firm.

By comparison, Investible’s first Fund closed oversubscribed in late 2019 with AU$22.5 million following an 18-month raise period.

CEO Rod Bristow, who joined the business in March this year, says the momentum reflects investors’ confidence in Investible’s performance to date and growing investor interest in accessing quality early stage technology investing.

“Investing right at the start of a founder’s journey is still inherently risky. Smart investors are looking for venture capital firms who have a demonstrated ability to source and comprehensively screen a large pool of high-quality opportunities.  In combination with a support offering that reduces the time between the Seed and Series A raises, this approach is key to attracting the world’s best founders,” said Bristow.

“Investible’s approach to building large, diversified early stage portfolios resonates with investors and the success of many of the companies in our first fund show the depth and impact of our active founder support,” he added.

Of the first 28 companies in Investible’s Fund 1 portfolio, 20 have already gone on to raise subsequent capital in excess of AU$80 million. Among this group are JigSpace, the Melbourne-based AR platform featured by Apple CEO Tim Cook in the iPhone 12 launch, Indonesian agtech and supply chain network Eden Farm, and Manettas Seafood, which recently signed an exclusive tech partnership with the new Sydney Fish Market.

Bristow says Investible is well-positioned to expand as more investors recognise the opportunity for an allocation to early stage venture capital in their investment portfolios.

Data from Crunchbase shows that among global VC funding, early-stage funding grew the most - up 104% YoY, with over 1,900 companies raising at this stage globally.

“Traditional asset classes are delivering lower returns but alternative assets, including venture capital, are attracting greater allocations of global capital. In a low-rate environment, we see VC as the best way to bring alpha and diversification to the traditional asset portfolio."

“Our model of investing early with a portfolio approach with a minimum of 35 companies in each Fund is proven to have the best risk-to-return profile when investing at early stage,” he added.

Momentum continues into 2022

Investible has already made four new investments from its second fund, with AU$2.2 million deployed across Australia and Singapore to date. Recent investments include Quantum Brilliance, which raised AU$13 million in seed funding to unlock a new trajectory of quantum applications, and Functionly, which raised AU$3.6m to further its mission to disrupt and democratise organisational design with simple-to-use software. Most recently, Investible participated in the pre-seed round of Shipeezi, a horizontal supply chain management technology platform.

Having reviewed close to 700 early stage investment opportunities in the last quarter alone, Investible has also approved an additional seven investments for Fund 2, most of which it expects to finalise before the end of the year.

“The best founders showed an ability to turn the disruption caused by COVID-19 into an opportunity. We saw this across our portfolio with companies either increasing sales, improving customer relationships or making material product developments,” said Investible’s Investment Director Daniel Veytsblit, who manages both early-stage funds.

“We are looking for this same hustle and resilience in the founders we are investing in today,” he added.

The successful raise is another significant milestone in what has been Investible’s biggest year to date. The company has announced it is already underway in raising an AU$100 million Climate Tech Fund to invest in companies that assist in reducing global emissions and developing Greenhouse, a new climate tech growth hub for startups and scaleups - set to open in Sydney in early 2023. It is rounding out the calendar year having nearly doubled its team, with close to 30 staff.

Recent additions to the team include Jacqueline Fernley as Head of Club Investible—the VC firm’s global network of strategic co-investors—and Singapore-based Khairu Rejal as Principal, who will support investment, dealflow and operations in Southeast Asia.

On the business’ growth, Rod Bristow said “We’re investing in our people to ensure we continue to deliver on our goal of supporting Founders to be successful globally.  We’re looking forward to an even more exciting year in 2022.”