Investment Pillar: Growth Equity
Venture Equity Financing for Transformative Technology Companies
While we embrace the power of new ideas, we invest in more than promise.
We’re looking for later-stage tech companies with a focus on B2B SaaS capable of leveraging our operational and international expertise to accelerate their growth. We have a strong interest in technological innovation that creates value for the end customer and a seamless user experience. We work with both companies that have bootstrapped but require capital for expansion or companies seeking that all important follow-on funding to execute on their business plan.
Whether it’s AI augmenting business processes and industries, ongoing digitisation of the workplace, blockchain technology tokenising assets, companies bridging the intersection of the real and virtual world with digital twins, autonomous systems improving logistics, cleantech tackling climate impact or accessible education – we back ambitious leaders with a sound understanding of business metrics and their customer.
Actively investing
Growth Fund V
Focused on technology, tech-enabled and growth stage companies and investing up to $20M+ per company.
Portfolio companies are high quality scale-up technology businesses who are ready to accelerate to the next phase of growth.
This may include through corporate restructuring, offshore market entry or by accessing specialised expertise to accelerate their next phase of growth.
KEY FEATURES
Funds allocated
Innovation & Growth Fund II
The capital for this Fund has been fully deployed.
The Fund invested in early and later stage technology and healthcare companies seeking growth and development capital including for offshore expansion – particularly those with a strong product market fit and a clear path to revenue.
Funds allocated
Innovation Fund I
The capital for this fund has been fully deployed.
Backed by the Commonwealth Government’s Innovation Investment Fund programme, the fund invested in early-stage Seed and Series A technology and healthcare companies.
Growth Equity Investment Cases
From Founders
Joseph Mercorella
CEO, Lumary
Before our commencement with OneVentures, their engagement, efficiency, and honesty during our cap raise process were real differentiators for us.
As part of our due diligence process, each interaction showed us that they would be equitable and fair – exactly the kind of partner we were looking for. During our initial board meetings and engagement sessions, we appreciated that they took the time to truly understand our business and how we operate. They were respectful and considerate as they got to know our team and their roles along with our board members and existing investors. As OneVentures have supported us to take Lumary to the next level, their consultation and input across many parts of the business has been excellent. In particular, Grant’s integration and insight into crucial metrics and deliberate tracking was invaluable while Nigel brought significant support where we needed it most as we matured the operation of our business. OneVentures passion for healthcare and their role as a venture capital partner is incredibly balanced. They are a true reflection of a partner who wants to do good while considering all aspects.
David Mah
Managing Director, Kepler Analytics
OneVentures can only be described as a true business partner from day one.
The OneVentures team supports Kepler by providing expert advisors, analysts, and access to their incredible global network. The investment funding, we received for our Series B only scratches the surface of the value that they add! As a founder I could not be happier to have the backing of OneVentures. A big shout out to Michelle, Nigel, Aaron, and Matt for being there whenever we need you!
Criteria for Entrepreneurs
To fit our mandate, your company must be:
- Domiciled in Australia or New Zealand or with a strong Australian angle, and planning to carry out substantial R&D in Australia
- A technology or technology-enabled company providing an innovative product or service with good product market fit and loyal customer base
- Providing a positive benefit to society
- Looking to rapidly scale your business including into offshore markets
- Looking for a supportive partner to help you achieve your next stage of growth
Growth Equity Investment Team
Dr Michelle Deaker
Founding Partner & Managing Director
| BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD | Location: Sydney, AU
Dr Michelle Deaker is a Founding Partner & Managing Director of OneVentures and has been primarily responsible for the foundation of OneVentures firm and capital raisings of OneVentures Funds. The firm now has over $700M in funds under management. Michelle serves on the investment committee of OneVentures three main Funds, leads the technology practice within the firm and is responsible for investor relations managing the supervisory boards of OneVentures funds.
Michelle has over 20 years experience in the development of high growth technology companies in Australia and the US, has served on the boards of large and small listed and unlisted companies and has a strong background in Australian R&D and expertise in global business expansion. She has negotiated technology transfer contracts with research institutions; established financing syndicates with Australian, Asian and US investors; chaired the boards of several high growth companies; supported early breakthrough commercial contracts; leveraged her extensive networks for the benefit of OneVentures companies; and negotiated both financing and exit transactions.
Michelle established OneVentures in late 2006, coming into the venture capital industry as a successful IT industry business owner, entrepreneur and subsequently angel investor. The Company she founded in 1999, E Com Industries (www.giftvouchers.com), became the leading prepaid card and electronic voucher provider in Australia, servicing over 100 major retail brands including Coles Myer and Woolworths, managing $700M in Australian retail liability and eventually expanding operations into the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand. E Com was acquired by UK publicly listed company, Retail Decisions, in 2005, in a transaction returning to investors 4.6x capital and an average IRR of 70%. Notably, E Com industries was one of only a handful of Australian companies that successfully migrated the dotcom boom and crash through to a successful outcome for investors. Prior to E Com Industries, Michelle established IT enterprise business, Networks Beyond 2000.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours 1st class), Master of Science and a PhD (Applied Science). She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chief Executive Women (CEW).
Nigel Dews
Operating Partner
| BEc (Hons), MBA | Location: Sydney, AU
Nigel Dews is an Operating Partner at OneVentures and leads the Technology team within the firm. Nigel is a digital revolutionary, having been an Executive Leader in the digital media, technology and telecommunications industries for 20+ years.
Nigel is renowned for his experience as both a strategic consultant and a proven entrepreneur. He has experience as a start-up CEO as well as a strong history within large multinationals: providing critical leadership to pivot into the digital landscape.
Nigel was born in NZ, grew up in Australia and has also lived across both the US and Europe. Wherever he is in the world though, he loves the outdoors – with a bias towards Central Otago. Whether he’s hiking, running or catching a wave with his family, Nigel rarely stops moving when he’s out of the office.
Nigel joined OneVentures to predominantly to work with our digital and technology-based portfolio businesses. He currently serves on the Investment Committee of the OneVentures Growth Fund V, advises the Fund IV team and works extensively with our portfolio companies.
Nigel is a highly experienced executive, consultant and has board responsibilities as a Director with OneVentures portfolio companies Lumary, Kepler Analytics, Flippa and SourseAI.
Nigel has been a leader in the digital media, technology and telecommunications industries as CEO of Vodafone Hutchison Australia, 3 Mobile, and the first Chief Executive of the Fairfax Media digital business. More recently, Nigel was CEO of Melbourne-based technology scale-up, Message Media, leading the strategy development and execution to rapidly grow via organic sales acceleration, acquisitions, new products and geographic expansion, attracting private equity and leading to an eventual trade sale.
Nigel initially worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia, spent five years in strategy consulting with McKinsey & Company before moving into leadership positions in the emerging category of digital media.
He built and led the start-up of Fairfax Digital for its first seven years, taking it through to break-even. He led the building of a diverse portfolio of organically grown, joint ventured and acquired digital businesses.
Nigel has held notable leadership roles including CEO of Hutchison Telecoms Australia (HTA) and 3 Mobile, leading the merger and integration of 3 with Vodafone, remaining as CEO of the merged entity for its first 3 years.
After starting-up European border mobile network enabler Hue in the UK, Nigel returned to Sydney and joined strategy consultants Port Jackson Partners as a Director and shareholder leading strategy projects across a range of industries in Australia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. This included work with CEOs of fast growing digital businesses, digital and technology strategies, media, infrastructure, agriculture and international growth initiatives.
Nigel joined Message Media in 2017 to scale-up and transform the business from a single region, single product, single shareholder business via a substantial investment in technology, people, new processes and platforms, and acquisitions, culminating in a significant private equity investment and founder exit. He is also a founding partner of GNG Partners, a boutique growth strategy consulting firm.
Portfolio Board Roles
Matthew Lewin
Investment Associate
| BCom/BAdvStudies | Location: Sydney, AU
Matt Lewin is an Investment Associate on OneVentures’ Growth Fund V. Matt is energetic about supporting Australian founders and companies on their growth journey any way he can.
Prior to OneVentures, Matt has had experience in MA Financial Group, one of Australia’s leading investment banks covering technology. In addition to this, Matthew has investment experience at Tier 1 firms such as Perpetual, and VGI Partners – focusing on long-term horizon technology investing, ESG investing, and company analysis.
Outside of tech and investing, Matt’s passion lies firmly with history, philosophy, psychology, and economics. These topics are the intersection of human action – that is, exploring why we act, how we act, and why we act how we act. As an investor, it is crucial to understand the actions of oneself and others in a broad, multidisciplinary context.
Matt brings his experience across equity management and investment banking, as well an insatiable curiosity for innovation across all sectors.
At OneVentures, he helped source and supported the execution of three Fund V equity investments, in addition to ten venture credit investments.
Matt joined OneVentures in 2021 as an Investment Intern, supporting the investment teams across venture credit and equity in across the whole deal lifecycle: deal-sourcing, company analysis, and due-diligence. Since being promoted to Investment Analyst, he has continued to be an asset to the team in many ways – not only supporting the team, but also providing insight and shared learnings for the broader organisation.
Prior to joining OneVentures, Matt completed internships across investment banking (Moelis Australia) and equity management (VGI Partners, Perpetual), focusing on long-term horizon technology investing, ESG investing, and company analysis. Matt received a BCom/BAdvStudies, majoring in Finance and Banking from the University of Sydney – receiving the University Academic Merit Prize.
Investment Process
A pathway to partnership.
01 Apply
Do you believe your company is a good fit for our investment criteria?
Our preference is for a warm introduction to be made through our network. You may know someone we’ve worked with before, otherwise the team is active at industry events – so come and say hello!
If this is not possible, please submit an application.
02 Investment Team Screening
Our investment team manages a high volume of new opportunities and takes the process of assessing each and every one seriously.
We ask that you give us some time to respond (we aim to respond to all enquiries within two weeks).
03 First meeting
If we feel your opportunity is a good fit to the mandate for any of our Funds, we will schedule a meeting with one or more members of our investment team to learn about your company, the technology and product, and the leadership team. This first meeting may be via video conference or in person.
04 Preliminary Due Diligence
If our first meeting goes well, we will appoint a Deal Lead who will be your primary liaison with OneVentures and undertake some preliminary due diligence to understand more about your company.
During this period, we will often ask for additional information and we may meet with you again. At this stage we will typically focus on:
- People – We look for quality, experienced management teams with ambition.
- Stage of growth – For healthcare companies, we look at companies at or near clinical stage. For technology companies, we take into account current and projected revenue. We assess use of funds, such as driving sales and marketing or taking a healthcare company through clinical trials.
- Market – Does your product have strong market fit? Is the market attractive, in terms of size and access?
- Technology – Is the product competitive on a global scale? Can our team’s experience and knowledge be leveraged to help commercialise this product?
- Development & regulatory path – Specifically for companies operating in the healthcare space, are the relevant development and regulatory paths known and clear?
- Reimbursement – For healthcare companies, a clear reimbursement strategy must be defined.
- IP – How strong is your IP and how well defined is your position?
- Business metrics – For technology companies, a sound understanding of business metrics and your customer. For example, what is the cost of customer acquisition? What is the lifetime value of the customer? What is the average revenue per user?
05 Terms
Assuming a positive outcome from the preliminary due diligence process, we will discuss the terms of a possible investment with you.
If we can agree high level terms, we will ask you to present to the members of our Investment Committee.
06 Investment Committee Meeting
We will work with you to prepare a presentation to our Investment Committee, which meets approximately every 6 weeks. The format of this session is typically a 20 – 30 minute pitch from you followed by Q&A.
You are then asked to leave the meeting and the members of the Investment Committee will discuss the materials presented. We will simultaneously table our draft Term Sheet for the approval of the Investment Committee and assuming they approve the investment we will subsequently offer you a final term sheet for your consideration.
07 Confirmatory Due Diligence
Assuming we agree terms, we now move into a more detailed due diligence process. We will provide you with a detailed list of the due diligence materials we require access to and will ask you to assemble them in a secure data room.
We will meet many times during this period and will require access to additional documents and information. Activities may include meeting with all the members of your team and visiting your premises, interviews with customers and partners, and discussions with other investors and potential acquirers of your business.
Our aim during this process is to independently confirm the information, claims, projections and assumptions you have provided to date.
In relation to debt financing (through the 1V Venture Credit Fund), this step is typically streamlined and usually results in a quicker investment than with equity financing.
08 Legal Documentation
When we have satisfactorily completed the key confirmatory due diligence activities, we will commence drafting the legal documents to formalise our investment. Final due diligence will continue in parallel. During this period, we will each be represented by our own legal counsel who will be heavily involved.
When the due diligence process is completed and the documents are agreed and signed, we will transfer the first tranche of our investment to your company bank account.
Congratulations – our partnership has formally commenced!
Broadening the scope of impact
There are many different types of companies, so we provide many different solutions for raising capital.
Responsible investment
We believe that the world’s most transformative companies will be those that benefit society.
That’s why we apply a Responsible Investment filter to all prospective portfolio companies, especially seeking those that demonstrate strong ESG principles.
Apply for
Growth Equity Investment
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