Two new WA investment syndicates announce first target deals

Following hot on the heels of the launch of three new early-stage Venture Capital (VC) funds in the last 6 months two new investment syndicates have announced their latest target deals in WA this week.

The West Tech Investor Network and VentureX Capital both launched their first deals on the Aussie Angels platform this week, inviting investors to join them.

Investment syndicates let angel investors co-invest alongside leading investors in funding the next wave of Australian startups. Investors can find and join angel syndicates to get access to exclusive startup funding rounds and invest deal-by-deal.

The minimum investment in these syndicates is only $5,000 whereas the minimum investment in VC funds is typically hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more than a million. There are no fees for joining a syndicate but fees are charged when making an investment. The fees are often significantly less than VC funds, say the proponents of syndicates.

The West Tech Investor Network, born out of the annual tech festival West Tech Fest, is a network of venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs, mentors and innovators who are committed to the success of Western Australian startups.

The group first dipped its toe in the water of investing almost two years ago, investing a combined $100,000 into 3 local startups: Grow Impact, Anticipate Life and Tactest.

The now 18 members of the network all have extensive experience and are actively engaged in the startup ecosystem in WA and includes serial angel investor Rob Nathan (pictured above), Silicon Valley native Larry Lopez, Dr Natasha Teakle of Innovation Cluster and Matt Macfarlane, formerly of Yuuwa Capital and icetana (a Curtin Uni spin-off company that went to an ASX listing).

The group ensures their collective knowledge, access and insights are fed into finding the best investment opportunities in WA. The group is looking to raise $100,000 to invest in Procuracon, the procurement platform startup led by Cuong Ly and Andy McColgan, who graduated from the Curtin University Accelerate program earlier this year.

Female Founder Investment Syndicate

Meanwhile, VentureX’s mission is to invest in the best female-led businesses and provide deal flow opportunities to all investors who understand the financial and social benefits of investing in diversity.

The team includes Tracie Clark (pictured above), Stephanie Rowland, Sheryl Frame and Rohana Wood, all experienced investors who have skills across entrepreneurship, M&A, financial and wealth management.

Their first deal is HeyLady! – an edtech community platform that graduated from Plus Eight in and enables people to develop real-world language fluency, led by Emma Jakobi and Shah Turner.

“The syndicate is made up of investors from across Australia who are looking to inject more capital into commercially viable female-led companies,” said syndicate lead Tracie Clark.

Both syndicates are running on the Aussie Angels platform which lets angels join leading investors in funding Australian startups.

Angel investors simply need to visit the syndicate directory on their website to find a list of all the syndicates they can join. They can review that syndicate’s thesis and apply to join ones that resonate with the investor’s values and areas of interest. Once the investor has been approved to join the syndicate by the lead, they’ll be notified when the syndicate lead is investing in a company and have the opportunity to invest alongside them into that startup.

~~

For more on West Tech Investor Network, visit their website; so too VentureX Capital.