David Parfett

The Australian VC landscape is thriving, but gender disparity still casts a long shadow. As revealed by Cut Through Venture's Cut Through Quarterly Q3 report, women-led startups are gaining traction but face an uphill battle as they mature through funding rounds, with participation dropping dramatically from 50% at pre-seed to just 14% at Series A. In our latest Antler article, we explore how persistent barriers are widening the funding gap and why it’s critical to support women founders from day zero - supporting them from the start and providing continued backing throughout their journey. https://lnkd.in/gZds-cyk We're dedicated to pushing forward for a more inclusive and resilient ecosystem and invite all ambitious founders to join our February 2025 residency in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

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I have written about the journey to Vivara in an article on #CaffeineDaily https://lnkd.in/g8GDw_hA

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🇦🇺 The State of the Australian VC Market Heading into 2025 📈 🗓 Date: 28th November | ⏰ Time: 12pm-1pm AEDT 🎟 Tickets on sale now! After a challenging few years in the startup funding landscape—with reduced funding rounds and extended runways—we’re beginning to see promising signs of market recovery. Recent boosts in US investment and steady local deals under $50M could signal positive changes on the horizon. Join us along with our expert panel from Aussie Angels, Tractor Ventures, Rampersand, and Five Capital as we share insights into market trends and what investors are watching closely for in the year ahead. We’ll end with a live Q&A, so bring your questions and get the inside track on what to expect in 2025! Don’t miss out—tickets on sale now! #VCMarket #Investment #AusStartups https://hubs.li/Q02XsdTb0

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At the Launch Vic Awards Nights, there was a lot of talk about the VC’s in our ecosystem, and quite a bit of mention of Angel Syndicates, but no mention of Venture Studios. In fact when people ask me what I do, I often have to explain what a Venture Studio is. So let me make the Venture Studio pitch. Firstly, what is a Venture Studio? Venture Studios give life to startups in two main ways. 1. Ideas are incubated and validated within the Venture Studio, once validated, the team finds the external resources/ people needed to bring the idea to life. 2. External founders brings ideas to Venture Studios, in which the Venture Studio provides services and resources to the founder in exchange for equity. So who is a Venture Studio good for? High Quality Founders, with scalable ideas: The success of a Venture Studio relies on the success of the startups they work with so naturally Venture Studios are looking for the highest quality founders / startups. Early stage founders who are missing a technical partner: During the early days of your startup, if you don’t have a technical partner, you generally require investment or you need to take significant financial risk to fund your MVP build. While most investors won’t want to invest until you have a functional MVP, this is the exact stage many Venture Studio’s like to play in. Why choose a Venture Studio over a development agency? Your developers will have skin in the game The app development process often goes wrong, because building apps is hard. If things go wrong, it’s easy for relationships to sour, and shortcuts to be made. Since Venture Studio’s success is so heavily tied into the success of their startups, by choosing a Venture Studio you have the peace of mind that your developers are so heavily incentivised to deliver an awesome product. Support beyond development Again because the success of the Venture Studios are so heavily tied to the success of the startup, it’s in the our best interest to ensure you are supported beyond your product build. So when it comes to GTM, capital raising and beyond, we aim to provide support and introductions where we. De-risk your financial position So this is the obvious benefit, get to launch without paying or paying a lot less. All of this is not to say, VC’s, Angel’s, Dev Shops all don’t play an important role in this ecosystem, I just feel the Venture Studio voice needs to be heard a bit louder.

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I’m always inspired seeing Australian consumer tech founders doing great things. Lucy Mort is no exception – as the co-founder and CEO of Sunroom, a consumer app that provides a space for women to earn money by creating content and connecting with their communities, Lucy has used product and design to create a space that feels unique, and caters to their specific community. Building a product that can sometimes confuse people (wait - I can only talk on Wednesday?!), I loved these product design insights from Lucy’s interview with Natasha Gillezeau: 📈 Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable: Pioneered by Raymond Loewy, product design should be innovative, whilst accessible and familiar. In essence, as advanced as your target customer is willing to accept. The iPhone is a great example of this, providing incremental changes over time, whilst maintaining enough of the previous design so that it is familiar. ⬇ Less is More: Build on the assumption that your users have no idea what your product is. The more features, the more complexity, the greater the barrier to adoption. Strip things back, listen to your users and your metrics, find your 1-2 key features driving value and stickiness and double down. 👌 Selective perfectionism: Work smarter. Some features will require significant A/B testing and iterating and others won’t. Have a framework to understand the demand, value and ROI you are creating to guide what will move the dial and where to invest your time. Via Missing Perspectives

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🚀 Boosting Tech Adoption: Strategies to Get Your Team on Board Invested in new tech but facing low adoption rates? Logitech ANZ’s recent roundtable with top tech decision-makers revealed strategies to overcome this challenge: 🔹 Assess Needs: Ensure new tech genuinely addresses a need or problem within your team. 🔹 Onboarding: Provide comprehensive training to highlight the value and functionality of the new solution. 🔹 Nurture Existing Tools: Track and encourage the use of tech to maximise your investments. 🔹 Reminders: Keep the tech top-of-mind to prevent old habits from taking over. 🔹 Feedback Loop: Solicit feedback to understand and address concerns, making the team feel heard and valued. Embrace these strategies to enhance tech adoption and drive successful digital transformation. 🔗 More from Logitech: https://loom.ly/5Yf3jNw #TechAdoption #DigitalTransformation #ITStrategy

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Aussie and Kiwi startup founders often face the inevitable question of which market they should expand to next. For many, the answer is often the US 🇺🇸 and the important considerations become when and how to enter. Square Peg's Lucy Tan recently spent some time with US VCs, exploring these two questions and understanding what they've seen works and what doesn't. Lucy shares her insights in the post below: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gihmRfpw #startups #founders #australia #newzealand #usa #venturecapital

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The Federal Budget headlines are here, but what truly matters to mid-sized businesses? Our latest MYOB Bi-Annual Business Monitor sheds light on their priorities, surveying 500 mid-market decision-makers (20-500 FTEs, $5m+ revenue) for the first time 👀. Key Findings: - Operational Efficiency is Paramount: Mid-market businesses are laser-focused 🔍 on overcoming cost pressures. Fuel prices (49%), utilities (43%), and interest rates (43%) are their top concerns. - Innovation for Growth: While cautiously optimistic (63% believe the economy will improve📈), they seek measures that support digitization (36%) and national security (37%). - Red Tape Reduction is Crucial: Cutting red tape (36%) is a major priority, allowing them to scale and adapt more effectively🚀. What the Mid-Market Needs: - Streamlining Operations: Incentives to tackle rising fuel and utility costs, along with support for efficient business processes👌. - Investing in Innovation: Funding for digitisation initiatives and policies that foster growth in green technologies and national security sectors💡. - Less Bureaucracy, More Growth: A streamlined regulatory environment to free up resources and unlock their full potential🔓. Read more here - https://lnkd.in/dpsVuKEd

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The cap on international students means fewer startup founders and less employee talent for early stage startups in Australia. The risk appetite it takes to uproot your life and move to another country to study is exactly the mindset that drives people to take the risk to start (or join) a new company. I talked about this in a recent podcast with Will Richards where we discussed the impact of the controversial cap on international students and what it could mean for Australia’s startup ecosystem, universities, and economy. Full conversation from the ~24 minute mark here: https://lnkd.in/gNsH46VN UNSW Founders #entrepreneurship

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🚨Today we announced that Telstra Ventures changed its name to Titanium Ventures 🚨 We chose Titanium Ventures because it best represents who we are and who we want to be - a firm that backs very strong, resilient entrepreneurs who resist cracking under pressure. Titanium has the highest durability and strength-to-weight ratio of any metal in the world and like the leaders we invest in, we punch way above our weight. Our investment thesis remains the same and we will continue to identify and scale the most promising companies across a variety of AI, digital and software sectors. So far we’ve invested in 99 portfolio companies, resulting in: 🚀 12 IPOs 🚀 17 unicorns 🚀 42 liquidity events Today we have almost US$1B funds under management and have returned US$678M cash to investors. This is an exciting next chapter in our story. Titanium Ventures will continue to accelerate the extraordinary, fueling the growth of standout disruptors, that’s what we have done for over a decade and that’s what our investors and founders expect us to do in the decades to come. www.ti.vc You can read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/ePtEVPik

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The Alternative View Newsletter (23 Oct 2024) - a daily digest of Australian deals data, covering the latest updates on fundraising, valuations, and revenue for startups raising or filing financials in Australia. Book a Demo and get a Free Trial Today at Alternatives.pe See firsthand the advantage our 100% accurate Data and Insights platform, VC Pro: Australia will give you. #Startups #Investors #VentureCapital #FinancialData #Alternatives #Privatecapital #AngelInvestors #AngelInvestor #Familyoffices #AngelInvesting #Fundraising #Multifamilyoffice #Startupfunding #Startup #Venturedebt #Venturebuilding #VentureStudio #Incubator #Accelerator #Accelerators #Acceleratorprogram #VC Atelier, WollemAI, Lumachain, Rosterfy, Green Gravity, DASH, Electrogenics Laboratories Limited, Byron Bay Bio, Porous Lane, Remagine Labs, 5B, Gether | Techstars 2024, Mighty Partners, Equity Venture Partners, Meta https://lnkd.in/dVxT-_wg

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Startup founders and supporters Startup Muster the only comprehensive survey of Australian startups and their supporters. The survey reaches throughout the ecosystem to count every person that contributes to supporting founders and startups 🎉 Calling all diverse founders - we need you and your voices and experiences to be seen and heard 📣 We can’t measure what we can’t see and we can’t change what we don’t know - this survey is so important ✊🏼 Fill in the survey today 📝https://startupmuster.com #startup #diversity #entrepreneur #founder #culturaldiversity String Nguyen Mikaela Jade FTSE Dor Akech Achiek Nirary Dacho 🌏 Usman Iftikhar UNSW Founders UTS Startups

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BOOM!! 🚨Today we announced that Telstra Ventures has changed its name to Titanium Ventures 🚨   We chose Titanium Ventures because it best represents who we are and who we want to be - a firm that backs very strong, resilient entrepreneurs who resist cracking under pressure.   Titanium has the highest durability and strength-to-weight ratio of any metal in the world and like the leaders we invest in, we punch way above our weight.   Our investment thesis remains the same and we will continue to identify and scale the most promising companies across a variety of AI, digital and software sectors.   So far we’ve invested in 99 portfolio companies, resulting in:   🚀 12 IPOs 🚀 17 unicorns 🚀 42 liquidity events   Today we have almost A$1.35B funds under management and have returned almost A$1B cash to investors.   This is an exciting next chapter in our story. Titanium Ventures will continue to accelerate the extraordinary, fueling the growth of standout disruptors, that’s what we have done for over a decade and that’s what our investors and founders expect us to do in the decades to come.   You can read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/gYZtGtX8   #titaniumventures #venturecapital #unicorns #ipo

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The recently released ACCI Small Business Conditions Survey 2024 paints a stark picture for small businesses across Australia. With 45% of small businesses contemplating closure within the past year and 82% reporting significant impacts from regulatory red tape, the challenges are clear and pressing. For the hospitality industry, these findings are particularly concerning. Known for its dynamic and flexible workforce, our sector faces unique challenges in complying with increasing regulatory demands. The cost of compliance, both in time and money, is diverting essential resources away from growth and innovation. As we look to the future, it's imperative that we advocate for meaningful regulatory reform. Without it, the hospitality industry risks increased closures, reduced investment, and ongoing operational strain. Clipboard Hospitality #hospitality #cafe #hotels #restaurants

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I’m proud to share that Ajust has raised $2 million in a Seed round led by Carthona Capital. But I’m even more proud that Ajust has now supported thousands of consumers to resolve problems with over 750 Australian businesses. Being a consumer is a big part of our everyday lives. From banking to utilities to supermarkets to telco - we rely on businesses to manage our money, to eat, to keep warm and to stay connected to the world. When things go wrong, it isn’t just an inconvenience – it can bring our lives to a standstill and cause lots of stress. With my background in consumer law, friends and family often came to me for help when they had disputes with businesses. Part of me enjoyed the process - going up against insurance companies and huge retailers to get fair outcomes for the people I love. But it always took a lot of time and relied on my knowledge of consumer law. I started Ajust because getting fair resolutions as a consumer shouldn’t require a fight or being able to ask a favour from a friend with legal training. Orchestrated well, AI tools can massively help consumers to resolve issues with businesses. Thousands of consumers have been using Ajust’s AI platform to resolve issues - from getting refunds for faulty products, to fixing broken internet connections, to correcting energy meter readings. This Seed funding will support us to expand our platform to help consumers with even greater range of interactions. Soon, we’ll be more than an express lane for complaints, we’ll become the best option for consumers to contact businesses about all kinds of issues - from pausing a gym membership, to comparing quotes, to changing bookings. To read more about our journey to date and the opportunity we see for consumers to benefit from the AI revolution, here’s the article by Amelia McGuire.

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Financial management startup Thriday appoints Laura Elkaslassy as Head of Accounting & Tax #startups #startupnews #australianstartups #australianfintech #fintech #fintechnews #finance #financialtechnology #jobs #fintechjobs #startupjobs

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🎬 New Episode Alert! 🎬 This week on The Growth Cartel's Weekly Wrap, we dove into the latest insights on startup investments and the importance of diversity in leadership. 📊 The release of the Cut Through Venture's report and its impact on the Australian startup ecosystem 👩‍💼 Why diversity in leadership is not just important but essential for driving innovation and success in the startup world. 🚀 Watch the full conversation for even more on AI, Quantum tech, and major investments shaping the future! We cover the biggest developments of the week, what we have coming up and you won’t want to miss it. 👉 Catch the full episode here and stay up-to-date with all things startups, funding, and leadership: 📺 YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gV3vb3cb 🎧 Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gzUMQVH7 🍎 Apple - https://lnkd.in/gg_wuMQ3 #InvestmentTrends #Diversity #Leadership #GrowthCartel #StartupCommunity #Innovation #CutThroughVentures

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