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EVP looks at further venture funding for third fund
Equity Venture Partners has announced the first close for its third fund, at $50 million. The Sydney-based venture capital manager is now working on a final close for the offering.
EVP, which has joined with Brookvine and Spire Capital for the next fund raising, is an early stage business-to-business software investor with a 15-year track record. It has built a portfolio of 29 investments in Australian software companies.
They include some of Australia’s most successful software start-ups such as Deputy, Fusion Sport, Practice Ignition, Practifi, Rezdy, Shippit and SiteMinder, which have all gone on to expand into global markets. The firm has more than $100 million under management and says it has never lost capital on a single investment.
Howard Leibman, co-founder, said the investments had shown resilience this year through COVID. “Of the 11 companies in EVP Fund II, only one is yet to recover its pre-COVID revenue. Across the portfolio, the median growth rate for the year to October exceeds 92 per cent,” he said.
“We invest in businesses with compelling underlying economics and annuity income characteristics. Our companies solve important problems for their customers and address vast market opportunities. All have potential to deliver exceptional growth over the long term,” Leibman said.
“We’re not a seed stage investor. We invest at the ‘series A’ stage, when there’s product in the market, strong customer validation and a healthy early trajectory of revenue growth. This allows us to make high conviction investments, acquire meaningful equity positions and build concentrated portfolios of high growth businesses.”
EVP has signed terms for its initial four investments in Fund III each of which has benefitted from the pandemic. “The pipeline remains strong and we’re excited by the ever-increasing number of domestic software start-ups with truly global prospects,” Leibman says.
The firm is run by the co-founders, Leibman and Les Szekely. It has an investment team of six, with complementary financial, operational and legal backgrounds. The fund-raising effort will include New Zealand and parts of Asia.
Equity Venture Partners has announced the first close for its third fund, at $50 million. The Sydney-based venture capital manager is now working on a final close for the offering.
EVP, which has joined with Brookvine and Spire Capital for the next fund raising, is an early stage business-to-business software investor with a 15-year track record. It has built a portfolio of 29 investments in Australian software companies.
They include some of Australia’s most successful software start-ups such as: Deputy, Fusion Sport, Practice Ignition, Practifi, Rezdy, Shippit and SiteMinder, which have all gone on to expand into global markets. The firm has more than $100 million under management and says it has never lost capital on a single investment.
Howard Leibman, co-founder, said the investments had shown resilience this year through COVID. “Of the 11 companies in EVP Fund II, only one is yet to recover its pre-COVID revenue. Across the portfolio, the median growth rate for the year to October exceeds 92 per cent,” he said.
“We invest in businesses with compelling underlying economics and annuity income characteristics. Our companies solve important problems for their customers and address vast market opportunities. All have potential to deliver exceptional growth over the long term,” Leibman said.
“We’re not a seed stage investor. We invest at the ‘series A’ stage, when there’s product in the market, strong customer validation and a healthy early trajectory of revenue growth. This allows us to make high conviction investments, acquire meaningful equity positions and build concentrated portfolios of high growth businesses.”
EVP has signed terms for its initial four investments in Fund III each of which has benefitted from the pandemic. “The pipeline remains strong and we’re excited by the ever-increasing number of domestic software start-ups with truly global prospects,” Leibman says.
The firm is run by the co-founders, Leibman and Les Szekely. It has an investment team of six, with complementary financial, operational and legal backgrounds. The fund-raising effort will include New Zealand and parts of Asia.
– Greg Bright
