Angel groups and venture capital (VC) funds that are brand new or looking to put down roots in Victoria will be given a helping hand of up to $300,000 to establish themselves and set up local offices in the state through two LaunchVic grant rounds announced yesterday.
The funding will be provided to eligible VC funds and angel groups over a period of two years in a bid to kick access to early-stage capital for local startups in Victoria up a notch, as Victorian startup agency LaunchVic continues its plans to double down on accelerators and pre-accelerators in 2025.
According to LaunchVic’s guidelines, the Funding for New Venture Capital Funds will aim to establish new VC funds in Victoria by covering the establishment cost, including legal fees, and management costs, while the Grants for Victorian Angel Networks will cover operating costs for angel networks.
The financial support can also be utilised to cover further establishment fees, such as company registration costs, as well as support new staff salaries and facilitate capital raising.
Both groups are expected to increase access to early-stage capital for startups in Victoria, with VC funds needing to target a raise of $10 million and angel groups to achieve at least $2 million in private capital through their operations.
LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick told SmartCompany that Victoria’s startup ecosystem has undergone phenomenal growth in the past few years, with more than 3,500 startups now active in the State.
“But while overall investment has grown dramatically in recent years, our data shows a lack of early-stage venture capital available to founders looking to scale,” Dr Cornick says.
“These grants will cover operational and establishment funding for new VCs and angel networks entering the market to provide more investment opportunities to founders just starting out.”
According to LaunchVic, just 10% of total venture funding was invested into Victorian pre-seed and seed-stage companies in 2024.
“We need to continue our focus on unlocking more capital for early-stage Victorian startups by fostering an expert and active investment community,” Dr Cornick says.
However, despite LaunchVic continuing to see stagnation in early-stage VC funding, Dr Cornick confirmed there had been growth in late-stage venture investments beyond Series B.
More than $29.3 million has been invested into Victorian startups so far, as a result of LaunchVic’s support of the establishment of 10 angel networks across Victoria since 2020, with the groups recruiting more than 600 investors.
Last year Australian equity crowdfunding platform Birchal’s own angel syndicate, Birchal First, invested over $1.9 million in Victorian startups within just 90 days of its launch with funding from LaunchVic.
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