Australian venture capital firm OneVentures, headed up by Michelle Deaker, has just launched its seventh fund, targeting $200 million.
Key Takeaways
- OneVentures has launched its seventh fund, the Growth Equity fund (Fund VII), and is aiming to raise $200 million to support the growth of later-stage technology companies.
- The new fund will invest between $10 and $30 million in ambitious tech companies that need capital to accelerate their growth and expansion in global markets.
- OneVentures’ new fund will primarily target tech companies across major growth thematics, like AI disruption and automation, the trend to net-zero, and improving health outcomes.
- It’ll bring the VC firm’s total funds under management to more than $1 billion.
- Founding partner and managing director Michelle Deaker is the first female VC leader to break $1 billion in funds under management (FUM), according to OneVentures.
Big number
$100 million. That’s how much OneVentures expects to realise and distribute back to investors in the next eight months.
According to Deaker, OneVentures already delivered a 13x return on the sale of its Fund II investment in Employment Hero at the end of 2023, which returned 1.5x the fund. That came after Employment Hero announced its $263 million raise in October last year, which valued the company at $2 billion.
Fund II currently has a multiple of 5x. Its first fund, Fund I, closed earlier in 2024, with a 10x multiple for private investors, Deaker says.
Crucial quote
“It’s a great time to invest in growth equity, which is an underserved segment in Australia and provides attractive risk-adjusted returns,” Deaker says.
” The market has gone through a correction, valuations have reset, terms are more favourable for investors, and companies have become more efficient and disciplined in the current climate. In combination, we believe these factors could support this fund to become a high-performing vintage fund.”
Key background
Start-up funding is at a six-quarter-high, thanks to a surge in mega deals across Q2, 2024, according to Cut Through Ventures’ latest funding report. All in all, start-up funding hit $1.5 billion, and investor sentiment has improved, with 46% of investors describing the funding market as more favourable compared to last quarter.
Tangent
The company behind the world’s first valveless artificial heart made from titanium, BiVACOR is one of OneVentures’ investments, after injecting $3 million in 2018, which was part of a federal government-backed biomedical translation fund. OneVentures invested again in 2023 as part of BiVACOR’s $28 million raise.
In July this year, BiVACOR implanted its first in-human artificial heart into a man in Texas. After a successful 8-day trial, the Medical Research Future Fund has backed a trial in five to 15 Australian patients, possibly starting as early as this year.
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