{"id":38367,"date":"2023-10-20T14:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/rampersand-launches-50-million-startup-fund-why-the-team-behind-it-is-offering-much-more-than-just-money-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:56:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:56:01","slug":"rampersand-launches-50-million-startup-fund-why-the-team-behind-it-is-offering-much-more-than-just-money-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/rampersand-launches-50-million-startup-fund-why-the-team-behind-it-is-offering-much-more-than-just-money-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Rampersand launches $50 million startup fund: Why the team behind it is offering much more than just money – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Venture capital firm Rampersand has announced a new $50 million startup fund that will aim to support and nurture the next generation of Australian entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Rampersand managing partner Paul Naphtali says the fund will be focused on early-stage startups with impressive founders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want not just a good piece of technology but a good business,\u201d Naphtali tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re backing them early and helping them reach the next level. It\u2019s really important to get a volume of really successful entrepreneurs and backing them from almost the beginning of their journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to support the next generation of Australian entrepreneurs and make them wildly successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm has already closed nearly half of the fund and made its first investment, contributing to a recent $14 million funding round in PromisePay.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got money in the bank and we\u2019ve had our first close,\u201d Naphtali says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really comfortable with where we are and where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

A diversified portfolio<\/h3>\n

Fellow Rampersand managing partner Jim Cassidy adds that the fund will be looking for early-stage startups with some provable market traction and commerciality, and it won\u2019t zero in on any particular sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many diverse opportunities that exist that we wouldn\u2019t want to particularly aim for one area of the market,\u201d Cassidy tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about a diverse approach is that you don\u2019t just get diverse companies but you get diverse people as well. We want great people with large opportunities that are driving hopefully a game-changing approach to the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith fund two we will follow that formula and spread the net even further.\u201d<\/p>\n

This focus on diversity in all its aspects is crucial to both the fund\u2019s financial success and for the growth of the wider ecosystem, Naphtali says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is this wonderful melting pot but there are sectors of the market that have been under-funded and under-supported,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t many vehicles in Australia that have the appetite, capacity and capability to support this broad range of companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can understand them and add value to them. That\u2019s relatively rare in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than just funding<\/h3>\n

With a wealth of large VC funds being announced this year already, Naphtali and Cassidy say it\u2019s their experience, and the background of their team, that\u2019ll set Rampersand\u2019s fund apart.<\/p>\n

With the pair having experience as senior executives and investors in Silicon Valley, Europe and Israel, Rampersand wants to offer far more than just capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim and I have been active as senior executives and investors in Silicon Valley, Europe and Israel and we\u2019ve been involved in $10 billion of exits,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we came back to Australia we saw a really huge opportunity in this market to support early-stage Australian founders, not just with capital but with advice from people who have been through the journey before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a village to raise a startup. We want to surround great founders with great advice that\u2019s over and above the capital.<\/p>\n

When Rampersand launched its first fund of $6 million in 2013<\/a>, the Australian venture capital sector was virtually unrecognisable to what it is now, Naphtali says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years ago this was a pretty new idea,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to raise a few million dollars in a few weeks and now we\u2019ve built a spectacular portfolio. On the back of that experience we\u2019ve been really delighted with the level of investor support to go into another fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow there\u2019s a much broader awareness that wealth creation in Australia is going to come from innovation. A third of our investors are successful tech entrepreneurs wanting to support the next generation and we have a bunch of people outside tech that have realised it\u2019s critical as part of a portfolio to have innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years ago both of those things were less developed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rampersand’s announcement continues a strong year for venture capital in Australia, with more than $100 million in planned VC unveiled already.<\/p>\n

Most recently CapitalPitch launched its own “hybrid” $10 million fund<\/a>, following on from the likes of StartMesh, Aura Group and Signal Ventures, who all announced large VC funds this year.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook<\/a>,<\/em> Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Venture capital firm Rampersand has announced a new $50 million startup fund that will aim to support and nurture the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}