Future Capital Development Fund is set to expand its presence in the start-up incubation market by securing office space in Melbourne that will play host to up to 30 early-stage ventures.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The company, which says it backs \u201cupstart\u201d businesses generally aged between six and 18 months-old, is moving its operation to a 2,500 square metre premises in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Five start-ups that already work with Future Capital in Melbourne will move across to the new building, with plans to house up to 30 ventures in the facility.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Future Capital says that it is aiming to double its portfolio within the next year, starting with two, unnamed, retail start-ups that it is currently in talks with.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Currently, the fund backs 12 businesses, typically putting in $250,000 to $1.5 million in funding, in return for around 40% in equity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Numbers have swelled this year by a number of investments, including car sharing portal DriveMyCar, which is forecast to have $6.5 million revenue this year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Future Capital undertook a $5 million capital raising round in June, bringing its net asset base to $8.3 million. The fund will look to either raise more money next or, or potentially float.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Start-ups located at the new Richmond premises will benefit from office space as well as mentorship, provided by founder and serial entrepreneur Dominic Carosa and CEO Andrew Fiori-Dea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Advisory board members Simon Baker, former CEO of REA Group, and Matthew Dickinson, founder of online marketing firm iMega, will also provide advice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fiori-Dea tells StartupSmart that Future Capital has a \u201cstrong investment pipeline\u201d and was on the hunt for the right start-ups to back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no lack of opportunities out there,\u201d he says. \u201cWe usually focus on tech companies; good, strong businesses that transform their categories.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe want passionate founders who will drive these businesses as, ultimately, we are playing in the high-risk end of things. We won\u2019t invest unless we can be hands-on.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, we take a lot of equity, but we work hard for it. We don\u2019t put the money in and not do anything with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Future Capital Development Fund is set to expand its presence in the start-up incubation market by securing office space in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60445,"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\/42243"}],"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=42243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}