Investors in OIF Ventures have given Sydney VC a resounding approval to deposit an additional $140 million into the third fund – $40 million more than the original plan.
A majority of Fund III’s capital came from existing investors in OIF Ventures Fund I and Fund II, including ASX-listed corporate executives, family offices and high net worth individuals, as well as the founders of portfolio companies that OIF Ventures has previously supported.
The increase comes as monthly Australian VC investment data for August were nearly half down from 12 months ago.
The Cut Through Venture registered 32 deals totaling $223.7 million, down 49% in August 2021, after a similar decline in June and July.
While increases in the early stages remain strong, a lack of major investment in the late stages compared to last year is responsible for the decline 12 months later. Notably, leading VCs AirTree and Square Peg didn’t make any deals in August, while Blackbird’s sole investment was backing the $5.2 million construction software startup Sitemate.
OIF Ventures partner Jerry Stesel a decade-long bull market may be coming to an end, but “we still firmly believe in the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead for the tech industry” in the coming years.
“We are delighted to continue supporting exceptional founders as they build this future and our new fund enables us to do just that,” he said.
“We have designed our fund and fund size around a very strong investor base of value-adding LPs that can help boost the founders and companies we partner with, so we can focus on the founders we support and give them the attention they deserve. to deserve .”
The investment firm supports tech startups in the Seed to Series A phases, and Stesel signaled the VC’s success in helping portfolio companies crack the US market, and in particular, raise capital from US venture capital firms.
IOF recently had exits from XM Cyber and Instaclustr, as well as partial exits from Assignar and EFTsure, yielding an IRR of 45% in Fund I and 89% in Fund II on a net basis to investors.
Partner Laurence Schwartz said that based on the total capital put into these investments, the exits yielded a gross multiple money return of 10.7x and 3x of the entirety of Fund I after deducting all fees.
“If you look back on the years of venture capital firms after the dotcom crash and the GFC, some of the most successful companies and venture capital funds were launched during that period,” he said.
“We are long-term partners, so despite the current challenging macroeconomic environment, we are confident that great companies will continue to be launched by exceptional founders and that OIF Ventures will be in their corner.”
Swartz said OIF continues to see strong pipeline activity averaging 20-30 opportunities per week.
Other OIF investments include software companies such as Go1, Kasada, Clear Dynamics, Advanced Navigation, Enboarder, Bridgit and Mastt.
OIF Ventures is registered as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership with Innovation Australia.