The Future of Business Funding in Australia

Event Description

Access to capital is often one of the major roadblocks for a growing small to medium sized business, many of which are unable to access traditional equity investment or bank funding.  

Legalised for private companies in October 2018, equity crowdfunding provides an alternative method of capital raising that allows Australian companies to offer shares to the general public under a new capital raising legislative framework. Ten months in, the Australian market has seen 29 successful campaigns raising over $23 million of investment in growing private companies.

Join our panelists for a discussion on this alternative approach businesses of tomorrow are taking to fund their growth and how others who are interested can prepare for it. 

Panelists

Anna Guenther - Chief bubble blower PledgeMe

Anna is the co-founder and 'Chief Bubble Blower' of PledgeMe, New Zealand's first crowdfunding platform which has now raised over $35 million dollars through the platform. Anna has also worked for the New Zealand Government, MIT and Harvard, and completed her Masters in Entrepreneurship with a focus on crowdfunding. She moved to Australia as part of the HotDesQ programme, which coincided with changes in the legislation coming into effect allowing equity crowdfunding.   

Esteban Gomez - Partner Dentons

Esteban is a Partner in the Corporate practice group at Dentons Australia in Brisbane. He has more than 15 years’ corporate experience including in equity capital markets fundraising, acting for companies raising funds and other offer participants. He also has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, governance and corporate/commercial advisory. He has acted for clients across a range of industries including in the technology, online and consumer space. He was recognised in Best Lawyers in Australia 2017 and 2018 for Equity Capital Markets and in 2018 for Corporate Law.

Marc Orchard - BDO Director of Startups

Marc is the Director of Startups with BDO in Brisbane, he joined BDO in 2018 and was previously the Brisbane City Manager of Fishburners, and CEO of his own Financial Planning firm VEVA Wealth Management. Marc is passionate about helping world class entrepreneurs create the exceptional companies of tomorrow. Marc’s goal is to create the professional service firm that startups always wished they had, and position BDO as the #1 professional service firm for startups and scaleups in Australia. 

Timothy Hui - Programs & Investment Associate at QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA)

In 2014, CEA established Startup Fund I (formerly promoted as the Creative Enterprise Fund) in response to the market gap and increasing demand in high growth creative ventures. Startup Fund I was a private fund and the first proof-of-concept dedicated VC investment in Australia specialising in accelerating companies in the creative industries. 

Timothy was instrumental to the establishment of CEA’s Collider Accelerator from program development to delivery and pre-seed investment execution. This included the development of a standardised suite of pre-seed investment documents, which has been utilised for follow-on capital raises. He is the first point of contact for investment leads, closely working with potential investee companies throughout the due diligence and investment process.

ATTENDEES: Who is it for?

This event is best suited to companies that are established and scaling or looking for an injection of capital to fund growth plans together with any advisors who are working with them.

We’ve got limited seats, so please RSVP if you’d like to attend.