Key Takeaways
- • Victoria's government-backed Alice Anderson Fund II will receive an additional $10 million from Innovation Victoria to extend its life, doubling the fund's size.
- • Since its launch in 2021 under LaunchVic (now part of Innovation Victoria), the fund has deployed more than $9 million across 46 Victorian companies.
- • The fund's sidecar model has attracted over $64 million in co-investment from angel investors, family offices and VCs, according to Innovation Victoria, roughly seven dollars for every dollar invested.
- • The allocation was announced weeks before Victoria's November state election, and the fund is seeking deals led by private investors in Victorian women-led startups.
Summary
Victoria's Alice Anderson Fund, which coinvests in startups founded and led by women, will double in size following a further $10 million investment from Innovation Victoria, according to Startup Daily. The allocation, made by the Labor government just weeks ahead of November's state election, extends the life of the sidecar fund, which began in 2021 under LaunchVic, now part of Innovation Victoria.
Since its launch, more than $9 million has been deployed across 46 Victorian companies, attracting over $64 million in co-investment from angel investors, family offices and venture capital firms. Innovation Victoria head of funds management Olga Hogan said every dollar invested through the fund had attracted almost seven dollars in co-investment. The new allocation continues the sidecar model, in which private investors bring early-stage deals to the fund to back alongside them. Hogan said Innovation Victoria wants to see deals from angels, family offices and VCs backing Victorian women-led companies, adding that the Alice Anderson Fund II gives investors a co-investment partner that follows their lead.
Recent investments include Butter, a community management software company targeting adult loneliness; Spektrum, which tracks critical minerals value chains; and Misti, which is developing aerosol technology to improve delivery of inhaled medicines, with potential applications in asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis. Another portfolio company, needle-free IVF developer GonGlobal, raised a $1.2 million seed round after cofounder Ellen Gonda took part in an Innovation Victoria pre-accelerator. It later secured a separate $1 million investment through Innovation Victoria's University Innovation Platform to support collaboration with RMIT University researchers and commercialisation work.
Innovation Victoria CEO Rod Bristow said access to capital was central to building the state's innovation sector and that the agency is committed to ensuring founders of all backgrounds can access the capital they need. The fund is named after businesswoman and mechanic Alice Anderson, who opened Australia's first all-women garage workshop in Kew in 1919 and died aged 29 in September 1926.
Since its launch, more than $9 million has been deployed across 46 Victorian companies, attracting over $64 million in co-investment from angel investors, family offices and venture capital firms. Innovation Victoria head of funds management Olga Hogan said every dollar invested through the fund had attracted almost seven dollars in co-investment. The new allocation continues the sidecar model, in which private investors bring early-stage deals to the fund to back alongside them. Hogan said Innovation Victoria wants to see deals from angels, family offices and VCs backing Victorian women-led companies, adding that the Alice Anderson Fund II gives investors a co-investment partner that follows their lead.
Recent investments include Butter, a community management software company targeting adult loneliness; Spektrum, which tracks critical minerals value chains; and Misti, which is developing aerosol technology to improve delivery of inhaled medicines, with potential applications in asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis. Another portfolio company, needle-free IVF developer GonGlobal, raised a $1.2 million seed round after cofounder Ellen Gonda took part in an Innovation Victoria pre-accelerator. It later secured a separate $1 million investment through Innovation Victoria's University Innovation Platform to support collaboration with RMIT University researchers and commercialisation work.
Innovation Victoria CEO Rod Bristow said access to capital was central to building the state's innovation sector and that the agency is committed to ensuring founders of all backgrounds can access the capital they need. The fund is named after businesswoman and mechanic Alice Anderson, who opened Australia's first all-women garage workshop in Kew in 1919 and died aged 29 in September 1926.
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