Equity Venture Partners (EVP) — Analysis
EVP is an experienced mid-sized Aussie fund that is largely focused on B2B software businesses
**2024 Update: I now publish Aussie capital raising content on Substack here **
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A reader provided some great advice on the direction of these articles… to initially focus these reports on the small to mid-sized funds that Australian founders should know but don’t. So that is who I’ll be analysing for the foreseeable future.
Previous Analysis Here:
- Our Innovation Fund
- Folklore Ventures (Tempus Partners)
- Australian Seed Stage Funding Analysis — For Founders!!!
- Australian Startup Ecosystem Funding Analysis — For Founders!!!
Equity Venture Partners (EVP)
Fund Background
Founding Date: 2011
Offices: Sydney
Cheque Sizes: $500k — $3m
Fund 1: $25m launched in 2016 as Microequities Venture Capital Fund
Fund 2: $35m launched in 2018 as EVP Fund II
Fund 3: Soon to raise new fund under EVP Fund III
Website: http://evp.com.au/
Team: Team is made up of professional investors, that is they have never founded a tech startup but have all had careers in consulting, finance and law and worked with startups and other business | http://evp.com.au/team/
Stated Tech Focus: Software
Stated Sector Focus: B2B
Stated Stage Focus: Series A and Series B
Note: If you want to understand EVP then you need to spend some time researching the founders Les Szekely (interview with Les), Howard Leibman as well as Microequities Venture Capital Fund and Grand Prix Capital
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Founder Stats
Total Portfolio Founders: 41
Gender: 90% Male | 10% Female
Founder’s Median Age: ~38 years old (28 youngest)
Founder’s Median Domain Experience: ~14 years (3 years lowest)
Previous Startup Founder: 46% Yes | 54% No
Startup Stats
Total Portfolio Startups: 20
Founders Per Startup: 1 Founder 30% | 2+ Founders 70%
Customer Focus: B2B 85% | B2C 15%
Tech Focus: 100% Software
Years in Operation at First Investment: 1–2yrs 20% | 3–5yrs 60% | 6+yrs 20%
Sector Focus: None — Diversified across many sectors (from accounting to aged care to travel)
Other Themes: Web, SaaS, Marketplaces
Portfolio Companies: Practifi, Mad Paws, Shippit, Funding.com.au, Coassemble, Pendula, Lumary, EatClub, Foodbomb, Vendor Panel, Rezdy, Biteable, UrbanYou, Snooper App, Practice Ignition, Hnry, Deputy, Fergus, Uptick, Outfit
Funding Round Stats
Total Rounds: 25
Initial Investments: 20
Follow-ons: 5
Investments by Stage: 8% Seed | 56% Series A | 28% Series B | 4% Series C
EVP Preferences: Typically lead investor | Typically sole series A investor | Typically take a board seat
Wrap-up
EVP is a solid mid-sized Aussie fund that is largely focused on B2B software businesses. Justin Lipman, EVP’s Investment Director is consistent in communicating that focus, which is refreshing (interview with Justin).
The EVP team also has extensive early-stage investment experience with impressive companies such as SiteMinder, Practifi, Practice Ignition, Outfit and Deputy in their portfolio.
Given the EVP team’s professional backgrounds in law, finance and consulting I guess they really like numbers and facts, so make sure you can stand behind anything you put in front of them.
If you are thinking about reaching out to EVP then as always, make sure you are familiar with their current portfolio, the team and where your business fits into the portfolio and fund’s focus (complementary or adjacent). Oh yeah and always look for a warm intro.
*Special thanks to Techboard for supplying deal data on EVP to help with this analysis.
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I’m the Aussie Startup Capital Nerd… My name is Warwick Donaldson and I specialise in Australian DeepTech and FinTech Seed and Series A capital raisings. To date I’ve worked on over 150 Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A fundraises. Hit me up if you’d like to chat.
