A glimpse into the future of VC
Reflecting on an inspiring night of student pitches
Last week, Textbook Ventures held the finals of our very first Venture Capital Case Challenge, in partnership with Folklore Ventures. We were blown away by the quality of the five student teams who presented their investment ideas to our panel of superstar judges- Hannah Field, Nandini Meka and Dan Fleming.
This was our first in-person event since 2019, and it was so great to be able to connect with people in the flesh rather than through a computer screen. We are excited to continue hosting similar events this year, such as a Startup Careers Fair and our flagship Student Startup Festival - where we invite startups founded by students to pitch to VC investors.
What was the VC Case Challenge?
The aim of the Challenge was to lift the hood on the venture capital industry in Australia. For a lot of students, the world of VC is still opaque. It’s not really covered in courses at university and isn’t considered a traditional career option.
Nonetheless, the VC community in Australia is large, passionate and growing rapidly. With the help of Folklore, we were eager to put students in the shoes of a VC investor and help them learn how to assess an early-stage company.
Before kicking off the challenge, we ran a “Venture Capital 101” event with Dan from Folklore, walking through how Folklore assesses startups- from market dynamics through to the product and team behind the company. You can check this out below.
Once we kicked off the Challenge, student teams were given pitch decks and financial information on three startups: Andi Health, Bloom Impact Investing and Dr. Egg Adventures.
Their job was to pick one of the startups to invest in and present to us why they thought it was a good investment. They had two weeks to analyse the pitch decks as well as attend “Ask Me Anything” sessions with the founders to ask some tough due diligence questions.
Our three stellar startups
This event would not have been possible without the participation of the three startups who generously agreed to open their books to us - Andi Health, Bloom Impact Investing and Dr. Egg Adventures. All three are exciting companies operating in the health, impact investing and education spaces respectively.
Andi Health is developing a new proactive health platform that provides you with personalised health guidance, powered by your own health data. The platform includes health devices, an app and one-on-one coaching with health guides.
Bloom Impact Investing is looking to democratise climate impact investing for retail investors. Through the app, you can invest in a diversified green portfolio made up of global companies leading the fight against climate change.
Dr Egg Adventures is an interactive educational platform. They help primary school teachers and parents better engage students in STEM and literacy learning through interactive EduTech resources and storytelling.
Pitch Perfect
After a high-quality heats round, we narrowed the Challenge down to the top 5 teams. They were invited to pitch their investment ideas in-person at The Commons Central - a co-working space in Chippendale.
Each team analysed several aspects of their chosen company, including product, market, team, business model, valuation and key risks. They also faced tough questions from our judges ranging from competitors replicating the product to what milestones would need to be achieved to warrant investing in the next round.
A huge congrats to our winning team - AlphaFly Advisory made up of Lucas Leung, Alon Moss, Kevin Surjadi and Jim Ji. The judges were impressed with their analysis of Andi Health as well as how they handled the Q&A. All four will have the opportunity to do short-term internships at Folklore later this year, to get a taste of what being a VC investor is like!
It was great to see the students, startup founders, Folklore team and audience members mingle after the event. We are sure that there were some future stars of the Australian startup ecosystem in the room.
How to get involved?
If you missed this event but are keen to get involved with future ones, make sure to follow the Textbook Ventures Facebook page, subscribe to our email newsletter, join our community and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn. Also, make sure to join Folklore’s community and follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn.
We are also taking expressions of interest for internships at Folklore portfolio companies on our website here.
If you’re keen to be part of the Textbook Ventures team behind the scenes, we are also hiring for three positions. You can find more details here. Even if these positions aren’t the perfect fit for you, we’re always on the lookout for people passionate about the startup space, so get in touch!
