What we look for at Tenacious Ventures
Mainly Australian startups
Tenacious Ventures is formed under the Australian Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) scheme, and as such, the majority (80%) of our investments must be into Australian-domiciled companies. If you’re not based in Australia, but do have, or plan to have, operations here, we may still consider investing. However, right now we are focused primarily on Australian opportunities.
Another reason for this geographical focus is that as an early-stage investor, we want to know and work closely with the teams we invest in. Given we’re based in Australia, we believe we can add the most value if you’re based here, to
Innovation rather than production
Our investment mandate is to foster the development and growth of innovations that can be applied to global challenges in food and agriculture. As such, it is unlikely we will invest in projects that are largely based on operating equipment, facilities, food/fiber production, or agricultural land in a specific location.
We are passionate about enabling sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture and food, but our approach to ensuring that outcome is largely to back companies that are developing and commercializing innovations that will apply in major agricultural systems worldwide. Project funding does not fit within our investment mandate
Early stage — seed and series-a
Tenacious Ventures Fund I is targeting early-stage investment opportunities. We largely consider investments at the seed and series-A stages. These definitions can vary a lot, but to us that means a few key points:
- You will have your core team in place, and you have ambitions of global growth and large-scale impact;
- The product or innovation will have significant technical and commercial proof;
- you will have customers or users that derive value from their use of the product or service; and
- You should have revenue that shows how your business model works (even if it’s only modest right now).
Never say never
We hope that the above provides some additional context for you to consider. We’d love to hear more about your company if you see a fit with the guidelines above, whether now or in the future as you progress. Of course, these are just guidelines, not hard/fast rules, so if you’re unsure, please contact us. It is also a great idea to connect with us via a mutual contact, as we prioritize introductions that come via someone we know.
