🚀 Blast OIF | Edition I
The highlights reel across the OIF portfolio
Welcome to our very first edition of Blast OIF, a monthly(ish) roundup of what’s been happening across the OIF portfolio.
The first half of 2021 has been HUGE and we’re ramping up with some really exciting new investments, events and programs on the horizon — watch this space!
OIF FUND II
We’re excited to announce the close of OIF Fund II, raising over $100 million to continue to partner with Australia’s most exceptional technology company founders. We’ve been backed exclusively by individuals, founders, operators, high net wealth and family offices as well as ASX company CEOs and Directors.
We’re especially proud that founders we have previously backed have now invested in us. We’re excited to partner with the next generation of Australian technology founders and have already been busy investing through OIF Fund II.
Read more about our new fund in the Australian Financial Review.
THE PORTFOLIO
The OIF portfolio has been growing, welcoming SaaS-based ‘low code / no code’ employee engagement platform Arcade and computer-vision startup Visionary Machines. Read more in our Arcade investment notes.
It’s been a big few months on the fundraising side for many companies in our portfolio:
- Go1 raised $US200 million, one of the biggest ever local funding rounds, achieving ‘unicorn’ status with a valuation of greater than $US1 billion. We first invested in Go1 in 2017 and are privileged to have partnered with Andrew, Chris, Vu, Chris and the entire Go1 team over the years.
- Circle In closed a $2.3 million funding round from the ‘who’s who’ of angel investors and tech entrepreneurs ahead of a planned larger Series A round in 2022. OIF was Circle In’s first investor in 2018, and Jodi and Kate have continued to scale the company exceptionally well.
- Assignar raised $US20 million in Series B funding, bringing on global real estate tech-focused VC firm Fifth Wall.
- Arcade closed a $US4.5 million Seed round, led by Stage 2 Capital with participation from OIF.
- Visionary Machines raised $7.5 million in Seed funding co-led by OIF and Folklore Ventures, alongside the CIA’s venture capital arm In-Q-Tel.
- Digital twin company Neara, raised $7.25 million in Series A funding.
There’s also been a lot of success to celebrate across the OIF portfolio, with many companies achieving significant milestones:
- Futurerent, a FinTech that lets residential landlords access future rent upfront, announced it has secured a $20 million debt facility to further accelerate the strong growth it’s seeing in market.
- Anti-fraud payment technology company eftsure monitored $4.5 billion in June 2021, double the amount from 12 months earlier. eftsure’s success has attracted the attention of a number of players in the market, receiving inbound interest on a potential acquisition of the company.
- Go1 announced that it’s one of the first content partners for Microsoft’s new LMS — Viva.
- Kasada was recognised as one of the Top 50 Cybersecurity Startups and Companies of 2021 by TechRound.
- ‘FamTech’ Circle In hit the big 50! They’ve signed on 50 partners including Atlassian, Culture Amp and Medibank among others.
- SaaS-based international student recruitment platform Adventus.io have partnered with Casita, a leading student accommodation provider. Earlier this year, OIF led Adventus.io’s $22.7 million Series A funding round. Read more in our Adventus.io investment notes.
- FinTech Bookipi launched their invoice payments platform in Australia as well as a new cash flow feature.
TOP JOBS
A dream is just a dream without a team! Here’s some incredible opportunities going across the OIF portfolio. So if you know of someone exceptional who would be a good fit, encourage them to apply or reach out to our team to learn more.
- Melbourne-based Bare, the funeral provider for the digital age, is hiring both a Head of Growth and a Head of Marketing.
- Leading navigational technology company, Advanced Navigation is hiring a Talent Acquisition Manager.
We’re seeing and investing in some exceptional founders of early stage technology companies. So please reach out if you’re creating something iconic, we love to partner with great people building something we can all be proud of!
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Until next time …
The OIF Ventures team
OIF Ventures is an Australian venture capital firm that champions exceptional founders, driven by purpose, who add material value to their customers, markets and communities.
