Sep 20, 2017

September 20, 2017 Australian industry fund Hostplus has invested A$50 million ($40 million) into the China fund of Sydney-based venture capital firm Artesian Capital Management . A report by the Australian Financial Review noted this as part of an effort to capture the growth opportunities in China at an early stage. It has been investing in China since 2008 and deployed about A$10 million of its own principals’ money into startups. In China, it has a team of four people led by Shanghai-based partner Felix Zhang. It will be partnering hardware accelerator Brinc, as well as artificial intelligence accelerator Zeroth, both of which are based in Hong Kong. Hostplus is an institutional investor with significant exposure to the venture capital asset class, with an estimated A$515 million invested in biotechnology, autonomous vehicles and cybersecurity. Artesian Capital is an alternative investment manager with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, New York, London, Singapore and Shanghai and focuses on fixed income and venture capital funds. The firm was founded in 2004 when it was spun out of the ANZ Banking Group as a credit arbitrage fund. It subsequently went independent in 2005 following a management buyout by its partners. Since 2009, it has been making principal investments in early-stage ventures from its offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai. Its strategy involves establishing co-investment funds with specialist partners such as accelerators, incubators, angel groups and universities. According to its website, since 2011, Artesian has launched five early stage venture capital limited partnerships (ESVCLP’s) and one Australian Fund of Funds (AFOF), deploying nearly A$200 million into early-stage ventures in Australia through vehicles that include the Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund, the BlueChilli Venture Fund, the Slingshot Venture Fund, the iAccelerate Seed Fund, the ilab Venture Fund and the Artesian Australian Venture Capital Fund. It plans to reach a total of 500-1000 startup investments by 2018. Jeremy Colless, the managing partner of Artesian Capital, said, “Artesian’s ambition is to be the leading VC platform across Australia, China and south-east Asia. We have validated our seed-to-exit investment model in Australia and our limited partners, such as Hostplus, have a strong conviction on its transportability into greater China and, subsequently, ASEAN startup markets”. Also Read: